Mumia Abu-Jamal: A Portrait of Mass Incarceration exhibit

Opening: Thursday, September 28, 2023 at 4:30 p.m.
Runs through July 19, 2024
John Hay Library, 20 Prospect St., Providence RI
Hours

Mumia Abu-Jamal is a poet, writer, musician, scholar, historian, archivist, public radio producer, journalist, painter, and public intellectual, who has been incarcerated for 40-plus years. His story, collections, and writings serve as one of the anchors for the Voices of Mass Incarceration in the United States collections at the John Hay Library. In viewing this exhibition, you are invited to see Mumia Abu-Jamal through the prodigious output of his archival collection — totaling more than 80 boxes and amassed over nearly 40 years of incarceration. 

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.