VOICES OF MASS INCARCERATION: A SYMPOSIUM
Wednesday, September 27 – Friday, September 29, 2023
In-person at various locations (details below) & livestream
Registration required @ voicesofmassincarceration.eventbrite.com

Read the feature story, “Library exhibition on Mumia Abu-Jamal to shed light on the experience and impact of incarceration” in News from Brown.

Full program details

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Voices of Mass Incarceration: A Symposium will examine the history and impact of U.S. mass incarceration through scholarly analysis along with music, poetry, and reflection. Opening with a keynote discussion featuring Angela Y. Davis, Pam Africa, Julia Wright, and Johanna Fernández ’93, and moderated by Brown Professor Tricia Rose, the three-day symposium gathers together more than two dozen noted experts and artists working and studying incarceration and its wide-ranging effects on society. 

The second day of the symposium will also mark the opening of the Mumia Abu-Jamal papers for research at the John Hay Library with the launch of the exhibit Mumia Abu-Jamal: A Portrait of Mass Incarceration. This exhibition centers on the writing, music and art of Mumia Abu-Jamal, whose papers anchor the John Hay Library’s Voices of Mass Incarceration in the United States collection, along with the papers of Johanna Fernández ’93 and the Mass Incarceration Lab @ CSREA.

Presented by Brown University Library, the Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women, and the Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice.

OPENING KEYNOTE CONVERSATION: The Feminist Fight to Bring Mumia Home

Wednesday, September 27, 2023 | 7 – 9 p.m. 
Salomon Center for Teaching and Learning, DeCiccio Family Auditorium

Panelists: 

• Pam Africa – Chairwoman of the International Concerned Family and Friends for Mumia Abu-Jamal; Minister of Confrontation, The Move Organization
• Angela Y. Davis – Distinguished Professor Emerita of History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies at University of California, Santa Cruz
• Johanna Fernández ‘93 – Associate Professor, Department of History, Baruch College, CUNY
• Julia Wright – Author, Mumia Abu-Jamal United Nations Liaison Group

Moderator: 

Tricia Rose – Chancellor’s Professor of Africana Studies, Associate Dean of the Faculty for Special Initiatives, Director of the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America, Brown University

Schedule:

• 7 – 7:10 p.m. – Opening remarks and panelist introductions by Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve – Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Brown University
• 7:10 – 8:45 p.m. – Keynote panel discussion
• 8:45 – 9 p.m. – Q&A
• 9 – 10 p.m. – Reception in Sayles Hall, located next door to the Salomon Center

DAY TWO

Thursday, September 28, 2023 | 9:30 a.m. – 4:10 p.m.
Granoff Center for the Creative Arts, Martinos Auditorium

Featuring noted experts in the fields of carceral history and art; plus poetry readings, invocation, and the first public performance of original music by Mumia Abu-Jamal. 

Day Two Panels:

1. Biography as History: Mumia Abu-Jamal, Philadelphia and the Nation

This panel will examine Mumia’s biography, case, and personal narrative against the backdrop of the violence of the police state within Philadelphia and the nation. Like other northern cities, Philadelphia was ground zero for controlling and patrolling racial segregation as well as movements advancing Black radical thought. Mumia’s case exists within this broader historical moment (which is both a local and national phenomenon). Panelists will discuss this history and its links to the present-day social problems related to white supremacy, censorship of Black scholarship/thought, and the persistence of mass incarceration and its corollaries. 

Panelists:

• Elizabeth Hinton – Professor of History, African American Studies, and Law, Yale University
• Todd Steven Burroughs – Writer and public historian
• Heather Ann Thompson – Author and historian, University of Michigan

Moderator:

Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve – Associate Professor of Sociology, Brown University                                                                                   

2. Spaces of Healing in the Public Realm

This panel brings together a diverse group of artists and activists to discuss projects that employ art and social practices as a means of reimagining and creating public spaces of healing, reflection, and renewal for and by incarcerated persons.

