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♪ Oh, run, run, mourner, run ♪
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♪ Bright angels above ♪
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♪ Oh, run, run, mourner, run ♪
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♪ Bright angels above ♪
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♪ If I just had two wings ♪
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♪ Bright angels above ♪
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♪ If I just had two wings ♪
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♪ Bright angels above ♪
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♪ I'd fly away to the kingdom ♪
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♪ Bright angels above ♪
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♪ I'd fly away to the kingdom ♪
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♪ Bright angels above ♪
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♪ Eagle lend me your wings ♪
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♪ Bright angels above ♪
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♪ Eagle lend me your wings ♪
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♪ Bright angels above ♪
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♪ A escape for your life ♪
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♪ Bright angels above ♪
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♪ A escape for your life ♪
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♪ Bright angels above ♪
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[crickets chirping]
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[Alma Daniels] She had to have on her a dress
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because she was just
coming from church.
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[crickets chirping]
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[Alma Daniels]
What they did to her,
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they didn't need to live.
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[crickets chirping]
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[people singing]
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[Robert Corbitt]
Recy loved to go to church.
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00:02:40,421 --> 00:02:42,510
She'd go to church
every chance she'd get.
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00:02:42,597 --> 00:02:44,990
And Miss Fannie
was basically the same way.
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00:02:45,077 --> 00:02:47,645
Miss Fannie's son, West,
he wasn't a church goer,
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but he just went along
for protection.
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It was about two miles' walk
they had to walk that night.
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[crowd singing]
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[Robert Corbitt]
They had revival going on,
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adding a whole in this church.
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There's a lot of singing,
they have prayer,
39
00:03:03,313 --> 00:03:06,447
and after a while that preacher get up and bring the word.
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00:03:08,666 --> 00:03:10,799
It'd be very hot
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00:03:10,886 --> 00:03:12,192
because there was
no air conditioner nor fans
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00:03:12,279 --> 00:03:13,628
in that church at that time.
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They had to raise the windows.
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00:03:15,456 --> 00:03:17,545
And the church
were well attended,
45
00:03:17,632 --> 00:03:19,590
wasn't seats for
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all the people.
Some had to stand up.
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You know the
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00:03:23,246 --> 00:03:25,074
Pentecost people,
they like to get up
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00:03:25,161 --> 00:03:27,511
and dance a little bit
on the floor, so...
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00:03:28,991 --> 00:03:31,036
I don't know if that was a...
51
00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:34,388
Or if Recy done it that night.
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Recy just loved to go to church.
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She was more Christian
than we were,
54
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than the rest of our sisters
and brothers, while she,
55
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she was more Christian like.
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But, uh...
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But that night,
when that happened to her,
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she was at a...
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A homeless church,
as they call it.
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00:03:59,239 --> 00:04:00,240
Uh...
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00:04:00,936 --> 00:04:02,764
A sanctify church.
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00:04:02,851 --> 00:04:04,592
That's where
she was coming from.
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00:04:04,679 --> 00:04:06,855
That's where Recy
was coming from.
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♪ Go tell it on the mountain ♪
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00:04:11,425 --> 00:04:15,211
♪ Over the hills
And everywhere ♪
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00:04:15,298 --> 00:04:18,475
♪ Go tell it on the mountain ♪
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♪ To let my people go ♪
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They said that
she was a prostitute
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at that time and that's
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the reason why
they picked her up
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and all that stuff but
she wasn't a prostitute.
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00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:35,231
My sister
was a Christian person.
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00:04:36,798 --> 00:04:41,019
And she was married
and had a baby.
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00:04:43,805 --> 00:04:47,112
But the things that they claimed
that she were,
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she wasn't that.
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[Robert Corbitt]
It was a kind of warm night.
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00:05:11,485 --> 00:05:13,400
It was September 3rd, you know,
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00:05:13,487 --> 00:05:15,184
still hot here in Alabama.
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They were walking at night
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00:05:22,583 --> 00:05:25,020
and at that time the streets
were very poorly lighted.
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00:05:28,023 --> 00:05:30,982
There was mad foxes,
rabies foxes.
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00:05:31,853 --> 00:05:34,029
So West got his stick with him.
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It was very unusual
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for anybody to get attacked
by somebody else,
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here in Abbeville.
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[Robert Corbitt]
Well, these boys that, uh...
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That took her that night,
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they had circled the church
a couple of times.
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00:05:52,352 --> 00:05:53,353
And, um...
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00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:55,311
About two...
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00:05:55,398 --> 00:05:56,530
About eight o'clock,
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they dec...
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They decided to go down.
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00:05:59,881 --> 00:06:02,100
They made a mistake and went to
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00:06:02,187 --> 00:06:06,322
a ladies house named Rose Jordan
and Sam Jordan.
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00:06:06,888 --> 00:06:08,455
Uh, they was gonna...
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00:06:09,194 --> 00:06:10,848
They had two daughters.
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00:06:10,935 --> 00:06:13,024
And the daughters
were about 17 and 18.
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00:06:13,111 --> 00:06:15,853
Each one of them has a daughter,
Sam and Rose.
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00:06:15,940 --> 00:06:18,465
And they were gonna
pick those girls up.
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00:06:18,552 --> 00:06:20,380
Take all with them, but
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00:06:20,467 --> 00:06:23,252
oh, they picked on the wrong
family there 'cause Sam's...
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00:06:23,339 --> 00:06:25,472
Sam Jordan and Rose Jordan was
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two rough women that
you didn't wanna mess with.
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[chuckles]
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And they chased them.
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00:06:31,434 --> 00:06:32,479
Um...
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Chased these guys away.
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And so they kept
circling around.
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And they'd knew about what time
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church was out at night.
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And they wouldn't bother them
until they got,
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oh, about,
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at least a half a mile
out of town.
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00:06:53,282 --> 00:06:55,023
And, uh...
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00:06:55,110 --> 00:06:57,939
And that's when
they passed Recy
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and Miss Fannie and West
and then they'd come back.
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00:07:02,073 --> 00:07:05,163
And then they'd pass
and then they'd come back.
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00:07:05,250 --> 00:07:08,819
And then... And then they
finally stopped behind them.
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00:07:08,906 --> 00:07:11,822
And that was when her...
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00:07:11,909 --> 00:07:13,824
caught with the gun.
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She decided to run away,
right away,
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as soon as she saw the gun.
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And, uh...
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And they yelled to her
to get in the car.
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She started to run away.
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And she couldn't run but of
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very short distance because
there was a tall fence there.
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[slow instrumental music
playing]
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00:07:44,159 --> 00:07:45,900
If she could have
got past that fence,
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00:07:45,987 --> 00:07:47,597
she could have
run into the woods
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00:07:47,684 --> 00:07:49,294
but with all that, she couldn't.
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And Miss Fannie told her
not to run.
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Said, "Don't run because
they might shoot you."
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00:07:55,649 --> 00:07:56,780
And, um...
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00:07:57,651 --> 00:07:59,174
So, she went and...
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00:08:00,218 --> 00:08:02,177
Went and got in the car
with them and
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00:08:02,264 --> 00:08:04,396
she said they blindfolded her.
139
00:08:07,008 --> 00:08:10,272
And they took her away.
140
00:08:10,359 --> 00:08:13,710
Well, West was scared
because they had the gun there.
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00:08:13,797 --> 00:08:16,060
And I don't think he was no,
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00:08:16,365 --> 00:08:17,453
uh...
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00:08:17,758 --> 00:08:19,237
He was...
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00:08:19,324 --> 00:08:21,849
couldn't defend them
against seven guys.
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00:08:21,936 --> 00:08:23,503
They were seven of them.
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00:08:24,678 --> 00:08:26,636
So,
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00:08:26,723 --> 00:08:29,509
West basically went along with
what Miss Fannie said, that is,
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00:08:30,684 --> 00:08:32,599
try to let 'em
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00:08:32,686 --> 00:08:33,904
do what they said to do.
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00:08:33,991 --> 00:08:35,645
Maybe they'll go on.
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00:08:45,699 --> 00:08:47,614
[Robert Corbitt]
They was interested
in her because
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00:08:47,701 --> 00:08:50,486
Recy was a very
nice looking young lady
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00:08:50,573 --> 00:08:52,053
at the age of 24.
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00:08:57,580 --> 00:08:59,539
[crickets chirping]
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00:09:02,542 --> 00:09:05,109
[Recy Taylor] He's tried to
get me not to go to
church that night.
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00:09:07,416 --> 00:09:09,592
That's 'cause I got a baby.
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00:09:09,679 --> 00:09:12,160
I think she was
nine months old.
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00:09:12,247 --> 00:09:15,511
And I wanted to go so bad.
