Abstract

Abstract:

The first part of this essay situates the relationship between the university and the prison through coauthor Garrett Felber'sexperiences teaching at the University of Mississippi and abolitionist organizing in the state between 2017 and 2021.

The second half the essay explores the coauthor T. Dionne Bailey's personal connection to mass incarceration. This connection then led the author to gain a deeper understanding of a carceral system that historically has criminalized and demonized African American girls and women, including both her mother and sister. While in graduate school at the University of Mississippi, the author spent ten years traveling around the state conducting archival research and interviewing those with a close connection to ParchmanPenitentiary. The author's goal was to uncover and shed light onto the lived experiences of African American girls and women exploited, abused, and harmed within this system. The essay further explores the author's current journey of organizing in the South and her active engagement in the life-saving practice of abolition.

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