In preparing these histories for the public, each interview has passed through an extensive review process and received narrator approval. These oral histories will be physically archived at the Schomburg Center in Harlem, NY, and subsets of the archive will also be accessible at the Freedom Archives in the East Bay, CA, and at the Invisible Institute in Chicago, IL. 

Movements Against Mass Incarceration is a public archive, and we encourage the use of these materials for public and community education and advocacy, journalism, research, and other endeavors that serve the public good and constructive social change. 

Equally important, we wish to stress the ethical standards that all visitors to the archive are called to uphold.  We are honored that you are taking time to explore this archive and ask that you enter the archive with the following principles in mind:

Respect the lives and stories of the narrators.

• Engaging in oral history is often a vulnerable process – we are deeply thankful to our narrators for entrusting us with their stories and hope the process of sharing these stories offers a kind of healing that only telling the truth can. Visitors to the website should recognize that our narrators are active, vital members and contributors to their communities; they have loved ones who care deeply about them. We entrust you to use the material respectfully and thoughtfully. As a witness, please refrain from misrepresenting their stories or taking things out of context, and please do seek out more context to better understand the issues and circumstances that narrators discuss. Witnessing the archives also comes with the expectation that you will not use this material as a mode for justifying harm or retribution. We hope that this project will inspire us to reconsider what real “justice” might look like.

 
Recognize that some of the content is difficult, and take care accordingly. 

• Prison is a fundamentally violent institution, but people’s experiences with violence usually happen long before they experience incarceration. Therefore, some content explored in the archive may be distressing to some readers. We encourage visitors to read our full statement on these matters, and to take heed: we offer a general warning that the personal histories in archive do touch on themes of violence (physical, domestic, sexual, carceral, and self harm), substance abuse, injustice, and more that may be found across the archive. Please practice discretion when engaging the archive and take space as you need it. In particular, please take care when introducing younger audiences to the material or audiences for whom this material may be triggering.

 
Reference the archive and narrators appropriately.

• Our narrators own the copyright to their oral histories. When citing this material, please attribute it appropriately as: "Oral History of [Narrator First Name and Last Name]" by Interviewer First and Last Name, Movements Against Mass Incarceration. Month, Day, Year of publication, URL (accessed date). And as a courtesy, please inform us of how you are making use of this archive by filling out this short 4-question online form. It is helpful to us and our narrators to know how the archive is being used.