Say Her Name: Black Women and the Carceral Experience Since 1865

The death of George Floyd has increased national attention to police brutality and mass incarceration. However, the death of Breonna Taylor has not garnered as much attention, nor have the experiences of imprisoned Black women. This course examines the experiences of captive Black women from the mid-nineteenth century to the present and will probe the prison-industrial complex as well as asylums and other mental health spaces as carceral spaces. Themes will interrogate the criminalization of Black women, definitions of insanity, and activism surrounding Black women’s incarceration.