Historic Images
Photos of Forced Labor in the United States
Courtesy of Georgia Archives Vanishing Georgia Collection
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Convicts and their guard pause in their work, Atlanta, 1895.
Courtesy Georgia Archives Vanishing Georgia Collection
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Members of a chain gang working in a pit, Macon area, ca. 1900.
Courtesy of Birmingham Public Library
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City convicts in bunks.
Courtesy of Getty
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Bartow County State Highway prisoners.
Courtesy of the Library of Congress
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Four convicts sometime between 1900 and 1906.
Courtesy of Birmingham Public Library
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Convict wagon, Birmingham.
Courtesy of Detroit Publishing Company
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Child convicts in field, 1903.
Courtesy of the Library of Congress
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Convict against tree, ca. 1890.
Courtesy of Library of Congress
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Overseeing the chain gang, Oglethorpe County, Georgia.
Courtesy of Harry Ransom Center University of Texas at Austin
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John Spizack had access to photograph forced-labor camps. This photo of an unidentified man tied to a pickax shows a typical punishment for blacks living in these conditions, early 1930s.
Courtesy of Fonville Winans
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"Angola Hoers" female prisoners were housed at Angola, along with the males.
Courtesy of Getty
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Guard at the new Louisiana State Penitentiary holding a bull whip no longer used for management of prisoners, 1955.
Courtesy of Birmingham Public Library
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Convicts building the street in Birmingham, 1909.