Stories from incarcerated persons, their families, advocates, and journalists about the history of abuse and mistreatment at New York’s most infamous prison, and how it symbolizes an excessively punitive correctional system

An afternoon of conversation and spoken word from formerly incarcerated women impacted by the intersection of mass incarceration and reproductive health issues. A collaboration with Toshi Reagon’s Word, Rock, and Sword: A Festival Exploration of Women’s Lives.

The first panel, “Body Rock: The Politics of Black Female Identity on ‘Stage’,” examines the ways that the black female body is both desired and disdained in public space, whether on the stage, in the digital sphere, or on the street

The second panel, “Mythologies of the Diva: Reexamining the Image of Black Women in Pop Culture” investigates the archetype of the diva and how it’s expressed in pop culture. You’re invited to participate in an informal conversation examining, criticizing, and reinventing a narrative around your own ideas of the diva as it relates to black female identity.

The third panel, “Beyond Binaries and Boxes: Deconstructing and Re-envisioning Black Feminism(s),” asks you to reframe and reenvision black feminism(s) to include creativity, abundance, and collective liberation in the twenty-first century.