Founded in 1989 by Bryan Stevenson, the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) provides legal representation to people who have been illegally convicted, unfairly sentenced, or abused in state jails and prisons. EJI challenges the death penalty and excessive punishment, and provides re-entry assistance to formerly incarcerated people. EJI works with communities that have been marginalized by poverty and discouraged by unequal treatment. EJI is also committed to changing the narrative about race in America and promoting a process of truth and reconciliation about our nation's history of racial injustice.

As part of our Norfolk Community Read series, Alison Mollman will join us virtually to discuss EJI's history and work on behalf of incarcerated people, as well as their racial history work and the importance of having an honest telling of our nation's history of racial injustice from enslavement to mass incarceration today. 

Speaker bio: Alison Mollman, EJI Staff Attorney, graduated in 2012 from University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, where she participated in the death penalty clinic and juvenile hall outreach. She interned for the California Habeas Project and represented clients as a certified law student at the East Bay Community Law Center. Prior to law school, she developed a support group for mothers incarcerated at the Iowa Correctional Institute for Women. She has a B.A. in Women’s Studies from the University of Iowa.