MUSEUM STUDIES

States of Incarceration

Working with the New York-based Humanities Action Lab, students contributed to a nationally traveling exhibition on the history of mass incarceration, designing a section that showcased moving letters from 1920s chain-gang inmates in North Carolina. When the exhibition opened at the International Civil Rights Center and Museum in Greensboro, students organized a series of powerful public programs featuring voices. At the Open Mic Night at the museum, participants spoke passionately about their experiences with mass incarceration; at the Mass Story Lab, people who had been in prison shared their stories about life after lockup; public tours, too, included people who knew the prison system intimately. The project was a model of shared authority and community engagement.