Unchaining Black Bars: How African Americans Inside and Outside of Prisons Fought to Reform the American Prison System in the 1970s
By Joanne Hwang
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The institution of slavery can be traced back to the colonial period, when southern colonies became characterized by their reliance on plantations and enslaved labor through the Columbian exchange. African Americans grew to become the dominant labor force in the South, under a legal system that allowed the states to capture and enslave African Americans. The institution of slavery, however, turned out to be a point of contention and sparked the Civil War in 1861. Following the Union’s victory in the war, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments abolished slavery, broadened the definition of citizenship, and granted universal male suffrage, respectively. The end of Reconstruction in 1877 saw the rise of Jim Crow—an era in which Black Codes and economic forms of slavery left African Americans economically, socially, and politically vulnerable. By this time, penitentiaries and prisons had formed across the country, primarily targeting freed African Americans through policing impoverished neighborhoods. In the 1970s, as Jim Crow dictated life in the South and as the prison population grew tremendously, African Americans across the nation rallied for their political freedoms, bringing a series of civil rights movements and organizations. Although mass incarceration of African Americans and poor prison conditions were overshadowed by the federal government’s War on Crime, the emergence of prison activism and the efforts of the Black Power Movement publicly addressed the carceral system. From the 1960s to 1970s, reformers framed prisons as a method of racial oppression, demanded reforms through violent and nonviolent means of protest, and exposed inhumane prison conditions through social movements.
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In the 1970s, the carceral state depended on the absolution of rights by the inmate and ultimate power in the hands of officials such as correctional officers. This constant surveillance and strict discipline reduced the identity of inmates to their number. After slavery was abolished in 1865, frustrated Southern, white men sought other ways to socially and politically oppress African Americans, and they did so through mass incarceration. Alongside Black Codes, which forced formerly enslaved people into exploitative economic systems, political and criminal justice campaigns targeted black men, women, and families. This oppression turned national as New York and Pennsylvania became leading prison states. The prisons in these cities had large African American populations that were disproportionate to the city’s black population. These numbers rose in the early 1970s when President Lyndon B. Johnson invested in curbing crime and violence, later known as his War on Crime. The resistance and political action taken by the incarcerated stood against immense brutality and inhumanity from the prisons and the state.
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Incarcerated activism set a precedent for greater coverage about civil and human rights relating to mass incarceration in America. Amidst the Civil Rights Movement and the growing number of organizations for equality, prison activism emerged out of a similar sentiment. In 1971, a riot broke out in Attica Prison in New York, marking a major turning point in prison activism. Without much regulation, prisons were largely considered controlled by white officers, who exploited prisoners and overtly discriminated against Black inmates. These correctional officers ignored overcrowding, overemphasized solitary confinement, and exhibited a general disregard for safety and hygiene. On September 9, 1971, cell block A of Attica Prison exploded and the ensuing chaos resulted in 42 correctional officers and civilians being held hostage.
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The inmates called themselves the Attica Liberation Faction and faced Commissioner of Correction Russel Oswald in a multi-day negotiation for improved conditions. They demanded civil rights lawyers, aid from civil rights groups, and the end of media censorship, totaling 30 reforms for rights and protections. Although reluctant, Oswald initially agreed to many of these demands, and to the inmates, it seemed as if the riot had been effective. However, many government officials criticized Oswald for negotiating with people the general public saw as less-than-human. Eventually, the death of hostages made the Faction’s condition of amnesty impossible, and New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller ordered a retake of Attica by force. On September 13th, state police entered the prison to retake control of the prison. During this process, it was evident that these officers were not adequately equipped to handle a prison rebellion; the police used lethal weapons to quell the rioters; they yelled explicit and racist remarks, and the events that spanned in a short time resulted in a total of 43 fatalities by gunfire.
