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Photo, Print, Drawing Convicts Leased to Harvest Timber.

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About this Item

Title

  • Convicts Leased to Harvest Timber.

Summary

  • This early-20th-century photograph shows the harsh working conditions for African-American prisoners caught up in the convict labor system of the state of Florida, which had a notorious reputation for its severe penal labor system. Throughout the American South, African-Americans were far more likely than whites to be incarcerated for minor crimes, and imprisonment and forced labor were tools used by local and state governments to enforce Jim Crow racial restrictions. Agreements between correctional institutions and private corporations such as lumber companies and turpentine manufacturers enabled companies to use convict labor to greatly reduce labor costs in a state that already had very low labor costs. Companies that benefited from the system gave tacit and direct support for the social and legal barriers aimed against the black citizens. Some of these relationships were official, such as within the convict lease system. Others were unofficial, as when African-Americans were arrested for minor or artificial offenses and then rented out to landowners, construction companies, or lumber companies in exchange for kickbacks in what constituted a modern form of peonage.

Created / Published

  • [place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], 1915.

Headings

  • -  United States of America--Florida
  • -  1915
  • -  African Americans--Segregation
  • -  Convict labor
  • -  Inmates of institutions
  • -  Lumber industry
  • -  Prisoners

Notes

  • -  Title devised, in English, by Library staff.
  • -  Original resource extent: 1 photoprint: black and white; 8 x 10 inches.
  • -  Original resource at: State Library and Archives of Florida.
  • -  Description based on data extracted from World Digital Library, which may be extracted from partner institutions.

Medium

  • 1 online resource.

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2021669926

Online Format

  • compressed data
  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

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Credit Line: [Original Source citation], World Digital Library

More about Copyright and other Restrictions

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Convicts Leased to Harvest Timber. Florida United States of America, 1915. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021669926/.

APA citation style:

(1915) Convicts Leased to Harvest Timber. Florida United States of America, 1915. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified] [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021669926/.

MLA citation style:

Convicts Leased to Harvest Timber. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2021669926/>.