The Abolition as Social Change certificate program issued by Abolitionist Sanctuary trains individuals to apply a critical and intersectional lens to understand abolition as a moral directive to repair harms, restore relationships, and rebuild more just and equitable systems. We provide one approach to abolition and recognize there are several ways to do abolition in the world. Our methodology is rooted in evidence-based research, lived experiences, and the embodied knowledge of Black women. This program is intended to help participants to gain understanding and tools to advance a national coalition committed to ending systems of oppression and creating communities of care for human flourishing. Together, we can build abolitionist sanctuaries!

Abolition 101 is an introductory course that explores the moral crisis of mass punishment and abolitionist responses. The lesson begins with the history of US slavery and the evolution of systems of punishment in the US carceral state. Students will learn about the underground Railroad, slave laws, fugitivity, lynching, convict leasing, segregation, the New Jim Crow, policing, and prisons. In addition, students will explore abolitionist responses and identify political and religious movements to end mass punishment.

Abolition is an ethic and a way of life. Students enrolled in this lesson will learn how to apply the 5C ethical system to moral decision-making that guides right actions oriented toward communal values, accountability, and freedom. Participants are introduced to an abolition ethic that engages virtue ethics and Black Feminist/Womanist traditions. Participants will also explore tensions between law and morality. An abolition ethic is applicable for more than ending prisons, but is also for parenting, partnering, and everyday living. An abolition ethic provides principles to repair harms, restore relationships, and rebuild a more just and equitable society.

103 Intersectional and Abolition highlights the experiences of Black mothers with punishment, policing, and prisons. Students will engage statistical data and stories that uncover the interlocking systems of oppression that limit and foreclose Black mothers’ human dignity and survival. Using an intersectional approach to abolition and a case study, this lesson centers the experiences of poor Black mothers to imagine freedom futures and flourishing.

104 Law, Public Policy, and Abolition explores the public policy design process and how to influence policy agendas. Participants will begin with terminology and continue to learn how to influence political decision-making and actuate change. Students will also learn the impact of degenerative policies that allocate burdens (and benefits) to target populations constructed as deviant (or advantaged). Students are invited to use resources in these lessons in connection to real-life contexts to develop transformative justice strategies and pursue public policy outcomes for social change.