Norfolk City Jail Drum Circle

Freestyle Session - New 2018 Class

Here's the latest from the jailed students of Norfolk city.  (Excuse the background noise; a buzz saw and sludge hammer were active next door).

Good Mind

the third song recorded this semester in our music class. DECE's back! Castro's really coming into his talent on this one too.

Behind These Bars

Some new students in class today.  Shout out Douglas, Deck, Bradley Shines, DECE and Antwan Valentine on the track

H Double B

A bonus track for the new year!  This single verse track was recorded by Andrew Castro of the fall 2018 jailed music class.

Early To Rise

This is the first recording produces in the summer '19 music class with the jailed women of Norfolk City. This recording features Ms. Toya, Ms. Tracy, Stephanie, Buffy, and Kara.

Please excuse background noise, which includes orders of COs, and the shackling and chaining of women. Special thanks do these jailed artists for speaking out!

This song is inspired by "Lost Ones" by Lauren Hill. Shout out to Anubis Sound Temple on the track. -KM

Emancipation

This song features all jailed artists of the summer 2019 women's class and is inspirited by gospel/blues artist Sister Rosetta Thorpe!

Music In The Air - 12 Bar Blues

DJ HBB Mix 1

I Have a Voice/Women of Power

Richness In Life

Lifted

Up All Night

Abolition Soul

Black Sheep

What Would You Do?

:: Check out original lyrics and sounds by incarcerated artists in the Humanities Behind Bars Music Program, facilitated by Kole Matheson ::
:: Our Mission ::
In 2016, Dr. Meghan McDowell and Dr. Alison Reed, both professors at Old Dominion University, co-founded Humanities Behind Bars after facilitating a weekly reading group at Norfolk City Jail. As they established this community partnership and educational ties between the university and jail, the Humanities Behind Bars (HBB) program grew into a grassroots collective of teachers, students, activists, and artists committed to imagining a just world. Our work is rooted in community-based education and organizing that centers formerly and currently incarcerated people and their loved ones. HBB also draws inspiration from inside/outside programs centered on the creative and critical power of artists and activists impacted by incarceration, such as “Humanities Behind the Walls” at Arizona State University/Perryville Women’s Prison (with which Dr. McDowell was previously involved) and considers this model one of many in its abolitionist genealogy. Our volunteers are dedicated to serving the professional goals of students on the inside while developing transformative pedagogies that inspire healing and holistic visions of social life.
In addition to teaching and learning with students at Norfolk City Jail, Humanities Behind Bars hosts letter-writing hours in order to build solidarity with incarcerated writers across the state of Virginia. We also facilitate critical spaces in the Tidewater community, such as a reading and film series for collective study and critique of the Prison Industrial Complex. Moreover, we have formed a reading group on prison pedagogy. Our political education program thus models our commitment to cultivating inside/outside alliances and abolitionist praxis.

Humanities Behind Bars

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