Audrey Petty visited Tufts for a successful talk in the Crane Room in Paige Hall to an audience of about 50 students and faculty. Her talk focused on her writing and advocacy work around discrimination and racism in public housing and the prison system. Specifically, Ms. Petty spoke about her book High Rise Stories: Voices from Chicago Public Housing (Voice of Witness/Haymarket Press), in which she gave voice to impoverished BIPOC residents of public housing in Chicago. She raised important questions about the history and current practices of housing the poor in U.S. cities and how the prison-industrial complex further harms residents. After she spoke, students and faculty in the room, along with others participating via Zoom, asked questions that resulted in a rich dialogue that was stimulating to those interested in social justice and equity issues in cities. After the presentation, Ms. Petty visited an undergraduate course, Introduction to Urban Studies, and met with graduate students who had follow-up questions for her.
