Joseph Weiss

Apr 3, 2024 | publicbooks.org | Nick Barber |Joseph Weiss |Charlotte Rosen

It began, as such things often do, with a strike. On November 2, 1970—a mere 10 months before the Attica prison rebellion—men incarcerated at Auburn prison refused to work on Black Solidarity Day. When Auburn’s warden retaliated against the 13 men identified as “ringleaders,” the prison erupted. The state’s reprisal was merely the latest in a long line of racist and repressive actions against Auburn’s increasingly politicized prisoners.