The Graterford Archive film screening and panel discussion

From the 1970s through the late 1990s, hundreds of incarcerated fighters trained and competed through Pennsylvania State Prison Boxing Program at State Correctional Institution (SCI) Graterford—one of the longest-running of its kind in the country. This is a rare chance to hear that history directly from the people who made it.

Join Mural Arts Philadelphia and The Graterford Archive for a screening of The Sweet Science and a panel discussion featuring the men who were part of it. Acclaimed visual artist James “Yaya” Hough will also showcase portraits of former Graterford boxers, many of whom were his mentors.

You’ll hear from:

• James “Yaya” Hough, artist and program alumnus, who will also showcase portraits of Graterford boxers
• Stacey Thompson, who boxed for Graterford’s Ghost Busters and Headbangerz teams through the late 1980s and early 1990s
• Eric Okdeh, the muralist behind the Hopkins portrait now on view
• Moderated by Akeil Robertson-Jowers, Director of the Graterford Archive

About The Graterford Archive

Under the direction of William Robinson, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections created one of the nation’s first and longest-lasting boxing programs in the United States prison system. Many notable fighters, including Bernard Hopkins, emerged from Graterford, located at the site of present-day SCI Phoenix. The Graterford Archive documents these stories and more as a crucial part of Pennsylvania’s history. 

See the recreated Bernard Hopkins mural

This spring, the Philadelphia Museum of Art opened Rising Up: Rocky and the Making of Monuments, an exhibition that looks past the statue to the stories it obscures—including the men of the Pennsylvania State Prison Boxing Program. One of those stories is now painted on the gallery wall: a recreated mural of former boxer and Graterford alumnus Bernard Hopkins, designed by muralist Eric Okdeh and painted by artists incarcerated at SCI Phoenix as part of Mural Arts’ Restorative Justice program.