Coalition for Women Prisoners Collection Showcase

Join the Barnard Archives to celebrate new oral histories in the Coalition for Women Prisoners (CWP) collection and learn more about the history of feminist anti-carceral struggles in New York. Former CWP members, student oral history interviewers, and archives staff will come together with faculty, students, and other researchers to talk about the lessons of CWP struggles for reproductive justice and learn how to use these collections in teaching, research, and organizing. Dinner will be served!

The Coalition for Women Prisoners was founded in 1994 to support women impacted by the criminal legal system in New York State. The Coalition was coordinated by the Women in Prison Project of the Correctional Association, and carried out legislative and policy advocacy, public education, and community organizing work. Members included formerly incarcerated people, social service providers, academics, attorneys, city and state agency staff, non-profit organizations, faith and community leaders, and community activists. In 2022, after sunsetting, the organization donated its papers to the Barnard Archives and Special Collections. Over the past year, interviewers (including Obden Mondésir, Eve Glazier, Adam Johnson, Ana Sofia Harrison, and Ava Sullivan-Thomas) have completed oral history interviews with former members to supplement the documentary materials available in the collection. Over the summer of 2023, oral history interviews focused on the experiences of members who worked on reproductive justice campaigns such as the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act and anti-shackling laws.

This event is free and open to all. RSVP is required. Please let us know of any access needs via the RSVP form.

Co-sponsors: Barnard Center for Research on Women (BCRW). We gratefully acknowledge the funding of a Barnard Reproductive Health Grant.