THE NEWEST AMERICANS: A NATIONAL DIALOGUE OF LOCAL HISTORIES

States of Incarceration: A National Dialogue of Local Histories

Rutgers University-Newark through Newest Americans, the Graduate Program in American Studies, and Professor Mary Rizzo's Public History students have been working in collaboration with the Humanities Action Lab and 20 university partners across the country to build a national traveling public project on histories and current realities of mass incarceration. Along the way, they are engaging in a national dialogue on why the past matters for the present, and how public humanities can confront social issues. Please join us for the exhibit opening and conference in April!

WHEN: National Exhibition Launch: Thursday, April 14, 6:00-7:30 p.m. WHERE: The Auditorium, Alvin Johnson/J.M. Kaplan Hall, 66 West 12th Street, Ground Floor Conversation between Glenn Martin and Venida Browder WHEN: Opening Reception: to follow the National Exhibition Launch, 7:30-8:30 p.m. WHERE: Arnold and Sheila Aronson Galleries, 66 Fifth Avenue, Ground Floor Please R.S.V.P. for the launch and reception here. Conference: Friday and Saturday, April 15-16, 9:00-5:00 pm WHERE: Theresa Lang Community and Student Center, Arnhold Hall, 55 West 13th Street, Room I202, New York, NY 10011 Please R.S.V.P. for the conference here. States of Incarceration will bring together the national community of over 500 people in 20 cities who together created a traveling exhibition on the past, present, and future of mass incarceration. Teams of students and people directly affected by incarceration from 20 cities each explores a history of incarceration in their own community, from Angola’s slave plantation-turned-prison in Louisiana, to the legacies of the Dakota Wars for Native American incarceration in Minnesota, to immigration detention at Ellis Island and Elizabeth, New Jersey. For its staging in New York City, the exhibition includes a focus on Rikers Island, developed by New School students in collaboration with The Fortune Society. The exhibition launches at the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, Arnold and Sheila Aronson Galleries, at The New School April 3-21, 2016, before traveling to partner sites across the country. Thursday, join a conversation on remembering Rikers Island between: Glenn E. Martin, founder and president of JustLeadershipUSA, (JLUSA), and Venida Browder, whose son Kalief Browder’s arrest for allegedly stealing a backpack, and his subsequent suicide, sparked national conversation on Rikers’ Island. Friday and Saturday, commentators include: Dr. Khalil Gibran Muhammad, Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Dr. Marie Gottschalk, University of Pennsylvania political scientist, Secretary John E. Wetzel, Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, Dr. Heather Thompson, University of Michigan historian, and Rev. Vivian Nixon, Executive Director of the College and Community Fellowship. Co-sponsored by the Humanities Action Lab, JustLeadershipUSA, the Center for New York City Affairs, Create Forward, and Theatre of the Oppressed NYC. 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, and TenLegs.