The following are a couple of photographs depicting the life of prisoners on the chain gang in the 1930s in Tennessee and Georgia.

John Lindsay, an associated press photographer, hears a rumor that a chain gang was working on a levee near Memphis. He rents a car and makes his way to the levee and sees that chain gang at work. He shoots some photographs. Here is one of them…

From my collection

The photograph below was taken on March 8th 1937 by an associated press photographer who is not named. The caption on the back of the photo reads:

Naughty Boys
Macon, GA, March 8 — Having broken some of the rules of the convict camp, these members of a Bibb County Chain Gang are paying the penalty by a period in the stocks.

From my collection