After nearly 50 years after the abolition of slavery, there remained the racism and prejudice that dictated the way African Americans had to live their lives - especially in the South. In particular, the justice system rarely favored a black man or woman's case thus illuminating the corruption that was the United States legal system. Yurchenco writes: "Any black man apprehended by the police during the 1920s and 1930s found himself at the mercy of a corrupt legal system, which generally sentenced him to work on the so-called county farms…Men were often convicted of crimes based merely on suspicion" (453) . The idea of being returned to a farm mirrors the connotations of slavery. As a result, the legal system was a common theme found in blues lyrics in the early 1900s.
Eddie Boyd's “Third Degree” illustrates the ongoing problem of racial prejudice in the legal system:
Got me accused of peepin’, I can’t even see a thing.
Got me accused of beggin’, I can’t even raise my hand.
Got me accused of murder, I never harmed a man,
Got me accused of forgery, I can’t even write my name.
Autobiography:
Boyd's lyrics exemplify the injustice that African Americans experienced. Everything he is being accused of goes against his true actions. Boyd presents himself being racially profiled in the context of incarcerated subjects. Smith and Watson's description of the incarcerated subject is one who "[exposes] the contradictions of democratic nations, the dangers of dissidence in new postcolonial nations, and the brutality of particular political regimes..." (RA 134). Boyd's lyrics expose the racial determinism that controlled the judicial and political aspects of the lives of African Americans. These issues were prominent in the lives of many blacks in the South and thus, found their way in the lyrics of many blues artists in the early 1900s.
Boyd's lyrics exemplify the injustice that African Americans experienced. Everything he is being accused of goes against his true actions. Boyd presents himself being racially profiled in the context of incarcerated subjects. Smith and Watson's description of the incarcerated subject is one who "[exposes] the contradictions of democratic nations, the dangers of dissidence in new postcolonial nations, and the brutality of particular political regimes..." (RA 134). Boyd's lyrics expose the racial determinism that controlled the judicial and political aspects of the lives of African Americans. These issues were prominent in the lives of many blacks in the South and thus, found their way in the lyrics of many blues artists in the early 1900s.
"Even women and children were included among the prisoners, and they were treated just as cruelly as the men"(434).
In “Chain Gang Blues” Ma Rainey also sings about being incarcerated:
Many days of sorrow, many nights of woe,
And a ball and chain, everywhere I go.
Chains on my feet, padlocks on my hands,
It’s all on account of stealing a woman’s man.
It was early this mornin’ that I had my trial,
Ninety days on the country road, and the judge didn’t even smile.
Autobiography:
The fact that many African American's were sentenced based solely on suspicion exemplifies how racism controlled their lives; an uncanny reminder of the 1860s not too distant in the past. According to Yurchenco, "Convicts were leased out to contractors to build roads, pick cotton, or labor on sugar plantations or in coal mines, and the inmates worked off their fines at outrageously low wages” (453). As building roads, picking cotton, and working on plantations and mines were the common responsibilities of slaves, not much had seemed to change in the early 1900s. Thus, Rainey's lyrics can be viewed as a pseudo-slave narrative, or “A mode of life narrative written by a fugitive or freed ex-slave about captivity, oppression – physical, economic, and emotional” (RA 280). Though slavery had been abolished, the ball and chain and padlocked hands are reminiscent of the essence of slavery. Though legally she is considered a free woman, her skin color initiates an unjustified treatment in the judicial system and thus has failed to transcend oppression.
The fact that many African American's were sentenced based solely on suspicion exemplifies how racism controlled their lives; an uncanny reminder of the 1860s not too distant in the past. According to Yurchenco, "Convicts were leased out to contractors to build roads, pick cotton, or labor on sugar plantations or in coal mines, and the inmates worked off their fines at outrageously low wages” (453). As building roads, picking cotton, and working on plantations and mines were the common responsibilities of slaves, not much had seemed to change in the early 1900s. Thus, Rainey's lyrics can be viewed as a pseudo-slave narrative, or “A mode of life narrative written by a fugitive or freed ex-slave about captivity, oppression – physical, economic, and emotional” (RA 280). Though slavery had been abolished, the ball and chain and padlocked hands are reminiscent of the essence of slavery. Though legally she is considered a free woman, her skin color initiates an unjustified treatment in the judicial system and thus has failed to transcend oppression.
Like Rainey, Victoria Spivey's song "Bloodhound Blues" mirrors the woes of slavery as she details her escape from prison:
Well, I broke out of my cell when the jailer turned his back,
But now I’m so sorry, bloodhounds on my track.
Well I know I done wrong, but he kicked me and blacked my eyes,
But if the bloodhounds ever catch me, in the electric chair I’ll die.
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