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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Do You See It, Do you Feel It?
Trevan Freeman
Essay on Racism; Mental health; Self-identity; Prison life; Drugs; Gangs; Gun violence; Families of the incarcerated; Religion/morality; Injustice
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Her Story In Black (Matters)
Kavan Garrison
Novel on US Politics; Healthcare; COVID; Families/Children of the Incarceratd; Lawyers; Mental Health; Immigration; Prison life (gangs, violence, medical care/neglect); Rehabilitation; Activism/Reform
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In the Mind of a Prisoner
Christopher Gattos
Law (Crime Bill, Felon Disenfranchisement, 13th Amendment, legal representation); Ku Klux Klan; Historical memory; Reform; Prison Life; Drugs (War on); Sentencing; Children of Incarcerated; BLM; Pop Culture/media; Prison Education; Rehabilitation; Forgiveness; Gun Violence; COVID 19
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What Does Social Justice Look Like?
Robert Gillens
Social justice autobiography on Mass Incarceration; Racialized Policing; Police Brutality; Police Killings; Rodney King; 1986 Anti-Crime Bill; 1994 Crime Bill Police
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Social Justice Autobiography
Troy Glover
Social Justice autobiography on Social Justice; Racial consciousness; racial shame; racial disparity; white privilege
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Social Justice Autobiography
Lamont Kwesi Harrell
Social Justice essay on Social Justice; Afrikan lifestyle and philophy; Marcus Garvey; Umoja- unity and (Ujamaa)cooperative economies
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An International Call to Free Xinachtil, A Cause Celebre
Alvaro Luna Hernandez
A political pamphlet calling to end the incarceration of a political prisoner, Xinachtil, Alvaro Luna Hernandez. The pamphlet discusses the Chicana/o Movement, the struggle for Aztlan, and the role of the criminal justice system in suppressing social justice.
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Social Justice Autobiography
Javar Hollins
Social Justice essay on Jim Crow South; crack epidemic; inter-racial cooperation
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The Ecosystem of Justice
Corey Jasmin
Social Justice essay on criminal justice; MLK; Israel and Palestine conflict; Nazi Germany; Holocaust; Prophet Amos.
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Social Justice Autobiography
James Jones
Social Justice autobiography on Civil rights; Muslim; social justice; racial hypocrisy; freedom
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Tilting the Scales
Ramelle Kamack
Social Justice Essay on LA Riots; Rodney King; Gangs; racial violence; police brutality; criminal justice system; Wisconsin; Truth-in-Sentencing; Black history; Sharecropping
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Legacy
Gerard Lawless
Essay on Black Freedom Struggle; Black Music (spirituals, protest songs); Civil Rights Movement; Black Panthers
