The New Jim Crow:

Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

by Michelle Alexander

Since its inception in 2002, the Tulane Reading Project has created a shared intellectual experience for the entering first-year class through the reading and discussion of a selected book. With a variety of events scheduled throughout the fall semester, the Reading Project creates a campus-wide dialogue on a variety of themes.



The 2013 Reading Project book selection, The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, is a stunning account of the rebirth of a caste-like system in the United States, one that has resulted in an astounding percentage of the African-American community being warehoused in prisons or trapped in a permanent, second-class status — denied the very rights supposedly won in the Civil Rights Movement. Since its publication in 2010, the book has appeared on the New York Times bestseller list for more than a year; been dubbed the “secular bible of a new social movement” by numerous commentators; and has led to consciousness-raising efforts in universities nationwide.



The book’s content lends itself to a variety of events, including a visit from the author, panels with experts on criminal justice, civil rights, and other related issues; and online discussions that will be moderated by Tulane faculty.