Big Black: Stand at Attica by Frank “Big Black” Smith, Jared Reinmuth, and art by Améziane, is the graphic memoir of Frank Smith, a prisoner-negotiator during the Attica prison revolt, and a grim history of one of the bloodiest rebellions in the history of American prisons. More than 1200 Attica inmates took control of the prison in September 1971 and took 42 guards hostage, denounced the facility's brutal conditions and called for more humane treatment of prisoners. On September 13, 1971 New York governor Nelson Rockefeller ordered hundreds of armed state troopers to retake the facility by force in a brutal invasion that resulted in the deaths of 29 prisoners and 10 guards. Over the course of the assault, state troopers killed unarmed prisoners and hostages alike, and in the immediate aftermath, prisoners, among them Frank Smith, were viciously beaten for days on end. Although the events at Attica forced the state to change prison practices, the uprising has come to invoke the legacy of mass incarceration, a scourge that has devastated communities of color. A man of intelligence and character, Smith (who died in 2004) was respected by inmates and guards. He survived sadistic reprisals at the hands of state troopers (though he suffered the effects of his torture for years afterwards) and after his release went on to serve as an advocate and counselor for prisoners and former inmates. This is a 15-page excerpt from Big Black: Stand at Attica, which will be published this month by Archaia. There is also a podcast interview with the creative team and an animated book trailer.