Collection Overview
Stokes, Daniel.
Daniel and Joyce Stokes Papers
1984-1996
MS 661
3 boxes
(1.25 linear ft.)
Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst
From 1987 through early 1988, Daniel and Joyce Stokes published Into the Night, "a newsletter for freedom for political prisoners held in the United States." Based in Brooklyn, N.Y., this simply-produced publication offered updates and commentary on Americans imprisoned for politically-motivated acts. Reflecting both the legacy of 1960s radicalism and the resurgent activism associated with U.S. imperialism in Central America, Into the Night offered news on the Ohio 7 sedition trial, the MOVE organization, and the fate of Plowshares war resisters.
The Stokes collection contains correspondence from subscribers and supporters of Into the Night, fleshing out their political philosophy and the conditions of imprisonment. Drawn from groups including the MOVE organization, the United Freedom Front, Black Liberation Army, and Plowshares, the correspondents include Ramona Africa, Alberto Aranda, Philip Berrigan, Marilyn Buck, Carl Kabat, Ray Luc Levasseur, Ruchell Cinque Magee, and Carol Manning. The collection also includes copies of other radical publications and a complete run of Into the Night itself.
English
Historical Note
A poet and writer, Daniel M. J. Stokes was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Dec. 27, 1950, the son of Ervin William and Elizabeth (Ray) Stokes. A former editor of the
East River Review, Stokes has contributed work to a number of magazines and published several books of poetry, beginning with Wired/LSD: Poems (New York: Culture Review Press, 1974) and including The World and Other Places (Cambridge, Mass: Chthon Press., 1975), Poems from Mexico (Mexico City: s.n., 1987), and Poems on the Run, 1984-1988 (Mexico City: In Exile Press, 1995).
From 1987 through early 1988, he and his wife, Joyce, published
Into the Night, "a newsletter for freedom for political prisoners held in the United States." Based in Brooklyn, N.Y., this simply-produced publication offered updates and commentary on Americans imprisoned for politically-motivated acts. Reflecting both the legacy of 1960s radicalism and the resurgent activism associated with U.S. imperialism in Central America, Into the Night offered news on the Ohio 7 sedition trial, the MOVE organization, and the fate of Plowshares war resisters.
Sent free of charge, the newsletter reached an audience of prisoners convicted of draft resistance, antinuclear protest, and anti-racist and anti-imperialist revolutionary activity, and it was read by others who had become radicalized during their imprisonment. From the outset,
Into the Night generated significant resistance from prison authorities, and for unclear reasons, it appears to have ceased publication after its fifth number in March 1988.
Scope and Contents of the Collection
Centered around the newsletter
Into the Night, the Stokes Papers contains correspondence from a range of self-identified political prisoners, accompanied by an interesting, but ultimately miscellaneous suite of publications from the radical press. As small and tightly focused as it is, the collection provides a valuable window into the radical edge of the late 1980s political spectrum, and particularly the conjunction of antiracist and anti-imperialist groups within the prison system.
Although some of the correspondence is at best mundane -- mostly requests for subscriptions -- several prisoners provide compelling analyses of their political views and the conditions of imprisonment. Most correspondents are represented by only one or two letters, however the Ohio 7 "seditionists" (Ray Luc Levasseur and Carol Manning), the MOVE organization (Ramona Africa and William Phillips Africa), and members of the Black Liberation Army are somewhat better represented.
Among other noteworthy items in the collection are letters from Chicano revolutionaries Alberto Aranda and Alvaro Hernandez, including protests filed with the Texas Department of Corrections regarding the decision to deny Aranda access to
Into the Night, and two lengthy letters from Aranda discussing political prisoners. Marilyn Buck's letters provide a sharp analysis of the need for political ideology along with a copy of court proceedings filed by her and Mutulu Shakur (see also the folder relating to the Resistance Conspiracy Case). Several African American revolutionaries discuss their political motives and life in prison, including Ramona Africa (filed under MOVE), John Albury (Born Allah), Anthony Bottom (Jalil Muntaqim), Eric Clemmons-Bey, Kenneth Akbar Muhammad Jenkins, Ruchell Cinque Magee, and Richard Williams.
Finally, the collection includes a small number of radical antiwar and antinuclear resisters, most notably Philip Berrigan, Carl Kabat, George Ostensen, and Gillam Kerley.
