Attica
On September 9, 1971, 1200 prisoners at Attica State Prison in upstate New York seized control of the prison demanding better living, working and educational conditions. The rebellion lasted for four days until the New York State Police stormed the prison killing 29 prisoners and 10 hostages.
Documents
Big Black speaks at Attica anniversary event
Big Black (Frank Smith) speaks about “where we should see ourselves in 1977”; US as prison state; need for intra-racial and inter-racial solidarity; responsibility and commitment to political organizing; ends with Q and A session
Attica Prison Rebellion
Collection: Attica
Frank "Big Black" Smith and L.D. Barkley, who proclaimed the Attica Manifesto, and Elizabeth Fink, an attorney for the Attica Brothers. Barkley was killed in the massacre. Smith survived mass torture to help lead the eventually successful legal battle on behalf of the Attica Brothers.
Remember Attica: Blackout
Date: 9/18/1972Call Number: PM 157Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Bruce Soloway, Paul FisherProgram: WBAICollection: Attica
Part III of the “Remember Attica” series. Following the Attica rebellion state officials imposed a news blackout. Days after the state troopers violently ended the rebellion many reporters, lawyers, relatives and doctors are not allowed inside. Commissioner of the State Department of Corrections, Jerry Hoolinan gives a press conference, but offers no answers to the events of the preceding days. The special assistant to the Deputy Attorney General, Robert E. Fisher, gives a public statement and yet leaves the public with no answers. Authorities offer only official statements to the press. The press corners prison guards visiting Attica from other institutions, doctors, lawyers and relatives of prisoners for information. The relatives are worried and were told they could visit , but were not allowed in when they arrived. The doctors and lawyer allowed inside the prison are able to give accounts of the attacks and conditions.
Remember Attica: Reconstruction, Reflection, Reaction
Date: 11/5/1971Call Number: PM 158Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Bruce Soloway, Paul FisherProgram: WBAICollection: Attica
Part V of the “Remember Attica” series. Responses of clergy, attorneys, doctors, congressmen and the prisoner’s relatives in the weeks following the rebellion. Lawyers were admitted on 9/17/71. A week later the National Lawyers Guild gave a press conference outside the prison. They concluded that Rockefeller, and prison officials (Oswald, Mancusi and Vincent) provoked the attack by giving wrongful information to guards and troopers.
On 9/17/71 BUILD, black community activists in Buffalo, went to Meyer Memorial Hospital where seriously wounded prisoners had been taken. BUILD’s executive director, Bill Gater demands that the administrative director of the hospital let him see the prisoners or give him information on their conditions. A list of prisoners and their medical conditions is read. The next day clergy and relatives are let in to see patients. Reverend Richard Ford, president of BUILD speaks about the conditions of the prisoners.
Committees were formed to investigate the events at Attica. A group of New York clergymen and a congressional delegation group speak on Attica.Finally on 9/29 relatives are let into the prison to speak with prisoners. Interviews are conducted with families exiting prison.
Interview with Elizabeth Fink about the Attica Rebellion in 1971
Claude Marks interviews Elizabeth Fink, one of the main lawyers for the Attica Brothers Defense Committeeabout the history of the Attica Prison Rebellion and its aftermath.
Attica 1971
During the radio show, the Attica prison takeover was currently in action. Beginning with folk music, the radio host gives insightful information about the prison struggle through thoughtful spoken word. The host also provides current news about the rebellion, George Jackson, Juan Ortiz, prison conditions, negotiations, hostages (guards), Rockefeller, and the demands of many inmates being sent in exile to a non-imperialist country. The radio show ends with readings from black women poets.
ATTICA: "We are men. We are not beasts and will not be driven as such"
Publisher: Pontiac Prisoners Support CoalitionCollection: Attica