[chuckles]
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00:09:15,598 --> 00:09:17,513
So, he said,
"You could go ahead,
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00:09:17,600 --> 00:09:19,602
I'll stay here
and keep the baby."
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00:09:23,737 --> 00:09:25,216
Saw the car
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00:09:25,303 --> 00:09:27,610
pulled up behind me.
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00:09:27,697 --> 00:09:29,525
Some white boys,
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00:09:30,570 --> 00:09:31,788
they had a gun.
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00:09:34,138 --> 00:09:36,576
And told me
they are gonna shoot me,
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00:09:36,663 --> 00:09:38,360
if I run,
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00:09:38,447 --> 00:09:41,145
if you don't stand still.
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00:09:42,103 --> 00:09:44,845
I was begging them
to leave me alone.
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Don't shoot me.
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00:09:47,717 --> 00:09:50,459
I gotta go home
to see about my baby.
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00:09:50,981 --> 00:09:52,200
Mm-hmm.
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00:09:53,201 --> 00:09:55,464
I remember that real good.
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00:09:58,554 --> 00:10:00,382
I mean, they didn't say
nothin' about what
they're gonna do to me.
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00:10:01,426 --> 00:10:02,906
They put me in the car.
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00:10:02,993 --> 00:10:05,474
They even blindfold me.
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00:10:06,736 --> 00:10:08,042
Tied my head up,
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00:10:08,129 --> 00:10:09,826
[coughs]
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00:10:09,913 --> 00:10:11,828
keeping me from knowing
which way I went.
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00:10:11,915 --> 00:10:14,396
And then talking about
killing me.[chuckles]
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00:10:15,876 --> 00:10:17,921
They had on white shirts,
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00:10:19,009 --> 00:10:20,358
I remember that.
182
00:10:21,011 --> 00:10:22,883
They had on white shirts.
183
00:10:22,970 --> 00:10:25,712
One of them
was Lawrence Lee's boy.
184
00:10:27,409 --> 00:10:31,282
Who then tried to do nothin'
to me in the car.
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00:10:35,809 --> 00:10:37,114
He...
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00:10:37,201 --> 00:10:39,508
He made me get out the car.
187
00:10:41,641 --> 00:10:45,645
He called that they
were gonna lay me down
to have sex with me.
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00:10:46,167 --> 00:10:48,343
[rustling]
189
00:10:48,952 --> 00:10:50,954
[crickets chirping]
190
00:10:53,522 --> 00:10:56,656
Oh, I cried that night.
191
00:10:59,006 --> 00:11:00,703
Trying to get away from them.
192
00:11:03,575 --> 00:11:05,447
But they wouldn't let me go.
193
00:11:08,319 --> 00:11:10,626
[crickets chirping]
194
00:11:10,713 --> 00:11:12,672
[rustling]
195
00:11:16,197 --> 00:11:18,416
I can't help
but tell the truth
196
00:11:19,417 --> 00:11:20,897
of what they done to me.
197
00:11:22,290 --> 00:11:24,945
♪ Sheep-pi, sheep-pi ♪
198
00:11:25,032 --> 00:11:27,121
♪ Where you little lamb? ♪
199
00:11:27,208 --> 00:11:31,952
♪ Way down in the valley ♪
200
00:11:32,039 --> 00:11:34,258
♪ Birds and the butterflies ♪
201
00:11:34,345 --> 00:11:36,521
♪ Picking at his eyes ♪
202
00:11:36,608 --> 00:11:40,743
♪ And the po' lil' thing
It cried, Mama ♪
203
00:11:41,396 --> 00:11:43,790
♪ Mama's gone ♪
204
00:11:43,877 --> 00:11:46,140
♪ Papa's gone ♪
205
00:11:46,227 --> 00:11:50,884
♪ They shall bring
Some horses ♪
206
00:11:50,971 --> 00:11:53,147
♪ White and black ♪
207
00:11:53,234 --> 00:11:55,323
♪ Speckle and gray ♪
208
00:11:55,410 --> 00:12:00,458
♪ All them pretty
Little horses ♪
209
00:12:05,246 --> 00:12:06,813
My mother got sick.
210
00:12:06,900 --> 00:12:08,031
Uh...
211
00:12:08,118 --> 00:12:09,946
Back when I was a baby.
212
00:12:10,033 --> 00:12:12,514
And she died
when I was 13 months old.
213
00:12:13,080 --> 00:12:15,169
And strangely, um,
214
00:12:15,256 --> 00:12:17,214
enough, you can ask Recy this,
215
00:12:17,301 --> 00:12:20,174
she called Recy
to the bed and said
216
00:12:20,261 --> 00:12:24,961
that she was going to die
and she wanted her to
take care of her baby
217
00:12:25,048 --> 00:12:26,876
and I was the baby.
218
00:12:26,963 --> 00:12:28,835
And Recy took care of me
219
00:12:28,922 --> 00:12:30,445
from then on.
220
00:12:30,532 --> 00:12:32,926
Family life was pretty rough
for us because
221
00:12:33,622 --> 00:12:35,363
we had lost our mother.
222
00:12:35,450 --> 00:12:37,060
I used to sit and cry a lot
223
00:12:37,147 --> 00:12:38,714
because I didn't have a mother.
224
00:12:39,584 --> 00:12:41,717
But, uh,
225
00:12:41,804 --> 00:12:44,459
other than that, my sister
and there on,
they took care of us.
226
00:12:44,938 --> 00:12:47,244
Looked after us
227
00:12:47,331 --> 00:12:51,509
and made sure we had food
and everything to eat.
228
00:12:51,596 --> 00:12:55,513
And Recy, she used to care of
Robert all of the time. She...
229
00:12:56,123 --> 00:12:57,559
I must...
230
00:12:57,646 --> 00:13:00,649
He almost
broke her down carrying him.
231
00:13:00,736 --> 00:13:04,000
She used to take carrying on the
hip all the time.
232
00:13:04,087 --> 00:13:05,610
Well, I was in the bed,
233
00:13:05,959 --> 00:13:07,395
and, uh...
234
00:13:07,482 --> 00:13:10,006
And Miss Fannie down, after they
235
00:13:10,877 --> 00:13:12,226
uh,
236
00:13:12,313 --> 00:13:14,358
kidnapped Recy,
237
00:13:15,011 --> 00:13:16,665
she came back
238
00:13:16,752 --> 00:13:19,755
from down, where this happened,
up to our house.
239
00:13:19,842 --> 00:13:22,062
She first
stopped out there to the...
240
00:13:22,149 --> 00:13:24,847
uh... Will Cook,
which was a police.
241
00:13:24,934 --> 00:13:27,284
and told him,
then she come over and told us.
242
00:13:27,371 --> 00:13:28,416
And we all woke up.
243
00:13:28,503 --> 00:13:30,984
My father got dressed and...
244
00:13:31,767 --> 00:13:33,247
and, uh...
245
00:13:33,334 --> 00:13:36,163
me and my sister Alma
stood on the porch
246
00:13:36,250 --> 00:13:38,774
the whole time
this was going on.
247
00:13:38,861 --> 00:13:40,907
We both was crying,
you know, 'cause
248
00:13:40,994 --> 00:13:44,780
we hear the guy has a gun
and we doesn't know
they was gonna kill her.
249
00:13:44,867 --> 00:13:46,390
My daddy reached up,
250
00:13:46,477 --> 00:13:48,828
another gun was on the wall.
251
00:13:50,003 --> 00:13:53,397
My daddy reached up
and got the gun, and I...
252
00:13:53,484 --> 00:13:54,877
come out the door.
253
00:13:54,964 --> 00:13:56,836
He was bare feet, he didn't...[chuckles]
254
00:13:56,923 --> 00:14:00,665
He didn't have no shoes
or anything on, so he,
255
00:14:00,752 --> 00:14:03,494
he was just walking
up and down the road.
256
00:14:05,018 --> 00:14:08,935
He did that cleaning
till she returned.
257
00:14:11,067 --> 00:14:13,330
And...
258
00:14:13,417 --> 00:14:16,551
me and my baby brother,
we are standing on the porch
259
00:14:17,291 --> 00:14:19,119
and we were just crying.
260
00:14:20,207 --> 00:14:21,556
And, uh...
261
00:14:22,078 --> 00:14:24,124
[crickets chirping]
262
00:14:24,211 --> 00:14:26,735
We thought that
they were going to, uh...
263
00:14:28,128 --> 00:14:29,607
kill...
264
00:14:30,043 --> 00:14:31,174
kill her.
265
00:14:33,916 --> 00:14:35,875
[footsteps]
266
00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:55,416
[Robert Corbitt] And after they finished with her,
267
00:14:55,503 --> 00:14:59,289
they brought her back
almost into town, put out.
