John Legend caught everyone’s attention the night of the Oscar’s when he included a fact about the black community in his speech: “There are more black men under correctional control today then were under slavery in 1850.”
Complex.com was able to back up Legend’s speech with credible data: “There were 872,924 black men (16 or older) enslaved in the United States in 1850. Additionally, the website reports that in 2013, 1.68 million black men were under correctional control in the United States.” (complex.com)