States of Incarceration: A National Dialogue of Local Histories
A Traveling Exhibition from the Humanities Action Lab at Historic Northampton and Forbes Library
March 13 - 30, 2017 (Open during each institution's regular hours)
March 13 - 30, 2017 (Open during each institution's regular hours)
Historic Northampton is pleased to host the traveling exhibit States of Incarceration: A National Dialogue of Local Histories, (http://statesofincarceration.org/), a project of the Humanities Action Lab at the New School in New York. The exhibit was developed by students, faculty and community partners at twenty universities across the country, among them the UMass Amherst Public History Program.
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Opening Reception
Monday, March 13, 2017 | 5 - 8 pm at Historic Northampton & Forbes Library The exhibit opens March 13th from 5 to 8 pm with receptions at both Historic Northampton and Forbes Library.
Voices From Inside
Featuring Voices From Inside
7 pm at Historic Northampton Voices from Inside will perform Voices Carry, a collection of original poetry readings by women who were formerly incarcerated about the physical and emotional experiences of incarceration and the return to life outside. |
States of Incarceration: A National Dialogue of Local Histories
Featuring a guided tour of States of Incarceration
6 pm at Forbes Library A short discussion and guided tour of the exhibit by several local residents -- scholars, students and activists -- who played a role in creating the exhibit. Two of the presenters were members of the Statewide Harm Reduction Coalition, which fought the construction of the Chicopee jail in the early 2000s. Scenes from the protests are featured in the exhibit. |
Historic Northampton and Forbes Library have partnered to share the exhibit (neither institution was large enough to host it in its entirety) and to cosponsor programs that explore incarceration.
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Historic Northampton is adding local and historical components to this national exhibit. Students from the UMass Public History program produced a timeline of incarceration in Northampton that traces the history of jails and punishment in Northampton from the 1600s to the present. A small exhibit at Historic Northampton will showcase artifacts and photographs from local jails. In a public lecture on March 25 (3 pm at Coolidge Museum at Forbes Library), Mike Ryan will discuss crime and punishment in Northampton and the development of the series of Northampton jails and houses of correction. He will describe how philosophies about incarceration have changed here over the last 350 years.
On March 23, Historic Northampton is partnering with the American Studies Department at Smith College to show the Oscar-nominated film 13th by Ava DuVernay. This powerful film explores the intersection of racism and criminal justice, from its roots in slavery to today’s modern-day prison labor system. The documentary will be screened at 7 pm at Smith College in Weinstein Auditorium, Wright Hall. The great numbers of incarcerated persons with mental illness is an issue with special resonance for Northampton because of the existence of Northampton State Hospital. When the hospital closed in 1993, some mentally ill persons who were left to fend for themselves on the streets of our city fell into the criminal justice system. In a public lecture on March 29 at 7 pm at Forbes Library, Robert Fleischner, an attorney at the Center for Public Representation in Northampton, will describe how prisons have become the new asylums. On April 3 at 7 pm at Forbes Library, Holyoke Community College students will do a staged reading of Pulitzer Prize winner Marsha Norman’s play Getting Out. The fully staged play will be performed at HCC from April 20-22. |
Calendar of Programs
Opening Reception of States of Incarceration
Screening of Ava DuVernay's film 13th
Punishment in Paradise: The History of Incarceration
in Northampton, 1654-present
Real Madness: Warehousing People with Mental Illness in Prisons
Staged Reading of Getting Out by Marsha Norman
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In bringing this exhibit and conversation to western Massachusetts, the two organizations are part of the States of Incarceration: Pioneer Valley project in which 20 organizations are presenting more than 35 programs to explore incarceration through discussion, art, film and lecture. The full list of programs offered and a description of Hamptons and Holyoke Read community books events can be found at www.PV-SOI.org.
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, National Endowment for the Humanities, Whiting Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Mellon Foundation, Department of History Feinberg Family Distinguished Lecture Series, University of Massachusetts Amherst Office of Research Development, and TenLegs.