"Chain Gang"

The song "Chain Gang" is symbolism to the way African Americans feel in America: like prisoners. The literal supression that is faced when someone is in a chain gang is being compared the supression African Americans feel at the time this song was written. It also shows the how unchanged society is in the span of 50 60 years. African Americans are still faced with the undisireable repetitive laborous jobs. They are chained the way they were during slavery times. Slavery has been abolished but the unfair treatment of blacks has not. This can be seen in the lyrics, "I hear them moanin' there lives away"