ABOUT
With support from a grant from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), a team of faculty and graduate students at SBU worked closely with the United Black Family Scholarship Foundation (UBFSF) to edit over 100 manuscripts by incarcerated authors, a sampling of which is included in this collection. These writings, and many more to come, will be preserved in this ever-expanding, open-access “Living Archive” at Stony Brook University, where the collection is available for use by scholars, teachers, activists, and policymakers. The ACLS grant also supported Herstory in adapting its unique, empathy-based memoir writing curriculum to an online format (Herstory Beyond Bars) for use in carceral settings behind and beyond bars. Our interactive website Writing Beyond the Prison places writings by incarcerated and system-impacted individuals in cultural, historical, and pedagogical contexts.
TERMS OF USE
All materials in this collection are copyrighted in the United States. Release forms to make this collection accessible as an educational resource have been signed by the authors. The author retains rights to their work; thus, each item in the collection has been given the rights statement IN COPYRIGHT. Visit RightsStatements.org for further information on correct usage of items in this collection.
All contributors signed a release form assigning Stony Brook University Libraries the rights to publication, usage, and disposition of the submission(s). It grants Stony Brook University Libraries the right to organize the materials, to create metadata and full-text search interfaces required for the preservation and discovery of the material, and to make the materials accessible to researchers.
Please contact the administrator of this repository at openaccess@stonybrook.edu for any requests regarding this collection.
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Them
John Adams
Reflective essay on Homelessness; Military Service; Social Inclusion/Exclusion; Race; Social Invisibility
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Untitled
Tyler Anserson
Social Justice Autobiography on the topics of: Foster care; social workers; police brutality; community belonging
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Common Sense
Craigen Armstrong
Essay on Families/children of the incarcerated; Gangs; Self-realization; Regret; Community; Social Change
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I Am At Risk
Fontaine Baker
Poem on Racism; Policing; Racial profiling; Racial violence; KKK; healthcare; mental health; Slavery (legacy of)
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Untitled
Mark Barney
Social Justice Autobiography on the topics of: Racial consciousness; Black Panthers; Nation of Islam; Race; Personal responsibility; George Jackson; Angela Davis; California Department of Corrections; Social Justice; Political consciousness
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Dark Testament of Reflection
Arthur Bell
Social Justice Autobiography on the topics of: Race, Drugs (war on), Sentencing, Historical memory (Black freedom struggle, slavery), Books, George Jackson
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The Heart is Never in Question (Collected Poems)
Michael Issac Bethel
Poetry on Identity/Self-determination
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The Mixed Blessing of Freedom, so I instruct (collected poems)
Michael Issac Bethel
Poem on Race; Popular Culture/Celebrity
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Untitled
Jerrell Brooks
Social Justice autobiography on: Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd; I can’t breathe!; Ku Klux Klan; Criminal Justice system; All-white jury; religion
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Are Gangs Working for the Klan?
Timothy Brown
Political Essay; Satire; Poetry; Gangs, Ku Klux Klan; white supremacy; inter-racial violence; capitalism; racial empowerment; Black Power; Black Capitalism
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Dear Black People
Timothy Brown
Critical Satirical essay on: Black Capitalism; Black Power; Black nationalism; slavery; colonialism; capitalism; Sojurner Truth; Harriet Tubman; Marvin Delaney; Mary McCloud Bethune
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Social Justice
Cedric Brumfeld
Social Justice Essay on: racism; School-to Prison Pipeline; Jim Crow; Civil Rights; New Jim Crow; Slavery by Another Name; mass incarceration
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Social Justice Autobiography
Chanelle Burnett
Social Justice Autobiography on: Women prisoners; Humane treatment; Social Justice; Health care; Criminal Justice; Rehabilitation; Reform; Hypocrisy
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The Monster in the Closet (Collectively, The Essays)
Chanelle Burnett
Creative Essays on Women prisoners; Humane treatment; Social Justice; Health care; Criminal Justice; Rehabilitation; Reform; Hypocrisy
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I Object
Douglas E'Vonne Dawkins
Poetry on social justice; criminal justice system; policing; systemic racism, Black genocide;
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Black Lives Matters, Sometimes
Bobby Delgado
Critical Essay on Prison life; race/racism; Latinx; gangs; reform; race traitors; US politics; popular culture (film); Texas syndicate; brutality; torture; building tenders; convict guards; Donald J. Trump; Nazism; Hitler