268
00:14:59,376 --> 00:15:02,597
And my father was walking
everywhere looking for her.
269
00:15:03,163 --> 00:15:05,252
She... He had, uh...
270
00:15:05,339 --> 00:15:08,342
been to two other
Lover's Lanes here
271
00:15:08,429 --> 00:15:11,301
and he was walking so
till his shirt was
272
00:15:11,388 --> 00:15:13,173
wet with sweat
273
00:15:13,260 --> 00:15:15,653
because he didn't know
where they took her to.
274
00:15:15,740 --> 00:15:18,395
And he saw a shadow
of somebody about,
275
00:15:18,482 --> 00:15:21,224
oh, four blocks away.
276
00:15:21,311 --> 00:15:24,575
And turned out that was
Recy there, brought back.
277
00:15:24,662 --> 00:15:28,362
And she came running down
to where he was.
278
00:15:28,449 --> 00:15:31,191
And she put her arms
around him.
279
00:15:31,278 --> 00:15:33,019
Held on to him for a while.
280
00:15:34,672 --> 00:15:37,545
And shortly after that,
Lewey Corbitt,
281
00:15:37,632 --> 00:15:39,373
and the police showed up.
282
00:15:39,460 --> 00:15:42,724
Lewey Corbitt,
who Recy worked for
283
00:15:42,811 --> 00:15:45,814
that lay right next door,
he was the sheriff,
284
00:15:45,901 --> 00:15:48,599
he was supposed to be out
looking for her,
285
00:15:48,686 --> 00:15:51,211
but I'm not sure
what he was doing,
very much looking.
286
00:15:51,298 --> 00:15:53,996
He just happened to come by.
287
00:15:54,083 --> 00:15:56,564
Recy and my father
were on the street.
Picked 'em up
288
00:15:56,651 --> 00:15:58,914
and got 'em in the car
and brought 'em back
down to the Three Point
289
00:15:59,001 --> 00:16:01,308
across the street
from our house.
290
00:16:01,395 --> 00:16:04,398
Recy had promised these guys,
that if they didn't kill her
291
00:16:04,485 --> 00:16:06,748
and let her go home
to her child,
292
00:16:06,835 --> 00:16:09,055
she wouldn't tell anybody.
293
00:16:09,142 --> 00:16:12,841
As soon as she got back,
she told everything
that she could tell.
294
00:16:14,016 --> 00:16:15,104
Everything.
295
00:16:15,191 --> 00:16:16,932
Described the car
296
00:16:17,019 --> 00:16:18,586
and Lewey Corbitt knew
297
00:16:18,673 --> 00:16:20,936
whose car it was. It was,
298
00:16:21,023 --> 00:16:22,720
uh, Hugo Wilson.
299
00:16:23,199 --> 00:16:24,592
He had a
300
00:16:24,679 --> 00:16:26,159
green Chevrolet.
301
00:16:27,508 --> 00:16:30,467
He was only about
302
00:16:30,554 --> 00:16:33,296
I'd say two football fields
away from our house,
where he lived.
303
00:16:33,383 --> 00:16:36,430
Just down the street,
he could have yelled on
and got it.
304
00:16:36,517 --> 00:16:39,520
Meanwhile,
me and my sister Alma
305
00:16:39,607 --> 00:16:41,348
were standing on the porch
306
00:16:41,435 --> 00:16:44,177
and we could hear everything that was being said over there.
307
00:16:45,874 --> 00:16:48,485
So, they went and got
Hugo and brought him there
308
00:16:48,572 --> 00:16:50,661
and asked Recy to look at
309
00:16:50,748 --> 00:16:52,620
this guy and see if
310
00:16:52,707 --> 00:16:54,665
he was one of the guys.
311
00:16:54,752 --> 00:16:56,580
And Recy said, "Yes,
312
00:16:56,667 --> 00:16:58,626
he's one."
313
00:16:58,713 --> 00:17:02,151
And he called her
a liar right there.
314
00:17:02,238 --> 00:17:05,328
Said, he haven't
seen her before
in his life.
315
00:17:05,415 --> 00:17:09,854
But he had to be wrong about that because Recy passed his house all the time.
316
00:17:09,941 --> 00:17:12,466
Recy didn't live
very far from him.
317
00:17:12,553 --> 00:17:15,338
He knew her.
He knew her husband, too.
318
00:17:16,992 --> 00:17:21,040
And so, Willie Guy came up
where Recy was
and he embraced her.
319
00:17:22,389 --> 00:17:24,434
She didn't...
320
00:17:24,521 --> 00:17:28,090
She didn't have too many words to say that particular night.
321
00:17:28,177 --> 00:17:30,571
She mostly was
just crying and upset.
322
00:17:31,876 --> 00:17:36,229
Those young boys
felt like they can do it
and get away with it.
323
00:17:37,317 --> 00:17:40,755
They really felt
like they could.
324
00:17:41,190 --> 00:17:42,757
I... Um...
325
00:17:42,844 --> 00:17:44,933
They knew nothing was
gonna happen to them.
326
00:17:47,240 --> 00:17:49,242
What they did to her,
327
00:17:49,329 --> 00:17:53,637
and you know, my sister
didn't have any more kids
after that.
328
00:17:53,724 --> 00:17:56,118
And never got pregnant
after that.
329
00:17:57,946 --> 00:18:01,906
And they didn't only
just have sex with her,
330
00:18:01,993 --> 00:18:06,259
but after they got through
mutilating her,
331
00:18:06,346 --> 00:18:09,958
they played in her body.
332
00:18:10,045 --> 00:18:11,394
["This Bitter Earth" playing]
333
00:18:11,481 --> 00:18:13,918
♪ And if my life ♪
334
00:18:15,442 --> 00:18:17,705
♪ Is like the dust ♪
335
00:18:19,402 --> 00:18:21,796
♪ Ooh, that hides ♪
336
00:18:23,406 --> 00:18:26,366
♪ The glow of a rose ♪
337
00:18:26,453 --> 00:18:29,020
[Robert Corbitt] The reason
so many people had
gotten away with it,
338
00:18:29,108 --> 00:18:32,372
I think they felt that
the black woman's body
didn't belong to her.
339
00:18:34,374 --> 00:18:36,332
♪ Oh, what good am I? ♪
340
00:18:37,594 --> 00:18:39,205
♪ What good am I? ♪
341
00:18:41,642 --> 00:18:45,298
♪ Heaven only knows ♪
342
00:19:05,274 --> 00:19:08,016
[James Johnson II] White men have had access to black women.
343
00:19:09,409 --> 00:19:11,367
Forcibly.
344
00:19:11,454 --> 00:19:12,934
If they wanted one
they would get 'em.
345
00:19:15,937 --> 00:19:18,331
It was something that
their fathers, grandfathers
taught them.
346
00:19:27,905 --> 00:19:30,604
The attitudes of the treatment of black women
347
00:19:30,691 --> 00:19:33,128
was the same
as it was on the plantation.
348
00:19:36,349 --> 00:19:41,136
I don't think, uh,
with the rape case of Aunt Recy,
was that unusual because...
349
00:19:41,223 --> 00:19:45,184
First of all, they did not
regard black people as humans,
first of all.
350
00:19:45,271 --> 00:19:48,012
This goes back
to the plantation,
we were animals.
351
00:19:48,578 --> 00:19:50,711
Uh, monkeys.
352
00:19:50,798 --> 00:19:53,975
And so, they felt that
we were really not
human beings, so this
353
00:19:54,062 --> 00:19:58,240
attitude transcended from
the plantation. Even to,
354
00:19:58,545 --> 00:20:00,721
uh...
355
00:20:00,808 --> 00:20:02,897
Even to today, if you will
because there are some
white males, uh,
356
00:20:02,984 --> 00:20:04,942
you know, who still do not
believe that we are
human beings.
357
00:20:05,029 --> 00:20:08,119
That we are animals
and, so, therefore, um...
358
00:20:08,207 --> 00:20:11,906
You know, so you kill a animal,
you kill a, you know,
you kill a dog,
359
00:20:12,472 --> 00:20:13,821
it's no different.
360
00:20:14,691 --> 00:20:17,477
By having the power
361
00:20:17,564 --> 00:20:20,480
to have sex with
black women
when they wanted to,
362
00:20:21,742 --> 00:20:25,224
they were in control.
363
00:20:29,532 --> 00:20:31,534
[woman singing]
364
00:20:53,774 --> 00:20:55,950
[James Johnson II]
Even on the plantation,
365
00:20:56,037 --> 00:20:58,518
from what I understand,
is that young white boys
366
00:20:58,605 --> 00:21:01,434
would go to the slave quarters, when you become of age
367
00:21:01,521 --> 00:21:02,913
and got ready to engage in sex.
