NEW YORK STATE LITERARY CENTER'S Incarcerated Education Program
2011 - 2012

The sixth year of the New York State Literary Center's Incarcerated Education Program began with a meeting between Dale Davis and members of the administrative division of the Office of The Sheriff to go over the New York State Literary Center's programs with incarcerated youth since it began the partnership with Office of The Sheriff in 2006. From its experience with incarcerated youth, NYSLC identified a lack of knowledge of history as a major academic need. The idea for creating an historical timeline evolved from this meeting. 

At Monroe County Jail:

 
At Monroe Correctional Facility:

Dale Davis followed up on the idea and zeroed in on the dates 1950 - 1970 for the political and social impact that people, places, and events from that time period have had. Dale Davis built the foundation and curriculum for The Timeline Project 1950 - 1970 based upon NYLSC's belief that knowledge begins with knowing the students, the relevance of the information presented, and the student's ability to relate to the information. Research for the period, 1950 - 1970, included Rochester history, number of television sets in the U.S., health related inventions and treatment, popular culture, and the Civil Rights movement. Davis complied her research into an eleven-page document as a guideline for the project. A screening of the film "July 64" https://itvs.org/films/july_64 was incorporated into the curriculum for The Timeline Project 1950 - 1970, as well as some of photographs that were used in the film. The University of Rochester Rare Books and Special Collections provided copies of photographs for use in the project. A graduate student, supervised by Davis, worked at the Rochester Public Library to obtain copies of Rochester newspaper headlines and articles from 1950 - 1970. The headlines, articles, copies of images, copies of Rochester photos, stories, enabled the students to manipulate and physically sequence the information while constructing the Timeline with visual artist Margo Muto. Rochester City Council Member At Large Dana Miller addressed the incarcerated youth with his reflections on growing up in Rochester in the time period to introduce the youth to oral history. 

Dear Dana Miller,

Thank you for coming to Monroe County Jail. I was the guy in orange sitting next to the Lieutenant. I want you to know my charge does not reflect my character. I am an intelligent individual.  I leave on June 8 at 6:00 a.m.

I believe what will keep me from coming back to jail is a guaranteed job and some back up. I am not a criminal. I am eighteen years old with a mind like I am forty. 

When you came into our class, I thought it was really unbelievable about what you said about people shooting rocks at the bus taking kids to Jefferson in 1971. 

It was a pleasure meeting you and having the opportunity to interview you considering where I am now.

Without a job it is hard to start a new life because I know I will be stuck with a lot of distractions that could lead me back to jail. 

I want to make it.

Thank you for coming.

Sincerely,

J. M.

The incarcerated youth worked with visual artist Margo Muto to create The Timeline Mural 1950 - 1970 on four four foot boards creating visual synchronicity between newspaper headlines and articles from the 1950 - 1970 timeline period, the headlines and articles, copies of images of the information contained in the research, and copies of Rochester photos, stories, information to enable the youth to manipulate and physically sequence the information. 

The incarcerated youth at Monroe County Jail were so proud of their work on The Timeline Mural, 1950 - 1970 they asked if the mural could be in Visiting Room at Monroe County Jail so they could show their children, parents, and other relatives what they were part of.  They became engaged academically with history as they developed literacy, communication, problem solving and critical thinking skills. 

Dale Davis and Margot Muto built upon the collage approach to learning history developed in The Timeline Mural 1950 - 1970  for The Timeline Mural 1970 - 1990 https://www.nyslc.org/timeline1970.htm with technology, Xerox and Kodak, ARPANET to the Internet, the first email, HBO, Shirley Chisholm, Watergate, the Post-it note, the MRI, the laser printer, Apple, "The Godfather," the VCR, Midtown Tower Hotel closing, Sandra Day O'Connor, AIDS, Polar Fleece and Donkey Kong, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Marketplace Mall, Sally Ride, CD's, Domain Name System, Fall of the Berlin Wall, and Teresa D. Johnson. The Timeline Project 1970 - 1990 included a playlist to accompany it.

Rochester: The Dark Side https://www.nyslc.org/darkside.htm was created at Monroe County Jail by Dale Davis with Juliana Muniz, a visual artist intern from Visual Studies Workshop as a means for the incarcerated youth to reflect, reach out, and share their insights and observations on their neighborhoods with their community. It grew from a Pilot, Rochester: A City of Neighborhoods, with a small number of students at Monroe County Jail. In the Pilot, the incarcerated youth were asked what in Rochester was important to them. They were asked to write and reflect upon why what they selected was important to them. 

The street corner of Ontario and Union is where my cousin was gunned down and killed. I remember the day like it was yesterday. He had just turned twenty-eight. I was at my aunt's house on the dead end of Davis Street. When we got the news, we all ran the two streets over. We couldn't believe it. We didn't want to believe it. It had to be a mistake. When we finally arrived there, my cousin was lying on the ground. Police restrained my family from touching the body. 

This was the first dead body I ever saw. I was only eleven. My cousin was a person who loved the hood, had trust in it. He thought family was the most important thing. Scio City was his family and everyone inside there was trust. After my cousin's death not one person could tell us what happened or who did it. It has been seven years, and no one arrested has been arrested. 

Until this day I miss my cousin. Scio is still my hood. The love is there, but it is different.

O.R. 

Poverty... the word hurts as if I am being stabbed and a sword is impaling my heart. This society leaves us broke as a joke, but that doesn't mean it's something to laugh at. 

Poverty is one of the reasons why ninety percent of young black men's paths end up in the cemetery or the cellblock. 

Not many black kids choose the classroom. I was one of those kids. I didn't choose the classroom because of what was going on around me. It started in 7th grade. It started as stress from poverty. I started smoking weed. I never had any of my own money, so I wanted to make my own money. Every other kid my age was making money. Society made us that way. Society puts us down, it discriminates, and the judges refuse to understand what we deal with on a daily basis as if we deserve to be treated like wild animals. 

I wish I had hit the books like my mother wanted me to. When I was growing up, I used to blame her for the way I was, like it was her fault when it wasn't. She tried her best to raise me; she wanted the best for me. I grew up without a father. He was incarcerated since I was seven years old. My father is out now, but it's too late because I'm seventeen years old and damn near grown. 

I wish I knew the way this country worked before I was twelve years old. We don't learn until it's too late. How are we the menaces to society when poverty causes us to do the things that we do? Why are we cursed? Do you really want to know the answer to my question? Poverty.

R. B.

The youth questioned dangerous neighborhoods, abandoned houses, drugs, why no one pays attention to the neighborhoods and the murders, and why things don't change. They worked together to name the project: Rochester: The Dark Side https://www.nyslc.org/darkside.htm. The internet was used to publish and produce interactively what they wanted to share with an audience beyond the classroom to try and effect change. As a result of the Pilot, the students wanted to learn more about their neighborhoods, were they always like this, how did this happen. Their ideas generated in the Pilot are the foundation for Rochester: The Dark Side which expanded upon and deepened the Pilot with more time, more students, a local history component that included working with the Rochester City Historian's Office and the Albert R. Stone Negative Collection at the Rochester Museum and Science Center, and interviewing two community members.