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Although the state retook Attica by force, the efforts of the Liberation Faction were not in vain. In the 1972 session of the New York State Legislature, prison reform was on the table. Committees such as the Jones Committee advocated for the development of community-based carceral facilities, emphasized adequate training for employed personnel, and improved medical services for the prisoners. Changes by the administration loosened restrictions on visitation, commissary, and food quantity, and reduced racial tensions. Socially, the Attica prison riot taught the inmates the value and strength of consolidation. White and Black Americans, middle and lower class, shared a sense of responsibility to generate awareness of innate legal rates and arbitrary convictions such as minor drug offenses and protests. Even though these changes were far from sufficient and did little to resolve racism and mass incarceration of African Americans, the Attica Prison Riot brought prison reform to the public eye. Prisoners, who were previously discouraged, felt compelled to create public awareness following the immediate media attention in Attica—it provided a way for inmates to be listened to and connect with the outside world. As a result, the Attica Prison Riot brought the hidden and ignored issue of mass incarceration and punitive justice to light, stirring attitudes toward reform on the state and public levels.
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Efforts to reform within prisons stemmed from the collective disillusion and dehumanization of African American inmates. In response to the alarming number of Black incarceration, the 1970s Civil Rights Movement added prison and criminal justice reform to their agenda. Following another large riot in San Quentin State Prison and the incarceration of Black revolutionary George Jackson, African American prison groups began to emerge. The Black Guerilla Family (BGF) was a black power prison gang and an example of a prisoner-led organization in the 1970s. With George Jackson and his radical politics as a central figure, the BGF emphasized ideals of pan-Africanism and the protection of African American inmates.
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Even after Jackson was killed by a correctional officer at San Quentin State Prison, the black inmates kept his legacy alive by organizing a tradition called “Black August,” marking and exposing the oppression of Black people in the country. While Black August began in California, the practice spread to black prisoner coalitions across the East throughout the 1970s. Just as the Attica Prison Riots ended in force, the BGF were repressed and further criminalized, limiting their influence on reform. Prison administrations saw the BGF as a correctional problem and responded with increased surveillance and solitary confinement. After the 1970s, BGF was officially validated as a prison organization or gang—which framed them as violent and further criminalized black inmates. However, the black-led organization compelled prison authorities to respond to proposed reform initiatives by focusing on the survival of Black inmates in a racially hostile environment. Members of the family protected each other against prison guards and paved the way for gang formation, giving back a little agency in a carceral system that stripped African Americans of their freedom.
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The prison reform movement and riots coincided with the 1970s Civil Rights Movement as African American protesters faced opposition from state police and local governments. One of the main advocates in the cross section between prison reform and civil rights emerged from the Black Power Movement, a movement that broke off from the mainstream, non-violent civil disobedience movement. The Black Panther Party was the most prominent Black Power group, known for its blunt and expressive way of advocating for political rights, black nationalism, and self-defense. The party sought to protect African American rights through armed resistance and community service programs such as community breakfasts and medical care. Unlike their civil disobedience-focused counterparts, the Black Panther Party wanted the government to directly acknowledge the root of inequality and racism without having to assimilate into an acceptable or polite culture. In their Ten Point Program, they called for the end of police brutality, freedom for all incarcerated black men, and access to the law and peace. Their direct attitude brought barriers and condemnation from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) who framed the Black Panthers as violent. Employing tactics of repetitive reporting and counterintelligence to undermine their influence, members of the Black Panthers were often targeted by law enforcement, resulting in long arrests. As a result, members of the Black Panther Party were often targeted by local law enforcement, contributing to rates of mass incarceration.
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Many Black Panther leaders—Bobby Seale, Eldridge Cleaver, and Huey Newton—faced detainment. The experience of incarceration and political oppression helped generate a personal and social motivation to dismantle the carceral state. In 1967, Black Panther leader Huey Newton was imprisoned on the charge of voluntary manslaughter of a police officer. From within a prison cell, Newton helped catalyze the Free Huey movement, a national movement demanding the release of Newton which unified civil rights activists and prison reformers over the issue of race inequality and prison reform. The Party took advantage of public opportunities to engage the public in Huey’s arrest and prison reform; they moved along college campuses, used their newspaper The Black Panther, and held high-profile rallies to collect funds and fellow brothers.