368
00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:04,350
You go there
and pick 'em by
369
00:21:04,437 --> 00:21:06,047
a woman to have sex with.
370
00:21:06,134 --> 00:21:08,745
And even to have children with if necessary.
371
00:21:08,832 --> 00:21:12,662
It was just common
here in the South.
372
00:21:12,749 --> 00:21:16,275
Whether it was on the
plantation or on the, um,
sharecroppers farms.
373
00:21:16,362 --> 00:21:18,146
It was just something
common that happened here.
374
00:21:20,714 --> 00:21:22,629
Intimidation was one thing
375
00:21:22,716 --> 00:21:25,066
that was used to keep
376
00:21:25,153 --> 00:21:27,068
black men under control
and then have access
to black women.
377
00:21:27,155 --> 00:21:29,113
For a black man,
even if he dreamed
of a white woman,
378
00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:30,898
he better not even tell it.
379
00:21:30,985 --> 00:21:32,900
But the while males could go
380
00:21:32,987 --> 00:21:36,295
and come into your house
381
00:21:36,382 --> 00:21:38,862
or come by and blow the horn
and your woman go out to
the car and get it with him
382
00:21:38,949 --> 00:21:41,125
and come back
and hour or two later.
383
00:21:41,212 --> 00:21:42,605
You know, the black men
knew what was happening,
384
00:21:42,692 --> 00:21:45,565
but for survival purposes,
385
00:21:45,652 --> 00:21:48,307
this is the attitude
that was prevalent
throughout the South.
386
00:21:52,920 --> 00:21:56,097
Probably, some slave owners felt
387
00:21:56,184 --> 00:21:59,492
that they could have their will
388
00:21:59,579 --> 00:22:03,409
with the female slaves,
since they owned the slaves.
389
00:22:05,367 --> 00:22:06,716
And, um...
390
00:22:06,803 --> 00:22:09,328
I'm sure in some instances,
391
00:22:10,416 --> 00:22:11,852
um...
392
00:22:12,679 --> 00:22:14,768
That was
393
00:22:14,855 --> 00:22:17,901
consensual type of an affair.
394
00:22:19,816 --> 00:22:21,905
But in those days,
395
00:22:21,992 --> 00:22:25,648
an old saying used to be,
in these parts,
396
00:22:27,694 --> 00:22:29,609
that every white man
397
00:22:30,523 --> 00:22:33,352
had another woman
at every crossroads,
398
00:22:34,396 --> 00:22:35,615
white and black.
399
00:22:42,535 --> 00:22:46,365
My father started to walk
back and forward,
back and forward
400
00:22:46,452 --> 00:22:49,672
because he was so mad
and upset with them,
401
00:22:49,759 --> 00:22:52,414
for what they had did to her.
402
00:22:52,501 --> 00:22:55,069
He was just walking
back and forward.
403
00:22:55,548 --> 00:22:57,550
And me and Robert,
404
00:22:59,813 --> 00:23:02,642
we started walking
back and forward
405
00:23:02,729 --> 00:23:04,426
behind him, you know.
406
00:23:04,513 --> 00:23:06,907
I don't know whether
she was feeling pain or what.
407
00:23:09,344 --> 00:23:10,563
That was, uh...
408
00:23:11,912 --> 00:23:14,001
That was after
they kept her about
409
00:23:15,611 --> 00:23:17,221
four-five hours
410
00:23:18,440 --> 00:23:19,702
down in the woods,
411
00:23:20,790 --> 00:23:22,705
seven guys, one night.
412
00:23:26,753 --> 00:23:28,972
They said they
wanted her to act
413
00:23:29,059 --> 00:23:31,584
just like she was in bed
with her husband.
414
00:23:35,936 --> 00:23:38,852
She knew Hugo Wilson,
415
00:23:38,939 --> 00:23:41,420
she knew Billy Howerton,
416
00:23:42,682 --> 00:23:44,771
and Luthor Lee.
417
00:23:44,858 --> 00:23:47,687
But I'm not sure the rest
of them she knew.
418
00:23:47,774 --> 00:23:51,168
And Recy went out
to try to round up
the rest of the boys,
419
00:23:51,255 --> 00:23:55,042
but they never brought in
the rest of them, only Hugo.
420
00:23:55,129 --> 00:23:58,698
These same boys used to
hang out in Town Square.
421
00:23:58,785 --> 00:24:00,961
There is an old bank,
422
00:24:01,048 --> 00:24:03,267
that's where they hung out,
on the steps there.
423
00:24:03,354 --> 00:24:06,488
You go through town at night,
they'd be sitting there.
424
00:24:07,794 --> 00:24:10,623
From what I understand,
425
00:24:10,710 --> 00:24:12,886
two or three of those guys
came back to that
hang-out spot
426
00:24:12,973 --> 00:24:15,889
that night
when the rape took place.
427
00:24:15,976 --> 00:24:20,328
I don't think they
bothered with those boys
until the next morning.
428
00:24:23,157 --> 00:24:26,943
Recy and her husband
spent the rest of the night
at my house
429
00:24:27,030 --> 00:24:29,903
and then they went back home
that Monday.
430
00:24:29,990 --> 00:24:32,471
And that's when
there was fire-bombed.
431
00:24:37,040 --> 00:24:39,260
They set the porch on fire.
432
00:24:39,347 --> 00:24:42,002
But Recy's husband
was able to put it out.
433
00:24:46,006 --> 00:24:48,661
They moved in with us
the next day.
434
00:24:54,014 --> 00:24:56,233
We got a lot of threats
in those days.
435
00:24:58,671 --> 00:25:02,109
Just behind of our house
we had a tall tree.
436
00:25:02,196 --> 00:25:04,415
It was a chinaberry tree.
437
00:25:04,503 --> 00:25:07,984
And high up in the tree
that was a limb like a Y.
438
00:25:08,071 --> 00:25:09,899
My father, who was staying
in the house
439
00:25:09,986 --> 00:25:12,598
until he know we was all in bed
440
00:25:12,685 --> 00:25:15,557
and he would sneak out back
and go up that tree.
441
00:25:15,644 --> 00:25:18,255
He didn't want us to know
that he was sleeping
in that tree.
442
00:25:18,865 --> 00:25:20,562
He had a shotgun,
443
00:25:20,649 --> 00:25:22,608
double barrel shotgun,
444
00:25:22,695 --> 00:25:24,653
and he'll sit up
in that tree at night
445
00:25:24,740 --> 00:25:26,350
and guard the house.
446
00:25:29,049 --> 00:25:31,268
During the day,
he was setting the porch
at light
447
00:25:31,355 --> 00:25:33,532
for we had some
hedges there then,
448
00:25:33,619 --> 00:25:36,883
concealed the porch
from one side of the house.
449
00:25:36,970 --> 00:25:39,625
And he kept his gun
laying right there
in front of him.
450
00:25:39,712 --> 00:25:43,106
He was always...
Had that gun right there.
451
00:25:43,193 --> 00:25:45,239
He would have done
something with that gun,
452
00:25:45,326 --> 00:25:49,765
but he felt that
he had to stay alive
to protect his family.
453
00:25:51,419 --> 00:25:53,464
Otherwise, he would have...
454
00:25:53,552 --> 00:25:55,989
He would've done
something terrible,
I know he would've.
455
00:25:56,076 --> 00:25:58,121
As a matter of fact,
he told me he would have.
456
00:25:58,208 --> 00:26:01,647
Mr. Lewey Corbitt,
he was the sheriff then.
457
00:26:01,734 --> 00:26:06,347
He was trying to make my father take his gun back to the house.
458
00:26:06,434 --> 00:26:10,569
He said, because you'd get
in trouble if you try
to kill somebody.
459
00:26:11,178 --> 00:26:13,397
But my father didn't.
460
00:26:14,790 --> 00:26:16,357
He, uh...
461
00:26:20,883 --> 00:26:26,019
My daddy would tell us,
tell us, "Don't be afraid.
462
00:26:26,106 --> 00:26:30,023
'Cause nobody's gonna hurt you
as long as I'm living.
463
00:26:30,110 --> 00:26:32,329
Nobody's going to hurt you."
464
00:26:42,209 --> 00:26:44,341
[Robert Corbitt] He's love his family to death.
465
00:26:44,428 --> 00:26:46,605
Oh, he love his family.
466
00:26:46,692 --> 00:26:48,737
I believe that's the reason
he didn't do anything
467
00:26:48,824 --> 00:26:51,871
to try to get revenge
against 'em boys because
468
00:26:51,958 --> 00:26:56,223
he felt that he had to
stay alive to protect us.
