An Afternoon with Gary Tyler

In 1975, after being wrongfully charged with the killing of a white teenager and found guilty by an all-white jury, Gary Tyler was sent to Angola prison to die. He was only seventeen years old at the time, making him the youngest prisoner on death row in the United States. After more than four decades in prison, Gary Tyler was released in 2016. Despite massive evidence of his innocence, he was never exonerated. His case has become a symbol of the systemic racial inequalities in the U.S. criminal legal system. Gary Tyler will be in conversation with museum director Terrence Cribbs-Lorrant, to talk about how he not only survived, but triumphed over this injustice. He will pay tribute to other incarcerated individuals who became his guardians and mentors and talk about discovering himself as an artist.