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In the Free Huey Movement, the Panthers emphasized Huey and other incarcerated African Americans as political prisoners—people incarcerated due to the inadequate support of society and the federal government to provide basic needs such as food and housing. In addition, the notion of a political prisoner was used to de-criminalize Black communities by considering the arrests as a consequence of society’s desire to control and oppress the influence of Black Americans rather than due to a crime. Therefore, the Free Huey campaign made Newton a symbol of black resistance against police brutality and political criminalization, allowing the Panthers to make alliances with groups like the Peace and Freedom Party to challenge the racially biased criminal justice system.
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Similarly, Black Panther Party co-founder Bobby Seale was tried in the 1969 to 1970 Chicago Eight (later Chicago Seven) trial for inciting a riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. The trial exposed the inhumane and racially motivated treatment of Black Americans. When Seale’s lawyer, Eldridge Cleaver, was unable to represent him due to a hospitalization, the Judge refused to allow Seale to represent himself. Viewing Seale as a violent criminal, the Judge mandated that Seale be restrained during the trial. As demonstrated in the illustration Bobby Seale, Bound and Gagged, however, the binds rendered Seale immobile and publicly humiliated the black defendants at the trial (see Illustration 1). Within the Civil Rights Movement, this trial caused outrage, exposing the racial bias in the justice system; the dehumanization of black prisoners made it blatantly clear that the legal system was inherently anti-Black and was intended to, not serve justice, but silence Black revolutionaries. Public support for Seale was mobilized; rallies for the freedom of multiple Panthers helped address the larger issue of a systemically racist carceral system. Eventually, Seale was exonerated on some charges, but the fight to reform and efforts to free political prisoners did not end.
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The Black Panther Party continued to bring awareness to the mass incarceration of African Americans through their newspaper. Using firsthand accounts from Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, and Charles Bursey, the Panthers described the inhumane and racially tense conditions in great detail. For instance, prisons used solitary confinement as a way to isolate black political revolutionaries in addition to inadequate housing, food, and medical care. While the legal system acted under the idea of justice, these penitentiaries often became an extension of oppression by the state. The notion of a political prisoner was vital in shifting the conversation of prison reform, and the Party radicalized public consciousness. By sympathizing, rather than victimizing, the Black incarcerated population, these activists attempted to reduce the criminal stereotype around Black men and humanize the incarcerated. In term, this provided fuel for prison abolitionists and restorative justice.
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The experiences of Black Power Movement leaders and black intellectuals in prison proliferated literature and writing that exposed the systemic inequality behind the incarceration and criminalization of African Americans. In 1972, political activist Angela Davis was arrested on suspicion of murder and conspiracy to kidnap. During her time in prison, Davis faced brutality but also witnessed the fruits of a growing prison reform movement when the National Conference of Black Lawyers succeeded in ending Davis’ solitary confinement.
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Contributing to this fervor, Davis wrote a collection of prison activism and protest in If They Come in a Morning. Her writing drew attention as a response to brutality and the usage of prisons as political repression of Black Americans. In 1974, two years after Davis was acquitted, she published With My Mind on Freedom: An Autobiography, which strengthened the notion of political prisoners and expressed a desire to create a community of struggle against racism and poverty She connected the carceral system to America’s history of segregation, citing prisons as a continuation of slavery in a different form. After Davis was released from prison, she dedicated her activism to freeing other political prisoners and took a philosophical approach to the societal repression of Black Americans. Davis represented a stance toward prisons more radical than reform—prison abolition. By upending the very system founded on racism and inequality, Davis’ critique of prisons touched upon capitalism, sexism, and racism in an effort to reclaim autonomy and humanity denied by this mode of punishment.
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Similarly, George Jackson’s series of prison letters in Soledad Brother criticized slavery’s roots in capitalism and details specific evidence of how prisons intentionally discourage black radicalism. Jackson personalized the inmate experience, exposing how his identity as a black revolutionary made him vulnerable and a target of the carceral system. Jackson provided details of his realizations from within prison and his experience reclaiming his political identity. In doing so, the hypocrisy of prison systems is underlined: rather than being a place of change and healing, prisons are ways to contain black voices. In Soledad Brother and other works, Jackson called upon the public to reflect on the carceral systems of their state, interrogate existing structures and government, and take action for the people behind bars who can’t.