469
00:27:00,444 --> 00:27:02,577
One day we were fishing
470
00:27:02,664 --> 00:27:05,145
and he told me, he said,
"You know, I could've
471
00:27:05,232 --> 00:27:07,930
got five of those guys
in one night."
472
00:27:10,019 --> 00:27:13,283
I said, "What guys?",
he said, "The guys that
raped my daughter."
473
00:27:19,333 --> 00:27:22,728
Lewey Corbitt, he had
the same name as we have.
474
00:27:22,815 --> 00:27:26,122
We got the Corbitt name
from Lewey Corbitt family
475
00:27:26,209 --> 00:27:28,124
after slave was freed.
476
00:27:28,211 --> 00:27:30,866
So, they owned my ancestors.
477
00:27:32,607 --> 00:27:36,742
He'd come to our house and say,
"Don't say anything.
Don't say a word out."
478
00:27:36,829 --> 00:27:38,961
That was...
He was always saying that.
479
00:27:39,048 --> 00:27:41,181
"Don't talk
to anybody about it."
480
00:27:41,268 --> 00:27:43,052
And we just,
481
00:27:43,139 --> 00:27:45,446
every time he'd say that,
we'd talk as much as we can.
482
00:27:45,533 --> 00:27:47,404
I don't know, if my father
or somebody
483
00:27:47,491 --> 00:27:50,625
was contacting the NAACP
representative,
484
00:27:50,712 --> 00:27:51,800
here in Abbeville.
485
00:27:51,887 --> 00:27:53,628
That's how Rosa Parks came in.
486
00:27:57,153 --> 00:28:00,200
[Crystal Feimster] Recy Taylor isn't the first black woman
487
00:28:00,287 --> 00:28:03,725
that Rosa Parks goes to
after a sexual assault.
488
00:28:05,031 --> 00:28:06,641
This is the work
that she is doing
489
00:28:06,728 --> 00:28:10,210
prior to the Montgomery
bus boy case.
490
00:28:10,297 --> 00:28:11,994
She's an investigator.
491
00:28:12,081 --> 00:28:14,649
So, when these cases and calls
come into the NAACP,
492
00:28:14,736 --> 00:28:16,129
they send her out.
493
00:28:16,216 --> 00:28:18,218
She went in our house,
not more than,
494
00:28:18,740 --> 00:28:20,263
um...
495
00:28:20,350 --> 00:28:23,745
15 minutes before Lewey Corbitt
showed up.
496
00:28:23,832 --> 00:28:26,095
[Crystal Feimster] People know who Rosa Parks is.
497
00:28:26,182 --> 00:28:30,230
Because when Rosa goes
to interview Recy
that first time,
498
00:28:30,317 --> 00:28:32,145
the sheriff, the county sheriff,
499
00:28:32,232 --> 00:28:33,886
is rolling by the house.
500
00:28:34,234 --> 00:28:35,322
Um...
501
00:28:35,409 --> 00:28:37,019
You know, drives by, drives by
502
00:28:37,106 --> 00:28:39,195
and then finally
bust into the cabin.
503
00:28:39,282 --> 00:28:40,980
Um, and say us,
"Get out of here."
504
00:28:41,067 --> 00:28:43,460
He'd come in the house
during this
505
00:28:43,547 --> 00:28:45,462
and told her she had to leave
506
00:28:45,549 --> 00:28:46,899
and to get out of town.
507
00:28:46,986 --> 00:28:48,770
So, she left
and two weeks later,
508
00:28:48,857 --> 00:28:50,119
she came back.
509
00:28:50,206 --> 00:28:52,905
And this time
he come in and...
510
00:28:53,906 --> 00:28:55,995
He bust in the house,
511
00:28:56,082 --> 00:28:58,606
grab Rosa Parks by the arm
512
00:28:58,693 --> 00:29:00,826
and pull her out
on the porch.
513
00:29:00,913 --> 00:29:03,567
He wouldn't let her to
come down the steps.
514
00:29:03,654 --> 00:29:06,788
We have... We had three steps
on our porch.
515
00:29:08,355 --> 00:29:10,923
And she... He just pulled her
516
00:29:11,010 --> 00:29:13,186
from the high part
all the way down on the ground.
517
00:29:13,273 --> 00:29:17,059
Rosa Parks went down
on her knees,
fell right in the yard.
518
00:29:17,146 --> 00:29:19,453
Then he told her to
get out of town
519
00:29:19,540 --> 00:29:21,629
and if she'd come back
he was gonna put her in jail
and keep her there.
520
00:29:21,716 --> 00:29:23,196
She left.
521
00:29:23,283 --> 00:29:24,458
Rosa leaves,
but she is not intimidated.
522
00:29:24,545 --> 00:29:26,199
She comes back, right.
523
00:29:26,286 --> 00:29:29,071
Um, and she comes back
and on the second visit,
524
00:29:29,158 --> 00:29:30,899
the sheriff comes again.
525
00:29:30,986 --> 00:29:33,510
Um, and they physically
throw her out of the house.
526
00:29:33,597 --> 00:29:34,468
Um...
527
00:29:34,555 --> 00:29:37,036
And this is not unusual.
528
00:29:37,123 --> 00:29:38,864
And Rosa, of course,
529
00:29:38,951 --> 00:29:40,343
would know to expect
530
00:29:40,430 --> 00:29:42,215
that if a white sheriff
comes in,
531
00:29:42,302 --> 00:29:44,870
he's gonna ultimately
put his hands on her.
532
00:29:44,957 --> 00:29:48,874
But also, to reveal
something about her, too.
533
00:29:48,961 --> 00:29:51,964
That for the sheriff to come in
and to throw her
out of the steps
534
00:29:52,051 --> 00:29:55,489
implies that Rosa was resistant.
535
00:29:55,968 --> 00:29:57,926
[woman singing]
536
00:30:12,114 --> 00:30:16,902
[Crystal Feimster] We can link this up to her refusal to give up her seat on the bus.
537
00:30:16,989 --> 00:30:19,252
That there is a claim
that she is making
538
00:30:19,339 --> 00:30:20,949
and it's a bodily claim
539
00:30:21,036 --> 00:30:22,908
to be able to own a space.
540
00:30:22,995 --> 00:30:25,084
whether that's
Recy's kitchen table
541
00:30:25,171 --> 00:30:26,737
or the seat on the bus
542
00:30:26,825 --> 00:30:29,088
that she wants
543
00:30:29,175 --> 00:30:32,613
and believes that she has
it right to be in that space.
544
00:30:32,700 --> 00:30:36,008
In her actions, she is saying,
545
00:30:36,095 --> 00:30:38,358
"You're not gonna
put your foot on my neck."
546
00:30:38,445 --> 00:30:39,576
[chuckles] You know,
547
00:30:39,663 --> 00:30:41,491
And I will be back.
548
00:30:41,578 --> 00:30:43,406
You can throw me
down the steps,
549
00:30:43,493 --> 00:30:45,278
you can yank me
off of this bus,
550
00:30:45,365 --> 00:30:47,584
but I am not going to
concede my rights.
551
00:30:47,671 --> 00:30:49,935
I'm not gonna concede
Recy's rights.
552
00:30:50,022 --> 00:30:52,851
That's one of the things
that makes Rosa exceptional,
553
00:30:52,938 --> 00:30:55,810
that she was willing
to risk her life.
554
00:30:55,897 --> 00:30:57,725
Black women know
when they are arrested
555
00:30:57,812 --> 00:30:59,988
and they are taken
into a jail,
556
00:31:00,075 --> 00:31:02,121
anything could happen
and they may not come out.
557
00:31:02,208 --> 00:31:04,775
Even if they do come out,
they're gonna come out
558
00:31:04,863 --> 00:31:07,866
in many ways as victims
of police brutality.
559
00:31:13,872 --> 00:31:16,962
There's a place where she does.
That's where
here family is from.
560
00:31:17,049 --> 00:31:18,920
Her father side of
the family is there.
561
00:31:19,007 --> 00:31:22,532
She still has relatives
in Abbeville.
562
00:31:22,619 --> 00:31:25,753
And so she goes there.
So, it's personal in some ways.
563
00:31:25,840 --> 00:31:27,320
Um...
564
00:31:27,407 --> 00:31:31,019
And I think,
she also understands, um...
565
00:31:32,412 --> 00:31:34,631
at a sort of gut level
566
00:31:34,718 --> 00:31:37,547
what it means to be a victim
of sexual assault.
567
00:31:42,074 --> 00:31:44,511
[Rosa Parks]
In the late spring of 1931,
568
00:31:44,598 --> 00:31:46,992
I was past my 18th birthday.
569
00:31:47,079 --> 00:31:48,732
It was during The Depression
and I was quite lucky to have
570
00:31:48,819 --> 00:31:50,865
a maid of a work job
in the home of a couple
571
00:31:50,952 --> 00:31:53,868
who paid me four dollars weekly for seven days a week.