Panelists:

• Gregory Sale – Artist and Professor of Expanded Arts and Public Practice, School of Art, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, Arizona State University
• Maria Gaspar – Interdisciplinary artist
• jackie sumell – Artist
• Phillip “Rock” Lester – Artist

Moderator:

Craig Barton – University Architect, Brown University

EXHIBITION OPENING AND RECEPTION: Mumia Abu-Jamal: A Portrait of Mass Incarceration

Thursday, September 28, 2023 | 4:30 – 6 p.m.
John Hay Library

By presenting items from Mumia Abu-Jamal’s life in prison alongside broader information and objects related to mass incarceration, this exhibition offers a unique opportunity to examine sites and systems of incarceration through both a deeply personal lens and from a holistic perspective. In doing so, it paints a comprehensive portrait of the vast impact the carceral state has had on the human experience in the United States, where two million individuals are currently incarcerated. Remarks by Amanda Strauss, Associate University Librarian for Special Collections and Director of the John Hay Library; Christopher West, Curator of the Black Diaspora, John Hay Library; and poetic interlude with Celes Tisdale, Distinguished Emeritus Professor of English, State University of New York at Buffalo.

DAY THREE

Friday, September 29, 2023 | 9:30 a.m. – 4:35 p.m.
Granoff Center for the Creative Arts, Martinos Auditorium

Featuring noted experts in the fields of policing and racial justice, prisons and health, and women and incarceration; plus a poetry reading and invocation

Day Three Panels:

3. The Policing Impact on the Carceral System

Panelists will discuss the impact of police and public safety on the carceral system from the perspective of police accountability and community trust.

Panelists:

• Robert A. Brown, Ph.D. – Chair & Professor, Department of Criminal Justice; Chair, Department of Social Sciences, University of Maryland Eastern Shore
• Martha Hurley, M.A., Ph.D. – Dean of Liberal Arts, Communication and Social Sciences, Sinclair College, Dayton Ohio
• Kim Neal, J.D. – Independent Policing Auditor & Director, Office of Independent Policing Auditor, City of Alexandria, Virginia

Moderator:

Rodney Chatman – Vice President for Public Safety and Emergency Management, Brown University

4. The Crisis of Medical Care and the Carceral State

Systemic changes in healthcare in the United States have put a strain on existing healthcare, this is clearest in the carceral system. With 44% of prison detainees  receiving a psychiatric diagnosis. prisons are now among the largest providers of healthcare, outstripping major hospitals and other care facilities. This panel of renowned medical and psychiatric experts will discuss major issues in medical care for incarcerated individuals including mental health and hepatitis C.

Panelists:

• Josiah D. Rich, M.D., M.P.H. – Professor of Medicine, Professor of Epidemiology, Brown University
• Hope Metcalf – Lecturer, Yale Law School
• Lauren M. Weinstock – Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University

Moderator:

Christine E. Montross – Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Associate Professor of Medical Science, Brown University

5. Say Her Name: Gender, Justice, and Healing

For more than 50 years, women have been one of the fastest growing segments of the prisoner population. Changes in laws, in sentencing, and in policing have put more women behind bars than ever before. Despite the heavy investment, there is little evidence that this approach reduces or prevents harm, that it mitigates human conflicts, or delivers justice. This panel takes up questions about how women and girls are policed and how their punishment differs from that of men. Most importantly, it considers how gender-informed approaches to justice can mitigate human harm and conflict, and set the conditions for individual, familial, and community healing. 

Panelists:

• Sashi James – Director of Reimagining Communities for The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls
• Gabreélla (Ella) Friday – Postdoctoral Researcher in Race and Ethnicity, Brown University
• Susan Burton – Founder, A New Way of Life Reentry Project

Moderator:

Lisa L. Biggs – John Atwater and Diana Nelson Assistant Professor of the Arts and Africana Studies, Brown University

The symposium and exhibit programs will also feature the first ever performance of Mumia Abu-Jamal’s original musical composition, “Vampire Nation,” by an ensemble led by Marcus R. Grant A.M.’23, Ph.D.’27; poetry readings by DaMaris B. Hill, Ph.D., Celes Tisdale, and Christopher Presfield; opening and closing invocations by Reverend Delphain Demosthenes, Associate Chaplain for the Protestant Community at Brown University; and remarks by Brown University staff members Craig Barton, University Architect; John Eason, Watson Family University Associate Professor of Sociology and International and Public Affairs; Andre C. Willis, Watson Family University Associate Professor of Sociology and International and Public Affairs; Christopher West, Curator of the Black Diaspora, John Hay Library; and Amanda Strauss, Associate University Librarian for Special Collections and Director of the John Hay Library.