While editing
Into the Night, the Stokes kept copies of other radical publications, many intended for political prisoners or fellow revolutionaries, the more uncommon of which have been retained within the collection, which also includes an apparently complete run of Into the Night, including paste-ups of four of the five extant issues.
The collection is open for research.
Preferred Citation
Cite as: Daniel and Joyce Stokes Papers (MS 661). Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Acquired from Robinson Street Books, 2010.
Processed by Dex Haven, July 2010.
Search Terms
Stokes, Daniel M. J.
Stokes, Joyce.
Africa, Ramona.
Aranda, Alberto.
Berrigan, Philip.
Buck Marilyn.
Gelabert, Ana Lucia.
Hernandez, Alvaro L.
Kabat, Carl.
Levasseur, Ray Luc.
Magee, Ruchell Cinque.
MOVE (Group).
Plowshares.
United Freedom Front.
African American prisoners.
African American radicals.
Anti-imperialist movements.
Communists.
Ohio 7.
Political prisoners.
Prisoners.
Radicals.
Revolutionaries.
Into the Night.
Related Material
A number of collections in SCUA contain materials on political prisoners and political trials in the United States, including:
- Ray Luc Levasseur Trial Transcript Collection, 1989 (MS 334)
- Christina Ryan Collection, 1978-1995 (MS 523)
- Tiyo Attalah Salah-El Papers, 1890-2006 (MS 590)
1
1
Albury, John (a.k.a Born Allah)
1987-1988
3 items
On Black consciousness, becoming a revolutionary
1
2
Anarchist Black Cross
1988
1
3
Arafat, David
1988
1
4
Aranda, Alberto
1987-1988
On political prisoners, politicization behind bars, Alvaro Hernandez.
1
5
Barnes, Bill
1996
1
6
Berrigan, Philip
1987
Information flyers on Plowshares.
1
7
Bibliography and notes
1988
1
8
Bottom, Anthony L.
1987
On the definition of political prisoner.
1
9
Breakthrough: Political Journal of Prairie Fire Organizing Committee, no. 14, 1
1990 Winter
Includes an article on victory in the Ohio 7 sedition trial.
1
10
Brock, Melvin
1988
1
11
Buck, Marilyn
1988
On ideology and sustaining a revolutionary consciousness; brief filed with Mutulu Shakur on status of political prisoners.
1
12
Clemons, Darryl
1987
1
13
Clemons-Bey, Eric D.
1988
1
14
Committee for Justice to Stop the McCarran Act Deportations
1987
Includes issue no. 1 of
Call for Justice, the Committee's newsletter.
1
15
Community Church of New York. Social Action Committee
We Want Peace: People of Nicaragua
1986
2 items
1
16
Crossroad: A New Afrikan Captured Combatant Newsletter, Vol. 1:1, 2:4
1987-1989
1
17
Dandar, George
1987
1
18
Dysentery: Red Balloon Magazine, no. 23
1992
1
19
Ebner, Jerry
1987
1
20
Fellner, Gene
John Brown and the Issue of Terrorism, GLF Occasional, no. 2
1987 Summer
1
21
Gaye, David
1987
1
22
Gelabert, Ana Lucia
1987-1988
On her near disappearance as a prisoner; willingness to be exchanged to Cuba.
1
23
Gilbert, David
1987-1988
3 items
On his political history and involvement in the "Brinks case."
1
24
Guerre, Brian
1987
1
25
Harden, Donald Sanga
1987
2 items
On attempting to be classified as a POW
1
26
Hernandez, Alvaro L.
1987
10 items
On Prisoners United for Revolutionary Education; copy of
Arm the Spirit, vol. 1:1 (newsletter of PURE); "The Prisoners Defense Committee report on brutality and torture in Texas Department of Corrections;" background to becoming a political prisoner while imprisoned
1
27
Into the Night, no. 1
1987 Sept. 24
5 copies
Articles: "United States at war with innocent Palestinians," Palestine, captive Iranian sailors, Philip Berrigan and Plowshares, Soviet Union and human rights, Alvaro Hernandez.
1
28
Into the Night, no. 1: paste-up
1987 Sept.
1
29
Into the Night, no. 2
1987 Oct. 24
6 copies
Articles: Escape of Assata Shakur; MOVE, Brian Wilson, Ramona Africa on "Long live John Africa! Long live John Africa's revolution!"
