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Freeing Joan Little: Gender, Incarceration, and Struggles for Justice

Date

Jan 29 2026

Time

5:00 am - 6:30 pm

Location

Ahmadieh Family Lecture Hall

Bay 4 (C105), Smith Warehouse, 114 S Buchanan Blvd, Durham, NC 27701

Image: "Abolish Women's Prisons" photograph of protestors outside of the NC Correctional Institution for Women, The News and Observer - Raleigh Times, November 1974. Nancy Blood Papers, Box 3, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

Freeing Joan Little: Gender, Incarceration, and Struggles for Justice

In 1974, a twenty-year-old Black woman named Joan Little found herself facing the death penalty for killing a white guard who had tried to rape her in an eastern North Carolina prison. The folks who campaigned on Little’s behalf understood the webs of sexual violence, state violence, and racialized carcerality that ensnared her, and they linked her trial to other sites of existential concern for Black women’s—and everyone’s—liberation. Her August 1975 acquittal spoke to the power of their critique and the reach of their organizing. 2025 marks the fiftieth anniversary of this landmark case that still offers lessons in the struggle for justice. Join historian Christina Greene, Ph.D. ’96, and death penalty lawyer Shelagh Kenney to discuss what Joan Little tells us about gender, incarceration, and state violence then and now.

Christina Greene is professor of Afro-American studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and author of Free Joan Little: The Politics of Race, Sexual Violence, and Imprisonment; Shelagh Kenney, is Interim Director of the Center for Death Penalty Litigation. Adriane Lentz-Smith, Associate Professor of History and African & African American Studies at Duke University, will introduce and moderate the discussion.

In addition to the panel, an exhibition of items related to Joan Little, including one of her handwritten, illustrated poems, will be on display in Perkins Library during the month of January 2026.

This event is sponsored by the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History & Culture, Duke's Departments of History,  Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies, and African and African American Studies, with co-sponsorship by the Forum for Scholars and Publics.

Information about parking and entering the building, much of which can also be found here:

We apologize in advance that parking might feel challenging, and we hope this guidance might help a little. Note that the South side of the building is the one closer to Chapel Hill Street. The North side is the side closer to the railroad tracks.

  • If you have a pass to park anywhere on Duke’s campus, we request that you park in one of the gated lots on the South side of Smith Warehouse. Your use of those spaces will free visitor parking and non-gated spaces for our visitors who don’t have access to a pass.
  • If you need accessible parking, there are a few spaces adjacent to Smith Warehouse outside Bay 4 and Bay 2. Ramp access is through Bay 6.
  • The closest designated visitor parking is in the metered lot which is at the corner of Buchanan Blvd and Maxwell Ave (the designation for the road that runs along the south side of the building, connecting Buchanan Blvd with Campus Drive). These meters are active 24/7, and the rate is $2/hr. Payment is through Duke Blue Spot. There is a scannable QR code on a sign at the entrance to the lot.
  • Free visitor parking is across Buchanan Blvd. The easiest way to prepare to use one of those lots is to consult the map and locate the blue circled areas to the east and northeast of the building. (Thanks to DHRC @ FHI for compiling this info on their website.)

Image: "Abolish Women's Prisons" photograph of protestors outside of the NC Correctional Institution for Women, The News and Observer - Raleigh Times, November 1974. Nancy Blood Papers, Box 3, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

Freeing Joan Little: Gender, Incarceration, and Struggles for Justice

In 1974, a twenty-year-old Black woman named Joan Little found herself facing the death penalty for killing a white guard who had tried to rape her in an eastern North Carolina prison. The folks who campaigned on Little’s behalf understood the webs of sexual violence, state violence, and racialized carcerality that ensnared her, and they linked her trial to other sites of existential concern for Black women’s—and everyone’s—liberation. Her August 1975 acquittal spoke to the power of their critique and the reach of their organizing. 2025 marks the fiftieth anniversary of this landmark case that still offers lessons in the struggle for justice. Join historian Christina Greene, Ph.D. ’96, and death penalty lawyer Shelagh Kenney to discuss what Joan Little tells us about gender, incarceration, and state violence then and now.

Christina Greene is professor of Afro-American studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and author of Free Joan Little: The Politics of Race, Sexual Violence, and Imprisonment; Shelagh Kenney, is Interim Director of the Center for Death Penalty Litigation. Adriane Lentz-Smith, Associate Professor of History and African & African American Studies at Duke University, will introduce and moderate the discussion.

In addition to the panel, an exhibition of items related to Joan Little, including one of her handwritten, illustrated poems, will be on display in Perkins Library during the month of January 2026.

This event is sponsored by the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History & Culture, Duke's Departments of History,  Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies, and African and African American Studies, with co-sponsorship by the Forum for Scholars and Publics.

Information about parking and entering the building, much of which can also be found here:

We apologize in advance that parking might feel challenging, and we hope this guidance might help a little. Note that the South side of the building is the one closer to Chapel Hill Street. The North side is the side closer to the railroad tracks.

  • If you have a pass to park anywhere on Duke’s campus, we request that you park in one of the gated lots on the South side of Smith Warehouse. Your use of those spaces will free visitor parking and non-gated spaces for our visitors who don’t have access to a pass.
  • If you need accessible parking, there are a few spaces adjacent to Smith Warehouse outside Bay 4 and Bay 2. Ramp access is through Bay 6.
  • The closest designated visitor parking is in the metered lot which is at the corner of Buchanan Blvd and Maxwell Ave (the designation for the road that runs along the south side of the building, connecting Buchanan Blvd with Campus Drive). These meters are active 24/7, and the rate is $2/hr. Payment is through Duke Blue Spot. There is a scannable QR code on a sign at the entrance to the lot.
  • Free visitor parking is across Buchanan Blvd. The easiest way to prepare to use one of those lots is to consult the map and locate the blue circled areas to the east and northeast of the building. (Thanks to DHRC @ FHI for compiling this info on their website.)

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