Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Slavery is Model for US Prison Book-Banning
Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
10 Sep 2019
🖨️ Print Article

Although First Amendment guarantees of freedom of expression apply to prisoners, the “catch is that these rights can be restricted in the interest of security,” said Professor Brittany Friedman, a sociologist at Rutgers University. Slavery sought to perfect the imprisoning of both mind and body, said Friedman, and is a model for pervasive book banning in US prisons.

Mass Black Incarceration

Related Podcasts

Involuntary Servitude in the Prison System
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Involuntary Servitude in the Prison System
24 June 2022
Savannah Eldrige is the founder of Coaliton to Abolish Slave
White Capitalist Law vs “Uncontrollable Blackness”
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
White Capitalist Law vs “Uncontrollable Blackness”
01 September 2020
The United States “criminalizes Black Americans,” but Black men “are not looking to be controlled” by this racist system, said Douglas
 Getting Out the Word: #PrisonsKill
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
Getting Out the Word: #PrisonsKill
25 August 2020
The Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee, IWOC, “is committed to the militant organizing of prisoners that takes its leadership and focus from

More Stories


  • That is not the Question
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    That is not the Question
    04 Nov 2020
    The question is not if teargas breath thugs weaponizing COVID; co-signing starvation; stage whispering, “Lock her up!” ripping children from mothers’ arms—splintering 
  • Rubble Kings: How the Violence Stopped and Hip Hop Emerged in the South Bronx
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Rubble Kings: How the Violence Stopped and Hip Hop Emerged in the South Bronx
    04 Nov 2020
    A fact-based, crowd-funded film on urban devastation and gang warfare in the South Bronx packs a bigger political punch than the cult classic, The Warriors.
  • The Long Shadow of Racial Fascism
    Alberto Toscano
    The Long Shadow of Racial Fascism
    04 Nov 2020
    Comparing Trump to European fascists often ignores the fact that racial slavery created its own unique form of fascism.
  • Letters from Our Readers
    BAR Comments Editor Jahan Choudhry
    Letters from Our Readers
    04 Nov 2020
    This week Covid-19, Left solidarity, and the duopoly were on your minds.
  • BAR Book Forum: Khosi Xaba’s “Queer Africa”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Khosi Xaba’s “Queer Africa”
    04 Nov 2020
    We are in a time zone wherein the problematic of queerness is being emancipated through story telling.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us