Who was
Robert E. Burns?

Robert was a drifter/laboror who enlisted in the Army as a medic during World War I. He went through and was medic to the many wounded in multiple battles including the Battle of Chateau-Thierry and the Battle of Saint-Mihiel. 

Returning from the war with shell shock (PTSD), Robert was unable to get his old job back and became a drifter again.

Robert eventually ended up in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1921. It was in Atlanta that Robert was tricked into participating in a robbery of a grocery store which netted the participants a total of $5.81. For this crime, Robert was sentenced to six to 10 years of hard labor on a Georgia chain gang. In 1921, since Georgia did not have a state prison, Robert was sentenced to a different kind of prison system: convict leasing. As a member of Georgia's convict lease system, Robert was forced to complete back-breaking labor for the profit of the state. As a prisoner of the convict lease system, Robert was forced to endure the most inhumane of conditions: endless labor, inadequate shelter, constant beatings, and insufficient food.

Robert escaped from the chain gang with the help of another inmate who struck his restraints with a sledgehammer, bending and weakening them.[5] He was able to escape the eyes of the guards while they thought he was taking his five-minute rest. After evading capture, Robert made his way to Chicago, where he eventually became the editor and publisher of Greater Chicago Magazine. In this magazine he published articles about his life as a member of a Georgia chain gang and the brutality he was forced to endure. During his stay in Chicago, he became involved with a divorcee named Emily Del Pino Pacheco, from whom he rented a room. She supported Robert in his real estate plans and helped him set up his magazine with her savings. They married in 1926.

Three years later, he sought a divorce in order to marry Lillian Salo, who, at twenty-two, was sixteen years his junior. His wife sued for divorce. Within a month he was apprehended pending extradition back to Georgia. Robert claimed that his wife had been responsible for the anonymous letter that tipped off authorities there, but she denied it. Owing to his status in the community, many people helped him fight extradition to Georgia. In spite of this help and much support from all around the country, the ruling went against him.

Robert returned to Georgia in June 1929 to finish his prison term. After initially serving in Campbell County Camp, where he was given relatively light work as a painter, he was transferred to Troupe County Prison Camp and worked on the roads, which was much tougher. He wouldn't be entitled to apply for parole until a year after his return. After several failed attempts at parole, on September 4, 1930, Robert again escaped. He waited until he had earned the guards' trust and could obtain the privilege of not being chained. He then paid off a local farmer with money he had received from his brother in Newark, and headed to New Jersey.

Robert could not duplicate his Chicago success in New Jersey, due to the Great Depression. He took on odd jobs around New Jersey for a few years, all the while writing his autobiography, I am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang!

In January 1932, a cinematic version of Robert's autobiography was released by Warner Bros. under the slightly altered title, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, starring Paul Muni. Robert was a consultant on the set of the film. According to The New York Times, the movie was "an exciting, thrilling tale" that "shocks and horrifies."

The success of the movie led Robert to make more and more public appearances condemning the use of chain gangs in the South. Robert's increased public appearances led to his re-arrest in Newark in December 1932. However, the governor of New Jersey refused to extradite him, since his book and a movie had been released and public opinion was firmly against the idea.

In 1943, Robert met newly elected Georgia governor Ellis Arnall in New York and requested a pardon. Arnall had Robert return to Georgia in November 1945 to face the parole board, standing by Robert's side as his counsel. The board commuted Robert's sentence to time served.

Robert lived as a free man until his death from cancer in 1955. His book falls into a long American tradition of reform literature that is meant to spur the American public to opposition of an issue. Some examples of this literature are Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Jungle, and The Other America. Robert's book and subsequent movie are largely credited with the abolition of the chain gang system in the South.

Sources:
Wikipedia on Robert E Burns

NY Daily News on Robert E Burns