Afro-American Work Songs in a Texas Prison (1966) Documental 

You don't even know what crimes they were convicted for, and you're giving them a social pass like they were the victim.

It also touches your ass

@@elli003 Most of these guys (not all) but MOST were picked up for B.S. charges like "vagrancy," meaning they were turned down when they applied for work and as a result were standing around outside instead of hiding in their houses all day long. The work they were forced to do in mass made their new slave masters rich. *On the other hand whites were very seldom picked up on vagrancy charges even though they might have been standing around in the exact same area on the other side of the street.*

@@jonathandoelander6130 You don't know what you're talking about. I was born in Houston in 1956, I live 70 miles South of Huntsville, Tx where there are 5 State Prison Correctional Facilities for men depicted in the film above. I witnessed white clothed 'P' farmers along hwy 90A in Sugarland, TX during the early 1960's too. This was a common site for travelers and commuters alike. To the intellectual dilettante and ne'r-do-wells that like to project social issues for which they know nothing about, the State of Texas did not enrich itself on human labor as some states like Mississippi. Oil and Agriculture enriched this state over all others as the even the consideration of such a ploy was rebuked in the state legislature.

@@elli003 On PAPER Texas may have had better laws than Mississippi and Alabama, but did NOBODY really ever make money here? Or is that just your assumption because the laws said so? The law says a lot of things that aren't carried out to the letter.

⏯️

Very important work indeed

@@emmaphilo4049 I am so glad someone cared enough to record Music that otherwise we would never have heard.

So sorry for you men 😢 🙏

No son esclavos,son prisioneros en este caso afroamericanos que mientras trabajaban entonaban esos cantos lo cual hace más llevadero el trabajo y la pena,en algunas culturas se canta mientras se trabaja ello ayuda a mantener la concentración y evitar el agotamiento

We came from slavery.we are seed of the American slaves this is modern day slavery in the prison system. We are not evil. White American has history of violence..we don't if u look at History. Blacks starting getting in trouble once the government filled out community with drugs guns an less opportunity to make a change

By the american constitution of the 13th amendment, involuntary servitude is used as a punishment for crime. Also known as slavery. So they are slaves.​@MirnaTorreszuniga-ze1ek

right man they just singing ant cutting down trees 😂

"Save" their souls.

They are wearing white i believe for radiating heat from the Sun, Besides if someone escapes is more Easy to find in the Woods.

Nothing wrong with liking the music

Its texas. Prisoners wear white

Nothing wrong with liking these songs,i think its wrong not to like em.this is the greatest music no doubt because its straight from the soul how can u not like it .i know its suffering that brings it out but god look at just how were equipped.when the going gets the tough get going.just when you thought you was at the end of your rope ,there you find another gear that gets you on through the trouble at hand.we got to thank God.i not only like this music i also respect,honor and revere this music because its some mighty great,bold,tender and strong music that is timeless because its all heart .God Bless~Duane Colbert~

its hot brotha

Beautiful words! They come to me at the right time, I am going through a deep depression, I honestly have little desire to live, and your message reached my soul, it is very likely that I will never meet you, but thank you from the depths of my being. Sorry, English is not my first language. "Trouble don't Last Always". ❤

Well if U say so !nice sentimental words BUT in the meantime BS pity the poooor blick is getting on all decent people's nerves ! Actions speak louder than words and simple actions are more impactful than Al the sentiments rhetoric spouted from time immemorial to the present Day ! U have turned these despised nation in2 maudlin mire appeased pussies species. They were strong once and could take the rejection dished fer no reasons even them that saw their strength poached it in Change for STFU or else tactics to the world CMON BLICKS GET YAS HEADS AND YA REAL SELFS BACK INTO THE REALITY ZONE AGAIN. SO ! THEY Despise AND REJECT ! WHO ARE THESE LOWLIFES GRANDELLUSIONISTS ANYWAY ! STAND UP AGAIN AS TRUE !

It hurts that those who made the beautiful sounds never got a penny.

You’re an idiot if you think your comment has any value

People forget life used to be really hard.

Yeah, because they were all innocent. Every single one. Picked up for spitting on the sidewalk in front of their houses. 😅

Let your hammer ring is the first song grizzly bear is the second song and i dont the name of third but ohh its ringing my soul,i love it and second song as well the first song.good ear you have .~Duane Colbert

@@tamaracolbert1435 Thank you!!!

