Book — Non-fiction. By Michelle Alexander. Introduction by Cornel West. 2010, updated 10th-anniversary edition released in 2020. 336 pages.
A critical analysis of the role the justice system plays in the oppression of African Americans in the United States.
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Nine Black activists were arrested in London, England and charged with inciting a riot when they led over 150 protestors in a march against police harassment.
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Jesse Hagopian led a conversation with Garrett Felber, Safear Ness, and Stevie Wilson about the prison industrial complex, incarceration, and the history of resistance against that system.
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A labor uprising to protest convict leasing led to the Coal Creek War.
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The Attica Prison Uprising began when prisoners took control of part of the prison in Upstate New York.
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Twelve-year-old Santos Rodriguez and his 13-year-old brother David were pulled from their home in Dallas, Texas, handcuffed, and put inside a police car. Santos was killed when one of the officers played Russian roulette to try to force the boys to confess to a crime.
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Book — Non-fiction. By Marc Mauer and Sabrina Jones. 2013. 128 pages.
Based on the popular book Race to Incarcerate, this graphic adaptation is a key resource to introduce a study of U.S. prison system to middle school readers and above.
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Book — Non-fiction. By Victoria Law. 2021. 240 pages
An accessible guide for activists, educators, and all who are interested in understanding how the prison system oppresses communities and harms individuals.
Teaching Activity by Victoria Law
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Website. NoKidsinPrison uses art to model, imagine and advocate for alternatives to youth incarceration by lifting up the voices of youth most impacted by the criminal justice system through art and culture.
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August 10 is recognized internationally as Prisoners’ Justice Day (PJD), a day of solidarity and organizing with the incarcerated, and remembrance of those who died behind bars, living in inhumane conditions.
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Kalief Browder was arrested at the age of 16 for allegedly stealing a backpack weeks before in the Bronx.
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Book — Non-fiction. By Mariame Kaba and Andrea Ritchie. 2022. 400 pages.
No More Police calls on us to turn away from systems that perpetrate violence in the name of ending it toward a world where violence is the exception, and safe, well-resourced and thriving communities are the rule.
Teaching Activity by Mariame Kaba and Andrea Ritchie
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Four African Americans were brutally beaten and arrested after being falsely accused of a crime in Groveland, Florida.
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Following the acquittal of four Miami police officers in the brutal murder of Arthur McDuffie, Black residents rose up in protest at the injustice of these acquittals.
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Environmental activist and member of the Catholic Worker movement, Jessica Reznicek, was sentenced to eight years in federal prison for “domestic terrorism” for acts of civil disobedience and property damage intended to stop the completion of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
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The infamous Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, Florida swirled with allegations of cruelty, rape, and physical abuse for nearly all of its 111 years.
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Members of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) were arrested and erroneously charged with inciting violence at the 1972 Republican National Convention in Miami. They were all later acquitted after a lengthy and much publicized trial.
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Book — Historical fiction. By Tananarive Due. 2023. 576 pages.
Follow 12-year-old Robbie Stephens Jr., who journeys into the terrors of the Jim Crow South and the very real horror of the school they call The Reformatory.
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An uprising took place at a Washington, D.C. jail to protest conditions.
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The Harlem Park Three — Alfred Chestnut, Andrew Stewart, and Ransom Watkins — spent decades imprisoned on a wrongful conviction before gaining their freedom in 2019.
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Book — Non-fiction. By Orisanmi Burton. 2023. 328 pages.
Drawing on oral history and applying Black radical theory in ways that center the intellectual and political goals of incarcerated people, this book argues that prisons are a domain of hidden warfare within U.S. borders.
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At 15 years old, William Freeman was incarcerated in the Auburn State Prison, America’s original prison for profit. From the start, he challenged the system of convict leasing.
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In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the state did not have jurisdiction over crimes committed on Native reservations, affirming Indigenous treaty rights and sovereignty.
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Following a kiss by a 7-year-old white girl, two young Black boys ages 8 and 9 were unlawfully arrested and brutally treated in Monroe, North Carolina.
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In one of the longest prison uprisings in U.S. history, incarcerated men at Ohio’s Lucasville prison launched an uprising that last for 11 days.
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