572
00:31:53,955 --> 00:31:57,045
The Mr. and Mrs. were off
for their night of pleasure,
573
00:31:57,132 --> 00:32:00,962
the baby was put to bed by me
and he was sleeping.
574
00:32:01,049 --> 00:32:03,399
It was a typical hot
Alabama night.
575
00:32:03,486 --> 00:32:05,184
All the doors
and windows were open.
576
00:32:06,533 --> 00:32:09,536
I saw Mr. Charlie.
577
00:32:09,623 --> 00:32:12,452
He poured himself a drink
from the whiskey bottle
along the table.
578
00:32:12,539 --> 00:32:14,584
He stood near me
sipping the drink.
579
00:32:14,671 --> 00:32:17,892
I said the folks maybe coming back soon, if he wanted to wait for them.
580
00:32:19,285 --> 00:32:21,940
He said he was there to see me.
581
00:32:22,027 --> 00:32:24,943
He moved nearer to me
and put his hand on my waist.
582
00:32:25,030 --> 00:32:27,423
At his touch, I jumped away
as quickly as
an unbridled filly.
583
00:32:27,510 --> 00:32:29,338
He asked me not to be afraid.
584
00:32:29,425 --> 00:32:30,861
He would not hurt me.
585
00:32:31,471 --> 00:32:33,255
He liked me.
586
00:32:33,342 --> 00:32:36,911
He didn't want me to be lonely and would I be sweet to him.
587
00:32:36,998 --> 00:32:40,175
He had money to give me
for accepting his attentions.
588
00:32:43,135 --> 00:32:46,703
I felt filthy and stripped naked of any shred of decency.
589
00:32:46,790 --> 00:32:51,056
In a flash of movement,
I was no longer a decent,
self-respecting teenage girl,
590
00:32:51,143 --> 00:32:54,059
but a flesh-pot.
591
00:32:54,146 --> 00:32:56,148
A strumpet to be
bargained for and parceled
out as a commodity.
592
00:32:57,453 --> 00:32:59,760
He was fast becoming
intoxicated on alcohol
593
00:32:59,847 --> 00:33:01,762
and lustful desire for my body.
594
00:33:02,850 --> 00:33:04,939
I knew that
no matter what happened,
595
00:33:05,026 --> 00:33:08,421
I would never yield to this white man's bestiality.
596
00:33:08,508 --> 00:33:10,423
I was ready and willing to die
597
00:33:10,510 --> 00:33:12,207
but give any consent,
598
00:33:13,034 --> 00:33:14,166
never.
599
00:33:16,733 --> 00:33:18,997
All my fear had been replaced
600
00:33:19,084 --> 00:33:21,912
by a determination to stand
completely alone against
601
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:24,698
this formidable foe
as long as I drew
the breath of life.
602
00:33:24,785 --> 00:33:27,527
I talked about the white
man's inhumane treatment
of the negro,
603
00:33:27,614 --> 00:33:31,270
how I hated all white people,
especially, him.
604
00:33:31,357 --> 00:33:33,098
He asked me
to give him a price.
605
00:33:34,186 --> 00:33:35,970
I was not for sale.
606
00:33:37,189 --> 00:33:40,627
I asked him if the white woman was not good enough for him.
607
00:33:40,714 --> 00:33:43,630
I taunted him about
the supposed white supremacy.
608
00:33:43,717 --> 00:33:46,546
The white man's law of
drawing them color lines
of segregation.
609
00:33:46,633 --> 00:33:49,766
I said there was nothing he could do to get my consent.
610
00:33:49,853 --> 00:33:52,639
He need not think that
because he was a low-down,
dirty dog of a white man
611
00:33:52,726 --> 00:33:54,858
and I was a poor defenseless,
helpless colored girl,
612
00:33:54,945 --> 00:33:56,599
that he could run over me.
613
00:33:57,383 --> 00:33:59,124
If he wanted to kill me,
614
00:33:59,211 --> 00:34:01,039
and rape a dead body,
615
00:34:01,126 --> 00:34:02,997
he was welcome.
616
00:34:03,084 --> 00:34:04,738
But he would have to
kill me first.
617
00:34:08,046 --> 00:34:10,613
He said the color of a person
didn't matter to him,
if he liked the person.
618
00:34:10,700 --> 00:34:13,138
I said it would
not matter to me
if there was no color line
619
00:34:13,225 --> 00:34:15,531
and all people could be
respected equally.
620
00:34:15,618 --> 00:34:17,794
I would not be intimate
with a man
621
00:34:17,881 --> 00:34:19,492
that the law did not permit
me to be married to
622
00:34:19,579 --> 00:34:21,102
and respected by.
623
00:34:23,583 --> 00:34:26,064
At long last, Mr. Charlie got
the idea that I meant 'no,'
624
00:34:26,760 --> 00:34:30,459
very definitely, 'no.'
625
00:34:30,546 --> 00:34:32,722
He said he would not
bother me any further.
626
00:34:33,723 --> 00:34:35,247
I picked up the newspaper,
627
00:34:35,769 --> 00:34:37,640
opened it wide,
628
00:34:37,727 --> 00:34:39,642
holding it
where I couldn't see him
629
00:34:39,729 --> 00:34:40,948
and started reading.
630
00:34:46,780 --> 00:34:48,825
[Crystal Feimster]
Most women know,
631
00:34:48,912 --> 00:34:50,610
that their cases
aren't gonna be believed.
632
00:34:50,697 --> 00:34:52,264
So they don't tell
their stories.
633
00:34:52,351 --> 00:34:54,483
Rosa doesn't tell her story,
634
00:34:54,570 --> 00:34:57,225
she writes her story
at some point much later.
635
00:34:57,312 --> 00:34:59,662
It's an unspeakable crime
636
00:34:59,749 --> 00:35:01,969
and people use that language
to talk about sexual assault
637
00:35:02,056 --> 00:35:04,014
because they don't want
people to speak about it.
638
00:35:04,102 --> 00:35:06,713
I can't imagine having
to experience that
639
00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:09,890
I can't imagine what it would
take for someone
640
00:35:09,977 --> 00:35:12,849
to tell that story publicly.
641
00:35:12,936 --> 00:35:15,809
So, there's no way
that you can't
642
00:35:15,896 --> 00:35:19,813
hear Recy's story
and not feel like she's a hero.
643
00:35:26,254 --> 00:35:28,517
[Robert Corbitt]
We all got ready that day
644
00:35:28,604 --> 00:35:31,694
and was gonna come uptown
and listen to the hearing.
645
00:35:31,781 --> 00:35:34,567
We got almost up
to the courthouse
646
00:35:34,654 --> 00:35:36,612
and the police stopped us
647
00:35:36,699 --> 00:35:38,397
and told us we couldn't go
any further.
648
00:35:38,484 --> 00:35:40,660
We had to stay right there.
649
00:35:40,747 --> 00:35:43,141
They wouldn't let any blacks
into town that day.
650
00:35:45,621 --> 00:35:47,754
They brought Recy into
the courthouse
651
00:35:47,841 --> 00:35:49,538
and they didn't take her
into a courtroom
652
00:35:49,625 --> 00:35:51,018
but she was in a, uh...
653
00:35:51,714 --> 00:35:53,760
a little back small room.
654
00:35:53,847 --> 00:35:56,110
That's where they
talked with her.
655
00:35:56,197 --> 00:35:58,156
But she wasn't
face with them.
656
00:35:59,026 --> 00:36:00,897
They had her in one room
657
00:36:00,984 --> 00:36:03,030
and those guys in another room.
658
00:36:03,117 --> 00:36:07,339
She said she never saw the guys in the courthouse.
659
00:36:07,426 --> 00:36:11,517
They didn't have Recy up there for very long before they let her go.
660
00:36:11,604 --> 00:36:13,475
She'd come back down
and join us.
661
00:36:13,562 --> 00:36:15,347
We all walked back
to Three Point.
662
00:36:19,612 --> 00:36:21,788
It was one of
the biggest cover-ups.
663
00:36:23,964 --> 00:36:25,966
I thought, sure they would have
664
00:36:26,836 --> 00:36:29,752
found them guilty of it,
you know.
665
00:36:30,927 --> 00:36:33,887
But I should have known better.
666
00:36:33,974 --> 00:36:37,282
Because back in them days,
they covered it up.
667
00:36:37,369 --> 00:36:40,285
Cover up stuff so bad
and put it off on...
668
00:36:40,676 --> 00:36:42,287
on, uh...
669
00:36:42,374 --> 00:36:44,680
Black people just how,
670
00:36:44,767 --> 00:36:48,031
you know, they the one
that cause it,
they the one done it.
