Shortly after I arrived on Villanova’s campus in 1996, I started getting typed and handwritten requests from inmates at Graterford Prison, asking me to come and teach a course on African American literature. Unnerved by the requests – how did they know I existed? -- I chose to ignore them and focus on my new life on campus. Over the years, I’ve never forgotten those requests and have admired my colleagues who have taught in the university’s program at the prison facility. So when I got another request, this time from Jill McCorkel of the Sociology department, to participate in the prison lecture series she organizes, I decided it was time. Nervous that I might be the one who felt imprisoned, put on display, worried that my heart would be broken to see so many black men forced to live beneath their potential, half-heartedly expecting to see someone I knew, I accepted the invitation to present on the development of the Harlem Renaissance and its literary figures. Jill prepared me for the tedious security procedures and the long, long walk to the auditorium. She also assured me that once I began to speak, I’d no longer see the inmates’ brown uniforms; instead I’d see students. She was right. The men were smart, engaging, engaged and so interesting. They interrupted my lecture with thoughtful questions, and after the Q&A, which could have lasted another hour, I decided to send back more material for them to read.
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| Prof. Crystal Lucky in her office. |
I took away an important lesson, one that Jill began to teach me at dinner. I’ve often been guilty of quipping, ‘Of course the inmates should read everything they’re given: they have nothing else to do.’ However, when I walked through the long corridors of Graterford, I realized that there is a whole world behind those sliding doors and bars, a whole lot to do. When we passed the rap concert, church service, choir rehearsal, and folks just milling about, I realized that people have choices, no matter where they are, about how they spend their time. Those who attended my lecture wanted to learn about what I was presenting. They could have chosen to go to the library; they could have chosen the rap concert; they could have chosen cable television. I was very grateful that they chose to come and listen to me. At the end of a long semester and a long walk down very long corridors, I received a long overdue privilege.
