Manumission: Liberated Consciousness of a Prison(er) Abolitionist

Fully revised and edited 2nd edition of Manumission: The Liberated Consciousness of a Prison(er) Abolitionist by Ralph C. Hamm III, is a remarkable book. It is not only an exemplar, presented as eight lessons, for teaching black history but more importantly it is a pathway for all people of color to reclaim their own history, liberation and consciousness. Ralph’s history is not only one of personal tragedy, criminal injustice, and prison brutality, but the true expression of the human spirit to obtain manumission in its fullest sense. Ralph was one of the founders of the nation’s first certified prisoners’ union (National Prisoner Rights Association), and one of the driving forces behind the Black Consciousness movement in Massachusetts’ prisons (BANTU). With almost 50 years in prison, for a crime committed as a teenager, his leadership and political activism in prison reform has been met with punishment and repeated denials for parole. His struggle for prisoner rights is the articulate voice of a politically conscious prisoner and needs to be heard by everyone.