Black/Inside

Black/Inside included a number of interactive public workshops that introduced spectators to the parameters of the prison industrial complex; a virtual exhibition and popular education guide; guided tours for Chicago Public School (CPS) students and community organizations; and a performance by Stillpoint Theatre Collectives Sisters Rising, a theater ensemble comprised entirely of formerly incarcerated women. Black/Inside was prominently featured in traditional media (NPR/WBEZ, WVON, The Chicago Tribune, CAN TV) and social media, covered by the UIC News, and tied to the CPS social science curricula. The project welcomed more than 650 visitors to include: students, social workers, justice system professionals, ex-offenders, public and charter school students, members of faith based organizations, artists and members of the general public.

From comments recorded in our Visitor’s Book, it seems clear that the exhibit and concurrent programming educated, moved, and inspired visitors, many of whom had personal experiences with law enforcement. No one left with the same understanding of the criminal legal system, of the men, women and children who have been incarcerated, or of ordinary people’s ability to mobilize for social change: “Wow, where to begin…They accused blacks of everything…Racism is systemic and institutionalized…I learned so much, particularly about the role everyday people can play in creating change…I will be back”. Such was the support of the project, that when Black/Inside closed at UIC, it moved to an exhibition hall at Trinity United Church of Christ at 400 West 95th, where it was on display for several months.

Nearly 2.3 million people are locked in America’s prisons and jails today. In the 1960’s Malcolm X suggested that “America means prison.” His statement is even more appropriate today. The United States has five percent of the worlds population and twenty-five percent of its prisoners. To call the United States a prison nation is to be stating the obvious. However, not everyone is equally targeted by the Prison Industrial Complex. African Americans, in particular, are disproportionately impacted by this American epidemic of mass incarceration.They comprise forty-four percent of the prison population even while only making up about twelve percent of the total U.S. population. Over the years, a number of unknown and famous prisoners have written about their experiences of incarceration. The Black/ Inside exhibition considers how a system of imprisoning black men and women in the United States has been sustained from colonial times to the present. One of the goals of the exhibition is to feature the voices of black prisoners addressing their experience of captivity, confinement and freedom. George Jackson, who became known as one of the Soledad Brothers is a terrific example of a prisoner whose writing helped to illuminate the experience of incarceration for a whole generation of people across the world. He wrote that his life as a black man in America prepared him for his prison experience.