1
30
Into the Night, no. 3
1987 Dec. 14
4 copies
Articles: updates on MOVE and other political prisoners, "The Government calls it conspiracy -- we call it resistance" (on the Ohio 7), Ray Luc Levasseur on "VVAW article," "Kazi Toure: Community threat?"
1
31
Into the Night, no. 3: paste-up
1987 Dec.
1
32
Into the Night, no. 4
1988 Jan. 29
11 copies
Articles: "The crime is treason the punishment" (on Felipe Noguera's testimony regarding the Ohio 7 Sedition trial), Gillam Kerley on "Political oppression and the struggle against the draft."
1
33
Into the Night, no. 4: paste-up
1988 Jan.
2
1
Into the Night, no. 5
1988 Mar.
6 copies
Articles: "For freedom, nothing less," on the spirit of Malcolm X and John Brown and Mutulu Shakur and Marilyn Buck, "State of California trying to silence Ruchell Cinque Magee," on censorship of
Into the Night, Ray Luc Levasseur's "Memere" (poem), Ray Luc Levasseur on "Free the Ohio 7."
2
2
Into the Night, no. 5: paste-up
1988 Mar.
2
3
Into the Night: Miscellaneous
1987-1988
2
4
Into the Night: subscription requests
1987-1988
2
5
Jenkins, Kenneth Akbar Muhammad
1987 Sept. 8
On unjust conviction, racial disparities in prison system, revolution.
2
6
Jonah House
1987
2
7
Jones, Ted
1988 Oct. 9
2
8
Kabat, Carl
1988-1989
Circular letters on political prisoners.
2
9
Kerley, Gillam
1987
Committee Against Registration and the Draft
2
10
Kirklin, Andrew
1988
2
11
Krueger, Jack
1988
2
12
Levasseur, Ray Luc
1987-1988
On Ohio 7 sedition trial; Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
2
13
Libertad: Official Organ of the National Committee to Free Puerto Rican Prisoners of War, vol. 9:3
1988 Mar.
2
14
Magee, Ruchell Cinque
1987-1988
Copies of three legal briefs, letters, "Black August," Kazi Toure.
2
15
Manning, Carol Saucier
1989
2
16
Miscellaneous
1987-1988
2
17
Mordechai Vanunu Legal Defense Fund
1987
2
18
MOVE
1987-1989
News releases from Ramona Africa and Wiliam Philips Africa.
2
19
Nuclear Resister
1987 Sept.
2
20
Ogun, Iyapo Olugbala
1990
2
21
Ohio 7
1987-1988
Transcript of testimony of Felipe Noguera, Sedition Committee updates, posters and publicity
2
22
Oluyomi, Geoffrey
1987
2
23
On Gogol Boulevard, vo. 1:1-2
1987
2
24
Ostensen, George
1987
3
1
Palestine Focus, no. 22
1987
3
2
Palestine Solidarity Committee
1988
3
3
Peltier, Leonard
1989-1991
3
4
Perotti, John
1988
Appeal for help from "IWW union organizer and jailhouse lawyer."
3
5
Plowshares-Disarmament Actions, September 1980-November 1986
1986
3
6
Plowshares Newsletter, vol. 4:4, 5:1, 5:2, 5:4
1987-1988
Vol. 5:2 enclosed in letter filed with Gillam Kerley.
3
7
Prison News Service, no. 21, 22
1989
3
8
Progressive Periodical Directory
1987
3
9
Resistance Conspiracy Case
1989
3
10
Rosenthal, Harold
1987
3
11
Struggle: A Magazine of Proletarian Revolutionary Literature, vol. 6:1-2
1989-1990
3
12
Taylor, Brent
1987-1988
Member of the Squamish Five; includes two poems.
3
13
Thomas, Martha
1993
3
14
Thompson, Harold H.
1988
3
15
Turning the Tide: LA Anti-Racism Newsletter
1989
3
16
Williams, Richard
1988
Includes update on Ohio 7 Sedition trial and information on Kazi Toure.
3
17
Woodson, Helen
1987
3
18
World Socialist, no. 1
1984
3
19
Year One
1987
3
20
Zeller, Barbara
1988