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Circa 1905, somewhere in the American South. "A Southern chain gang." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
The poor guy on the far right has that "duhh" kind of look; and does he have a 'dent' in his forehead?
I would give anything to know their life history.
The man second from the left is handsome. If he were around today I could see him as an actor or model.
Featuring this photo about halfway through the song.
If they made it, they were old men by the time of Civil Rights.
In about 1960 we were heading through northern Florida on our way to Miami. We had a flat right by a chain gang.
A man was unshackled to change the tire for us. I think he was white. On being asked the obvious by my Father, he replied simply, "I killed a man."
He was almost ecstatic with the dollar we gave him. On other trips through the South, I remember road signs saying something like "Begin prison labor maintenance" and "End prison labor maintenance," so I guess local prison camps "owned" designated sections of highway.
Not sure I would want to be the photographer taking a picture of four prisoners carrying at least two axes.
Out of eight shoes, three are missing shoelaces. Is that a wedge the guy on the left is holding or is it an extra axe head?
I am surprised that one of the men is wearing a nice touring style hat. Hopefully everything turned out right for these men. They seem not to be "hardened" criminals.
Guy on the right seems to be missing a hand.
That's the sound of the men, workin' on the chain gang. Sam Cooke made it sound better than it looks here.
Charming (sarcasm gun set to "kill"). These young men look like they were probably guilty of nothing more sinister than stealing a loaf of bread. Poor kids. I hope they got out and turned their lives around.
In a previous post, I mentioned driving a car to Florida in 1956. Somewhere on a road in Georgia my friend and I passed a chain gang dressed in those striped uniforms. It was an integrated group and it was scary just to look at them.
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