671
00:36:49,642 --> 00:36:51,948
And, and they knew...
672
00:36:52,471 --> 00:36:54,081
And they knew
673
00:36:54,777 --> 00:36:56,649
that those guys was wrong
674
00:36:56,736 --> 00:36:59,086
and they knew
that they did that.
675
00:36:59,173 --> 00:37:01,480
But they weren't gonna do
nothin about it.
676
00:37:03,569 --> 00:37:05,092
How do you learn
to stay in your place?
677
00:37:05,179 --> 00:37:06,789
You just do
what all that matters.
678
00:37:06,876 --> 00:37:08,617
You know the consequence of it.
679
00:37:08,704 --> 00:37:12,186
If you got out of you place,
you'd probably be hurt, beat up,
680
00:37:12,273 --> 00:37:14,188
put in jail
or something like that.
681
00:37:14,275 --> 00:37:16,669
And we all know
where our places was.
682
00:37:16,756 --> 00:37:20,194
I remember,
one time, that, uh...
683
00:37:21,282 --> 00:37:22,849
I was uptown
684
00:37:24,459 --> 00:37:26,940
and a policeman
685
00:37:27,593 --> 00:37:30,422
was coming through a door.
686
00:37:30,509 --> 00:37:32,772
He had his mother with him.
687
00:37:33,425 --> 00:37:35,427
And he slapped me because
688
00:37:36,428 --> 00:37:38,299
I didn't move back.
689
00:37:38,386 --> 00:37:42,782
I didn't move so that
they could come through.
690
00:37:42,869 --> 00:37:46,351
I was going in the door
and he was coming out of the
691
00:37:46,438 --> 00:37:49,310
five-and-ten-cent store door
692
00:37:49,397 --> 00:37:50,833
and he slapped me.
693
00:37:52,095 --> 00:37:54,402
And that's when
I slapped him back.
694
00:37:55,447 --> 00:37:57,275
And they...
695
00:37:58,319 --> 00:38:00,060
Oh, well, we fought.
696
00:38:00,800 --> 00:38:02,932
And then that's when...
697
00:38:03,019 --> 00:38:06,806
first time I've been to jail
and the last time
I've been to jail.
698
00:38:06,893 --> 00:38:08,286
[chuckles]
699
00:38:11,071 --> 00:38:13,291
Somebody went
and told my father
about what happened
700
00:38:13,378 --> 00:38:14,770
and he came down there.
701
00:38:14,857 --> 00:38:16,729
And I was up in the jailhouse
702
00:38:16,816 --> 00:38:19,340
and I was looking out
the window.
703
00:38:19,427 --> 00:38:22,909
He says,
"What are you doing up there?
704
00:38:22,996 --> 00:38:24,606
Didn't you know better?"
705
00:38:24,693 --> 00:38:26,565
I said, "Well, Daddy,
706
00:38:26,652 --> 00:38:29,742
he slapped me
and I hit him back."
707
00:38:29,829 --> 00:38:32,092
Daddy said, "You don't go
to town no more
708
00:38:32,179 --> 00:38:34,312
if you don't know how to act."
709
00:38:34,399 --> 00:38:36,270
[chuckles] Well...
710
00:38:36,357 --> 00:38:39,752
♪ I'm gonna buy a paper doll ♪
711
00:38:39,839 --> 00:38:43,756
♪ That I can call my own ♪
712
00:38:43,843 --> 00:38:46,933
♪ A doll that other fellows ♪
713
00:38:47,020 --> 00:38:49,327
♪ Cannot steal ♪
714
00:38:49,414 --> 00:38:53,635
♪ I'd rather have
A paper doll ♪
715
00:38:53,722 --> 00:38:56,116
♪ To call my own ♪
716
00:38:56,203 --> 00:39:02,949
♪ Than have a fickle-minded
Real, live girl ♪
717
00:39:03,036 --> 00:39:06,866
♪ I guess I had
A million dollars or more ♪
718
00:39:06,953 --> 00:39:08,607
[James Johnson II]
As a young boy,
719
00:39:08,694 --> 00:39:10,609
the only theater
was the Archie Theater.
720
00:39:10,696 --> 00:39:12,741
We would
fill our pockets with rocks.
721
00:39:12,828 --> 00:39:15,004
And when the lights
would go out,
722
00:39:15,091 --> 00:39:16,397
we would take the rocks out
and throw them down
723
00:39:16,484 --> 00:39:19,357
and hit people in the head.
724
00:39:19,444 --> 00:39:21,620
Pardon the expression where
they would say,
'niggers throwing rocks.'
725
00:39:21,707 --> 00:39:24,449
The whites would sit
downstairs in the nice chairs
726
00:39:24,536 --> 00:39:27,974
and we would spit
down on people's heads.
727
00:39:28,061 --> 00:39:31,020
We had our way
of fighting Jim Crow as kids.
728
00:39:32,587 --> 00:39:35,198
♪ And it's tough
To love a doll ♪
729
00:39:35,285 --> 00:39:37,984
♪ That's not your own ♪
730
00:39:39,551 --> 00:39:42,641
♪ I'm through with
All of them ♪
731
00:39:42,728 --> 00:39:45,383
♪ I'll never fall again ♪
732
00:39:45,470 --> 00:39:47,123
[Esther Cooper Jackson]
Any strangers
733
00:39:47,210 --> 00:39:49,212
who came in to Abbeville,
734
00:39:49,299 --> 00:39:51,301
if they were black,
they were suspicious
735
00:39:51,389 --> 00:39:54,174
that they were there
to look into Recy Taylor
736
00:39:54,261 --> 00:39:56,350
and see what we were plotting.
737
00:39:56,437 --> 00:39:59,397
So that, when I did go,
I had someone
738
00:39:59,484 --> 00:40:02,661
drive me from Birmingham
to Abbeville,
739
00:40:02,748 --> 00:40:05,011
go in a back entrance.
740
00:40:05,098 --> 00:40:08,710
She was traumatized,
like she was, uh,
741
00:40:09,276 --> 00:40:11,147
in shock.
742
00:40:11,234 --> 00:40:13,106
When I first met her,
we embraced
743
00:40:13,193 --> 00:40:14,803
and I told her
we were gonna fight
744
00:40:14,890 --> 00:40:17,110
to make sure that
justice was won.
745
00:40:17,197 --> 00:40:19,808
I took her case
back to Birmingham
746
00:40:19,895 --> 00:40:22,202
to the Southern Negro Youth Congress.
747
00:40:22,289 --> 00:40:25,161
And we made that
one of our major projects
748
00:40:25,248 --> 00:40:27,294
using her as an example
749
00:40:27,381 --> 00:40:29,688
of what happened to
so many black women
750
00:40:29,775 --> 00:40:32,952
who didn't speak up
or were afraid to speak up.
751
00:40:35,128 --> 00:40:39,045
It was dangerous for all blacks but particularly for women.
752
00:40:39,132 --> 00:40:42,701
Women were often attacked
like Recy Taylor,
753
00:40:42,788 --> 00:40:47,053
raped or sometimes disappeared.
754
00:40:47,140 --> 00:40:49,055
One would have to be
careful about
755
00:40:49,142 --> 00:40:51,884
what time of day
that they walked.
756
00:40:51,971 --> 00:40:54,626
Young girls were very much
aware of this.
757
00:40:54,713 --> 00:40:57,716
Even going to and from school,
758
00:40:57,803 --> 00:40:59,979
particularly in rural areas
759
00:41:00,066 --> 00:41:03,983
they had to make sure
to not get in a car alone.
760
00:41:05,158 --> 00:41:09,205
Recy Taylor, obviously,
was a very strong woman
761
00:41:09,771 --> 00:41:11,904
who spoke up
762
00:41:11,991 --> 00:41:15,081
and, um, therefore influenced
763
00:41:15,168 --> 00:41:17,213
many other women.
764
00:41:17,300 --> 00:41:21,217
The first thing I did was started writing press releases about her case
765
00:41:21,304 --> 00:41:24,438
to be distributed
in all of theBlack Press.
766
00:41:24,525 --> 00:41:26,353
Also sent it
to the regular press
767
00:41:26,440 --> 00:41:29,356
but it just wasn't published.
768
00:41:29,443 --> 00:41:32,620
She was surrounded by people
who wanted to get her
out of there
769
00:41:32,707 --> 00:41:34,230
including Rosa Parks.
770
00:41:35,884 --> 00:41:38,104
["Come on, come on" playing]
771
00:41:47,896 --> 00:41:51,291
Rosa took Recy to Montgomery.