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By exposing horrible conditions and systemic issues through literature, Davis and Jackson humanized the incarcerated and generated sympathy for African Americans. Davis not only wrote about her own experiences but also shared ideas and analysis with the Soledad Brothers. In responding and creating dialogue with other political prisoners of the social and political system, Davis created a sense of solidarity. Although prisons are meant to tear down the resolve of black radicals, Davis’ commitment to prison reform grew; freedom for inmates went beyond prison bars, but it also meant equality and opportunity in policy, economy, and social life to prevent mass incarceration. Jackson detailed the psychological torture such as withholding food and violence in order to reveal unwarranted cruelty rather than rehabilitation used in prisons. He and Davis turned a silent issue into a loud one—not always through voice but through literature. They emphasized the dehumanizing purpose of prisons and provided tangible evidence of mistreatment, giving a voice to oppressed inmates.
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In providing the perspective and vile conditions within prisons, the perspective of black men as inherently criminal dissipated. However, the influence of riots, the Black Panthers, and writers were short-lived. Ultimately, the movement of mass incarceration failed to bring about immediate change and lost traction by the late 1970s and early 1980s. As previously mentioned, the FBI also had an eye on Angela Davis, The Black Panthers, and other influential prison and civil rights activists through programs like the CounterIntelligence Program (COINTELPRO). COINTELPRO surveilled leaders of the Black Power Movement, and while they claimed to have dismantled the Ku Klux Klan, more extensive techniques were used against the Black Panthers and the New Left. Prison reformers and civil rights activists both fought the government at the state and federal level which often undermined the efforts to change the carceral system.
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In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a War on Crime, marking an era of abundant Federal investment in local law enforcement to prevent future disorder. This included legislation such as the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Street Act which invested in police forces to help control, contain, and confine African Americans. While the goal was to expand supervision over low-income urban neighborhoods, this federal program was inherently racist, hiding motivations of COINTELPRO and oppression behind the facade of restoring peace. Black residents counted more police interactions and more extensive criminal records, thus becoming overrepresented in crime statistics. As a result, the percentage of black prisoners increased from 27 percent to upwards of 38 percent between 1970 and 1977. This, coupled with the decreased access to education and employment, created a criminal stereotype around African Americans and increased the likelihood of incarceration. This backward shift in public perception, orchestrated by the federal government, undermined the reform efforts attempting to humanize incarcerated African Americans; fear triumphed over humanity.
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While the War on Crime and Drugs was initiated under Johnson, Richard Nixon—who won with the silent majority—carried out the campaign. Framing crime and drugs as a national priority, Nixon diverted negative attention toward Black militant groups and emphasized incarceration as an effective method of cleaning up crime. Since the federal government was always watched through the media, Nixon’s “tough on crime” acceptance speech quickly disseminated his Law and Order rhetoric throughout the nation. While Black Power Movements and prison reform activists attempted to break through these stereotypes, the high rates of arrests strengthened the anti-crime agenda by creating an image of Black Americans as the main perpetrators of crime in the United States. In the end, the prison reform movement slowed and the Black Panther Party was dismantled due to the successful efforts of the FBI, overshadowing achievements and reforms against the carceral state.
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The mass incarceration crisis of African Americans is still pertinent in modern society. The unequal and racially biased concentration of wealth and the lingering effects of redlining and ghettos have created a lasting impact on the American carceral system. Movements such as Black Lives Matter and other prison abolition movements take inspiration from the Black Power Movements and prison writers in order to fight for social and political rights. From overcrowding to modern police brutality, the prison reform movement goes beyond inhumane conditions and prison violence; it’s about targeting a history of oppression. Currently, prisons and jails like Rikers and Sing Sing are garnering attention through the news and media coverage. But, the system has yet to acknowledge the foundationally racist origins. Riots, literature, and the efforts of the Black Power Movement were pivotal in framing inmates as political prisoners of racial oppression. By protesting inside and outside of prison walls, these movements challenged the War on Crime rhetoric of the time, enacting some legislative reforms on the structure of prisons, even if they ultimately fell to a national fear of violence. These efforts in the 1970s thus laid the foundations for the continuous fight to liberate and abolish the carceral state because it was inherently built on racist and prejudiced legislation and forced America to confront the inhumanity of the prison system.
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