Abstract
While Ben Chavis, the Wilmington Ten, and the Charlotte Three continued to work on their appeals, prison inmates rallied around their cause. With the assistance of outside supporters, namely Angela Davis, the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, and a host of labor unions, congressmen, and grassroots organizers, the reputation of North Carolina’s criminal justice and prison system was at stake. But, outside work simply wouldn’t suffice. Like the prisoners’ rights organizations in Scandinavia, inmates would also need to work from the inside out. On March 14, 1973, inmates at Central Prison decided to advocate for change, but not using the old method of riots and disturbances. Instead, they decided to form the North Carolina Prisoners’ Labor Union (NCPLU). An inmate named Wayne Brooks was elected as the inaugural president.1
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
John Irwin, “Nationwide Unions: Coming Together,” The Outlaw: Journal of the Prisoners’ Union 2, no. 1 (May–June 1973): 1; “Ex-Con Reports Prisoner Union Drive Has Begun,” D1.
Alan Bailey, “Prisoners’ Unions,” Unpublished paper, Antioch Law School, August 6, 1973, 7–8.
Michael Myerson, Nothing Could Be Finer (New York: International Publishers, 1978), 198.
Milfred C. Fierce, Slavery Revisited: Blacks and the Southern Convict Lease System, 1865–1933 (New York: Africana Studies Research Center, Brooklyn College, CUNY, 1994), 88;
Matthew Mancini, One Dies, Get Another: Convict Leasing in the American South, 1866–1928 (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1996), 1;
Walter Wilson, “Twilight of the Chain Gang,” Nation, 150 (1940): 44–46;
Fletcher M. Green, “Some Aspects of the Southern Convict Lease System in Southern States,” in Essays in Southern History, edited by Fletcher M Green (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1949), 122.
Copyright information
© 2012 Donald F. Tibbs
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Tibbs, D.F. (2012). Coalitions. In: From Black Power to Prison Power. Contemporary Black History. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137013064_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137013064_7
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-34280-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-01306-4
eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)