How do formerly incarcerated Black women’s oral histories reshape our understanding of incarceration and resistance?

A Labor of Livingness: Oral Histories of Formerly Incarcerated Black Women by Robin McGinty is a public-facing, community-based work rooted in the Black freedom struggle. It explores the political subjectivity of formerly incarcerated Black women beyond linear time, revealing the complexities of the ‘living prison’ experience. Their oral histories challenge singular narratives, reflecting historical violences and Black indigenous knowledge systems of refusal. This project highlights incarceration as a continuum rather than an event, centering the lived realities of Black women within and against the carceral state.

Ideal for scholars, activists, policymakers, and members of Incarceration Nations Network seeking critical insights into carceral histories, systemic oppression, and Black feminist resistance.

Robin McGinty, PhD, is a scholar-activist exploring racialized, gendered carceral spaces and serves as a policy advisor in NYC.