Lock My Body, Can't Trap My Mind: A Study of the Scholarship and Social Movements Surrounding the Case of Imprisoned Radical Mumia Abu-Jamal

In the thirty years since a death sentence was imposed on Black journalist and former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal, formations of civil support have organized along the lines of a social movement referred to as the "Free Mumia" movement. The movements which coalesce on his behalf are international in scope and have become foundations upon which to pitch battles for broader issues of economic and racial justice. Notwithstanding imprisonment, Abu-Jamal has continued his work of advocacy journalism in the form of political commentaries, broadcasted essays and published works. This outpouring of social commentary and academic production provides substance for the movement on his behalf and contributes to the bank of Black political thought. Yet for all the attention Abu-Jamal's case has provoked, and despite the movements which unite on his behalf, the Free Mumia movement, and the role of Abu-Jamal's scholarship remain understudied phenomenon. By using the reflections and experiences of thirteen individuals who have participated on campaigns for his freedom, this project identifies the trajectory of Abu-Jamal's scholarship and explores the relationship between his academic production and the movements on his behalf. It establishes him as an imprisoned radical intellectual whose voice contributes substantively to the formation of our era's Black radical scholarship and it establishes the Free Mumia movement as a broad based international movement that advances a twin agenda of economic and racial justice.