1971 September 9

Attica Prison Rebellion Begins

 

Prisoners in the New York State Attica Correctional Facility began a rebellion on this day, with about 1,000 prisoners seizing 42 prison employees as hostages.

The prisoners’ grievances included many items of basic human decency: an end to serious overcrowding (the prison was built to hold 1,200 inmates but then held 2,225); being allowed only one shower per week; one roll of toilet paper per person per month. After four days of negotiation, New York officials had agreed to 28 of the inmates’ 42 demands, but refused to grant amnesty to the rebelling prisoners.

Finally, on orders from Governor Nelson Rockefeller, the rebellion was violently ended by armed state police officers. Twenty-nine prisoners and 10 guards were killed in the raid.

The Attica rebellion remains one of the worst prison riots in American history.

Read the new book on the Attica tragedy: Heather Ann Thompson, Blood in the Water (2016)

Learn about the Attica rebellion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBG1UkxrMG0

Former Attica inmates recall the rebellion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4or4JH_q6c

Read: Tom Wicker, A Time to Die: The Attica Prison Revolt (1975)

Learn more about the Attica Rebellion: http://www.blackpast.org/aah/attica-prison-riot-1971

Find a Day

Go
Abortion Rights ACLU african-americans Alice Paul anti-communism Anti-Communist Hysteria Birth Control Brown v. Board of Education Censorship CIA Civil Rights Civil Rights Act of 1964 Cold War Espionage Act FBI First Amendment Fourteenth Amendment freedom of speech Free Speech Gay Rights Hate Speech homosexuality Hoover, J. Edgar HUAC Japanese American Internment King, Dr. Martin Luther Ku Klux Klan Labor Unions Lesbian and Gay Rights Loyalty Oaths McCarthy, Sen. Joe New York Times Obscenity Police Misconduct Same-Sex Marriage Separation of Church and State Sex Discrimination Smith Act Spying Spying on Americans Vietnam War Voting Rights Voting Rights Act of 1965 War on Terror Watergate White House Women's Rights Women's Suffrage World War I World War II Relocation Camps

Topics

Tell Us What You Think

We want to hear your comments, criticisms and suggestions!