![]() The folder “FBI files – incomplete” includes one of my favorite letters, Carter’s reply to a correspondent asking for his favorite recipe. Rubin "Hurricane" Carter papers, MS226.009.001.0012.00023.Ĭertain folders, especially in the subject files, therefore have occasionally surprising contents. One of Carter's speeches, showing smoke damage from the fire. Carter’s original file folders were too damaged to keep and were replaced with archival folders, although the original titles (where they existed) were transferred to the new folders so that Carter’s intellectual organization of the materials remains intact. An attempt at remediation left the papers smelling strongly of deodorizing crystals. The fire left its mark on Carter’s papers, however, as smoke damage. The uptown cats kept their distance, but they soon warmed up when they learned that Phoenix was as beautiful on the inside as he was on the outside.” When Carter’s house burned down in an electrical fire in 2004 while he was on vacation in Jamaica, Phoenix escaped to the basement. Carter wrote that Phoenix was “a downtown city cat, a big tabby. Rubin "Hurricane" Carter papers, MS226.006.013.00007.Īs a boxer, Carter was known for his ferocity and his preferred emblem was a panther, which he admired for its speed later, living in Toronto, he had a beloved housecat named Phoenix. Phoenix, Rubin Carter's cat, at his home at 155 Delaware Ave in Toronto, Canada. While much of the collection deals with very serious and occasionally heartbreaking subject matter, it also records Carter’s triumphs and joys. His generosity is evident – in letters to old friends who needed a loan and to a student he never met but whose education he helped to fund. His correspondence, court case documents, and subject files all show him working on behalf of these prisoners, many of whom were later exonerated. The papers also bear witness to Carter’s mission to bring this hope to other wrongfully convicted prisoners. Otherwise, I would have perished of despair.” Later, in his book Eye of the Hurricane: My Path from Darkness to Freedom (2011), Carter wrote “For me, and I know this must seem ironic, prison was the one environment that allowed me to recapture the pure joy of being alive moment to moment. The Carter papers include many of his notes and writings from his time in prison in the 1970s and 1980s, and show a man seeking wisdom in a seemingly meaningless and futile situation. But his papers reveal the man in much greater depth than a song or a movie allow. Rubin "Hurricane" Carter papers, MS226.006.013.00031.Ĭarter’s story is probably best known in popular culture from the 1975 Bob Dylan song “Hurricane” and the 1999 film The Hurricane, starring Denzel Washington. (For more detail, please see the finding aid available in the Tufts Digital Library.)įrom L to R: Lesra Martin, John Artis, Rubin Carter, Denzel Washington, and Cheryl Martin, circa 1999. They have recently been processed and made available for research. Carter donated his personal papers, documenting his career as a legal rights advocate, to Tufts University Digital Collections and Archives in 2014. ![]() He also worked with the Innocence Project to exonerate the wrongfully convicted, and founded Innocence International in 2004. ![]() Lee Sarokin of the United States District Court in Newark overturned Carter’s conviction, writing that the convictions “were predicated upon an appeal to racism rather than reason, and concealment rather than disclosure.”Īfter his release from prison, Carter moved to Toronto, Canada, and served as the Executive Director of the Association in Defense of the Wrongly Convicted from 1993-2004. Carter’s subsequent twenty-year struggle to overturn his wrongful conviction finally ended in 1985. Although there were inconsistences in testimony and conflicting evidence, Carter and Artis were found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. Despite intermittent trouble with the law, he had built a promising career that was cut short in 1966, when he and his friend John Artis were arrested and charged with committing three murders at the Lafayette Bar in Paterson, New Jersey. Rubin Carter (1937-2014) was a professional boxer with a powerful punching style that earned him the nickname “Hurricane” during his bouts in the 1960s. We are very pleased to announce that the Rubin “Hurricane” Carter papers are now available for research at Digital Collections and Archives. Rubin Carter in a boxing promo picture, circa 1950s-1960s. ![]()
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