Alcatraz’s Cultural Legacy Extends Beyond Its Prison Past

The Trump administration is pushing to reopen Alcatraz as a federal prison, requiring the repeal of National Park protections and ending its six-decade transformation from America’s most notorious penitentiary into one of its most popular tourist sites. Throughout its long history, Alcatraz has served not only as a prison, but also as a military base, a site of Native American unity and resistance, a bird sanctuary, and a tourist site for 1.4 million of visitors who journey to it every year. Critics contend that the effort to convert it back into a prison is a wasteful folly. While others decry the loss of the site as a national park and museum, which offers a historical perspective into the American carceral system. We talk about the unique space that Alcatraz occupies in Bay Area cultural history, and its lasting legacy.

Guests:

Michele Gee, deputy chief executive officer, Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy

Kent Blansett, associate professor of Native American studies and history, University of Kansas; author, "Journey to Freedom: Richard Oakes, Alcatraz, and the Red Power Movement"

Jolene Babyak, former resident of Alcatraz; author, “Breaking the Rock: The Great Escape from Alcatraz”

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