Prisoners Raking in Single Line, 1968 From the series ‘Prison’
I chose a photography by Danny Lyon titled “Prisoners Raking in Single File”. I think this image, and other images he created in the series “Prison”, are extremely powerful. Lyon has a series of images, within the “Prison” series, capturing groups of imprisoned African American men doing manual labor. I think these images are framed to resemble images of slaves working in fields. It is a strong statement about the unfair imprisonment of African American men and a strong statement comparing prison to slavery. This image along with “Inmates working in the Woods” and more specifically, “Cotton Pickers”, shows these men being forced to do jobs similar to those that slaves were forced to do. This series came after Lyon’s series titled “Civil Rights” and I chose to use an image from “Prison” rather than “Civil Rights” to represent, similarly to what Lyon completed with this image, that the Civil Rights movement did not end; they simply found a new way to oppress these people and use these people unjustly, undeservingly, and cruelly.
“Danny Lyon.” Jackson Fine Art, www.jacksonfineart.com/artists/danny-lyon/.