The prison records, correspondence and artwork of Abu-Jamal, and related materials from advocate Johanna Fernández, will anchor a collection at the John Hay Library focused on first-person accounts of incarceration.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] - The John Hay Library, home to Brown University's special collections, in partnership with Brown's Pembroke Center, has acquired a vast set of records, writings and artwork from political activist Mumia Abu-Jamal. A journalist who was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1982, Abu-Jamal's incarceration and sentencing have stirred fierce national debates about racial injustice and the ethics of the death penalty.
The library has also obtained related personal papers from Johanna Fernández - a Brown Class of 1993 graduate and esteemed historian of social movements and 20th century American history - who has been a longtime advocate for Abu-Jamal and has for decades maintained his innocence.
Questions about Abu-Jamal's guilt have prompted deep legal examination and fueled international discussion since the 1980s, and the acquisition of his papers is part of a broader initiative to advance research on incarceration. Curated by Mary Murphy, the Nancy L. Buc '65 Pembroke Center archivist, the Abu-Jamal papers will serve as anchors for a new strategic collecting focus at the John Hay Library: Voices of Mass Incarceration.
"The carceral system touches millions of Americans' lives, yet the historical archive has a scarcity of stories of incarcerated people," said Amanda E. Strauss, director of the John Hay Library. "This Voices of Mass Incarceration collecting focus aims to provide researchers with unprecedented access to the first-person accounts they need to understand the experiences of people who have spent time in prisons and jails, enriching our collective understanding of how the expanding carceral system has transformed American society."
