Ain't Scared of Your Jail

“Demonstrates how the ‘jail, no bail’ tactic moved the movement from a response to a crisis to an event that drew media notice and focused the country’s attention on the injustice of segregation.”—Choice

“Examines the history of the civil rights movement and the criminal justice system beyond the court rooms and into the arrests, jail cells, and prisons that were the locus of grassroots protests and organizing.”—Robert Cassanello, author of To Render Invisible: Jim Crow and Public Life in New South Jacksonville

In this book, Zoe Colley follows civil rights activists inside the southern jails and prisons to explore their treatment and the different responses that civil rights organizations had to mass arrest and imprisonment. While some found imprisonment to be an energizing or inspiring experience and celebrated jail-going as liberating and honorable, others struggled to find a positive value.

By drawing together the narratives of many individuals and organizations, Colley places imprisonment at the forefront of civil rights history and shows how these attitudes toward arrest continue to impact contemporary society and shape strategies for civil disobedience.