Let your hammer ring.

Hammer ring

This was filmed in 1966 so was considered “progressive” by the standards of the day, considering (Like the narrator says) this same job was basically a death sentence for the generations of prisoners that went before them.

Nothing wrong with segregated prisons, there are white chain gangs but they got no rythm. Prisons need to be segregated to prevent race riots and interacial violence.

@@rachelholtzman6978 okay racist segregationist

Down by the riverside

@@Woden23 thx

Most people in prison have jobs

My name is Curtis. Anyone who has had experiences at Columbia training school in the late 60's Arthur G Dozier school in the 60"s. Please contact me with your stories. I'm not good at texting on my phone, but I'm okay on my computer. Contact beardcurtis1@gmail.com

Is this Ellis 1 or 2? Ellis 2 was renamed the Estelle Unit. I was in prison in Texas from 1980 until 2028. Started out at Ramsey 1. I've been all over Texas prisons. Red rider, Captain Henderson, made me his clerk... not because I told him what inmates were doing, but because I threw my Aggie in the air and asked the field boss if that was high enough for him. When you first go into prison, they brainwash you. They couldn't do that with me.

@@curtisbeard4550 You know Leeandra Larry? Ol Lord, Wildcat, Big Bear?

Guards murdered many men there.

You are mistaken, amigo, says this Tejano who knows the system.

Hola, lograste encontrarlo subtitulado en algún lugar?

Aprenda ingles

☹

It's "Hammer ring"

@@marcinboguslaw6956 Thank you from spain!

thank you for you comment :)

And you white. Think about that

It’s the truth all it takes is a couple hours worth of research to figure out especially in the south during the 20s 30s 40s 50s and early 60s Black people were being thrown into prison for little to no reason look up the book Mississippi black papers Black people, writing letters to the NCAA P and the NCAA P writing letter city, FBI to investigate race crimes in Georgia Stories of black men walking down the side of the road to work, literally getting pulled up on by police officers, thrown into the back of the car, and being forced to confess crimes, they never even heard, or knew about, and being beaten if they gave them back, any sass….. many many many cases of Negroes, being thrown in jail, for no crimes during the civil rights movement in the early days in Mississippi if you even were heard of being part of it, you would get rocks or brick thrown through your window, and in many cases, if they call the policethey would end up getting arrested on false charges

HORRIBLE WORKERS. all standing. notice how it takes like 9500 of them to fell a tree???

they're literally just goofing off playing around not working. excellent people

And we're still rocking on it.

It was 1966 who knows how they’d gotten there

they probably didn't. most inmates, especially then but even today, are in there for victimless crimes, today it's harmless stuff like smoking weed, back then it was breaking segregation or something even more minute.

You are a racist idiot if you think the reason these brothers were in prison is because they were properly charged, tried and convicted of a crime.

The problem is we never see whites pay for their crimes only. Black people

If you've never experienced a war, you aren't from this planet. Under your reasoning, none of the things in this video exists because you haven't experienced them. I have...yet the video shows black inmates slaving while ignoring the whites and Hispanics who slave in the prisons of Texas.

.. spent a few years myself in the fields on Eastham and Ramsey... and to your point, so much for white privilege... much respect... 👍

@@curtisbeard4550 .. 100% true ... been there; experienced and saw it myself....

@@curtisbeard4550 Their experience is just as valid as yours. What we need is a record of suffering like yours as well and the suffering of your white and hispanic brothers too - not to put down or ignore the documentation of these people's suffering - but to acknowledge yours. Such struggles don't exist when they are forgotten. When there is nothing left to remind us, we forget what we've done to other people and why. I hope life for you is easier now. Even just for a little while.

*Where you better off than the Black people who were working the fields?* Could you vote? Could you walk on any side of town you wanted? Were you called names and made fun of because of your race? Were you a prisoner, like the men in this video? Just because you worked in a field doesn't mean you didn't have certain privileges because you were white.

Shut yo dumbass up!! 🖕🏿

Says the privileged white girl

Stop looking for attention on the internet, Karen…

There was a time , in the UK, when you were sent to prison to receive your punishment and not as a punishment. However we should be aware, very aware, that in this case many (not all) of THESE people were probably in prison simply because of the colour of their skin. That is unjust.

Ignorance is bliss