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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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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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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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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Prisoners at Florida State Prison in Raiford, Florida, staged a sit-down strike to protest prison conditions. The 700 incarcerated protesters were met with gunfire by prison guards, leaving 63 prisoners injured.
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Louisville police officers opened fire in the home of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor, shooting and killing her.
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Teaching ideas and discussion questions for How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith.
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Patricia Stephens Due refused to pay bail after being arrested for a sit-in in Florida.
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In the face of white supremacists’ threats, a Black Detroit judge upheld the law and acted for equal justice for Black churchgoers detained unlawfully after a deadly police shoot-out.
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Book — Non-fiction. Edited by James Forman, Premal Dharia, and Maria Hawilo. 2024. 496 pages.
Surveys various approaches to confronting the carceral state, exploring bold but practical interventions involving police, prosecutors, public defenders, judges, prisons, and even life after prison.
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Film. By Sam Pollard, Catherine Allan, Douglas Blackmon and Sheila Curran Bernard. 2012. 90 minutes.
Reveals the interlocking forces in the South and the North that enabled “neoslavery” post-Emancipation Proclamation.
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An explosion at the Banner Mine in Alabama killed 128 men, almost all of them African American prisoners of the state who were forced to work in the mine under the convict leasing system.
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The New York Police Department falsely accused four African American teenagers and one Latino teenager who became known as the “Central Park Five.”
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In 1968, soldiers incarcerated at the Long Binh Jail in South Vietnam rioted, destroying much of the stockade, injuring dozens, and killing one.
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The Philadelphia Police Department dropped a C-4 bomb on the home of the MOVE organization, killing eleven people (including five children) and wiping out half a city block.
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Podcast. Hosted by Chenjerai Kumanyika. 2024.
Uncovers the hidden history of the largest police force in the world — from its roots in slavery, to rival police gangs battling across the city, to everyday people who resisted every step of the way.
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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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Book — Non-fiction. By Joshua Clark Davis. 2025. 424 pages.
An examination of the civil rights struggle through its work against police violence — and a prehistory of both the Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter movements that emerged half a century later.
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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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Philando Castile, an African American, was shot to death by a police officer at a traffic stop in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. Castile had worked as a nutritional supervisor at an elementary school.
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Book — Non-fiction. By Ellen Miller-Mack, Craig Gilmore, Lois Ahrens, Susan Willmarth, and Kevin Pyle. 2008. 104 pages.
This comic book presents the human stories behind the statistics.
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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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Ten young Black activists and community members — known as the Wilmington Ten — were wrongfully convicted in North Carolina for standing up for racial justice and equal education.
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