772
00:41:51,378 --> 00:41:54,033
♪ Well, come on
Come on, come on ♪
773
00:41:54,120 --> 00:41:56,122
♪ Don't you wanna go? ♪
774
00:41:56,209 --> 00:41:58,385
♪ Well, come on
Come on, come on ♪
775
00:41:58,472 --> 00:42:00,474
♪ Don't you wanna go? ♪
776
00:42:00,561 --> 00:42:02,955
♪ Well, come on
Come on, come on ♪
777
00:42:03,042 --> 00:42:05,131
♪ Don't you wanna go? ♪
778
00:42:05,218 --> 00:42:08,613
♪ Yes, I want to go ♪
779
00:42:08,700 --> 00:42:12,138
♪ Well, the ship is
At the landing ♪
780
00:42:12,225 --> 00:42:15,054
[Robert Corbitt] Rosa Parks
put into a boarding house.
781
00:42:15,141 --> 00:42:17,317
That's what it was called
in those days.
782
00:42:17,404 --> 00:42:19,667
I remember
she was on Johnson Street.
783
00:42:19,754 --> 00:42:21,451
It was in the 500 block.
784
00:42:23,628 --> 00:42:26,413
She was there with her baby and her husband.
785
00:42:26,500 --> 00:42:28,502
The three of them was there.
786
00:42:28,589 --> 00:42:30,765
["The Ship Is At
The Landing" playing]
787
00:42:37,642 --> 00:42:40,296
They had there to keep out of
sight of these guys.
788
00:42:40,383 --> 00:42:42,864
They were afraid they might
try to do something to them.
789
00:42:44,257 --> 00:42:46,868
At the time she was up there
790
00:42:46,955 --> 00:42:48,566
we'd had hardly
no communication
with her at all.
791
00:42:51,656 --> 00:42:55,268
As a matter of fact,
they didn't want anybody
to know where she was.
792
00:42:55,355 --> 00:42:57,575
Rosa Parks,
she was protecting them.
793
00:43:06,975 --> 00:43:08,629
[woman] Orange Juice or water?
794
00:43:08,716 --> 00:43:10,936
[Rosa Parks]
Water, but tea is fine.
795
00:43:11,023 --> 00:43:12,633
-[woman] All right, here we go.
-[Rosa Parks] Okay.
796
00:43:14,635 --> 00:43:18,247
[man] What year
did you join the NAACP?
797
00:43:18,334 --> 00:43:22,687
[Rosa Parks] It's 19...
It's in December, 1933.
798
00:43:22,774 --> 00:43:26,473
[man] From the time
you joined to the time
you became the Secretary?
799
00:43:26,560 --> 00:43:29,084
[Rosa Parks] It was my first day on the job.
800
00:43:29,171 --> 00:43:30,869
[both laughing]
801
00:43:30,956 --> 00:43:34,002
[man] How did that happen?
802
00:43:34,089 --> 00:43:35,700
[Rosa Parks] Well, you see,
that's what happened but
when I went to the
803
00:43:35,787 --> 00:43:37,876
meeting, it was going to be
804
00:43:37,963 --> 00:43:40,661
the Annual Election Day.
805
00:43:41,314 --> 00:43:44,534
So, I paid my membership
806
00:43:44,622 --> 00:43:48,060
and then they had
election of officers.
[chuckles]
807
00:43:48,147 --> 00:43:50,584
[man] And how many people
were there?
808
00:43:50,671 --> 00:43:54,414
[Rosa Parks] I guess
about ten--
between a dozen and 15.
809
00:43:54,501 --> 00:43:57,460
Just as you know, And I was the only woman there.
810
00:43:57,547 --> 00:44:00,463
[man] So, you got to be
the Secretary there
'cause you were a woman.
811
00:44:00,550 --> 00:44:04,598
[Rosa Parks] Well, no.
They just said
they needed a Secretary.
812
00:44:04,685 --> 00:44:08,602
And I think the only reason
that I was
813
00:44:08,689 --> 00:44:11,170
too timid to say no.
814
00:44:11,257 --> 00:44:13,955
And I just started
taking minutes.
815
00:44:14,042 --> 00:44:18,003
That was the way
I was elected Secretary.
[chuckles]
816
00:44:18,090 --> 00:44:20,092
[Crystal Feimste] She didn't
just come out of nowhere.
817
00:44:20,179 --> 00:44:22,616
People were introduced
to Rosa Parks
for the first time.
818
00:44:22,703 --> 00:44:25,967
She's Rosa, who didn't give up
her seat on the bus.
819
00:44:26,054 --> 00:44:30,624
They already imagined her
as this elderly
states woman, right.
820
00:44:30,711 --> 00:44:33,192
With her beautiful
silver gray hair.
821
00:44:33,279 --> 00:44:34,889
Um, but she was
actually quite young.
822
00:44:34,976 --> 00:44:37,283
She had a long history
of protest
823
00:44:37,370 --> 00:44:39,459
and grass-roots organizing.
824
00:44:39,546 --> 00:44:42,984
She learned how to be an activist through her family
825
00:44:43,071 --> 00:44:44,725
and her family politics,
826
00:44:44,812 --> 00:44:47,946
her grandfather in particular, was a role model for her.
827
00:44:48,033 --> 00:44:51,645
He was someone who
would not tolerate oppression
828
00:44:51,732 --> 00:44:54,779
and believed that his children and his children's children
829
00:44:54,866 --> 00:44:57,782
shouldn't have to submit
to white supremacy.
830
00:44:57,869 --> 00:45:00,698
She'd already been
to Highlander School
831
00:45:00,785 --> 00:45:04,136
and had training on
'how do you engage
in public protest.'
832
00:45:04,223 --> 00:45:06,138
So, it wasn't
a long leap for her
833
00:45:06,225 --> 00:45:09,228
to join the NAACP
834
00:45:09,315 --> 00:45:11,883
and begin to fight for
civil rights for black people
in the South.
835
00:45:21,849 --> 00:45:25,766
The Committee for Equal Justice for Mrs. Recy Taylor,
836
00:45:25,853 --> 00:45:28,160
Rosa Parks doesn't serve
on the Committee,
837
00:45:28,247 --> 00:45:31,816
but she creates an environment where people in the community come together.
838
00:45:31,903 --> 00:45:35,602
They are the leaders
of their destiny.
839
00:45:37,952 --> 00:45:40,694
That's something black women
840
00:45:40,781 --> 00:45:43,001
bring to the movement
at every level.
841
00:45:44,654 --> 00:45:48,136
The press is gonna be
a key tool.
842
00:45:48,223 --> 00:45:51,183
Um, and getting
their story out there,
843
00:45:51,270 --> 00:45:53,185
the more people who know,
844
00:45:53,272 --> 00:45:55,317
the better it is
for their case.
845
00:45:55,404 --> 00:45:57,406
And they also know the South.
846
00:45:57,493 --> 00:46:00,409
The South does not respond well
847
00:46:00,496 --> 00:46:03,369
to outside press, right?
848
00:46:03,456 --> 00:46:05,719
So, if they can
get that story out there
849
00:46:05,806 --> 00:46:08,591
and that's why
the sheriff is there
from the get-go.
850
00:46:08,678 --> 00:46:11,551
He doesn't want Rosa
to leave with that story
851
00:46:11,638 --> 00:46:13,335
because he knows what it means
852
00:46:13,422 --> 00:46:17,470
for that story
to leave Abbeville, right.
853
00:46:17,557 --> 00:46:19,646
Um, it means, that people
are gonna come in,
854
00:46:19,733 --> 00:46:21,953
there's gonna be investigations,
there's gonna be pressure.
855
00:46:22,040 --> 00:46:24,782
And that they're gonna
have to defend their actions.
856
00:46:26,522 --> 00:46:28,568
Rosa Parks is operating
857
00:46:28,655 --> 00:46:31,440
from a place where
rape is a crime.
858
00:46:31,527 --> 00:46:33,878
And the rape of a black woman
is illegally a crime,
859
00:46:33,965 --> 00:46:38,317
even if custom and tradition
doesn't allow for that.
860
00:46:39,361 --> 00:46:41,363
With Recy's case, we see
861
00:46:41,450 --> 00:46:43,757
she get's a hearing.
862
00:46:43,844 --> 00:46:45,585
But it's not a fair hearing
and they understand that.
863
00:46:45,672 --> 00:46:47,717
That it's going through
the motions.
864
00:46:47,805 --> 00:46:51,025
And then when that
hearing comes to a close,
865
00:46:51,112 --> 00:46:53,767
we don't get justice for Recy.
866
00:46:53,854 --> 00:46:57,249
So, what does the...
What does the Committee
want next?
867
00:46:57,336 --> 00:46:59,773
They want a fair hearing, right?
[chuckles]
868
00:46:59,860 --> 00:47:01,383
So, they... they...
869
00:47:01,470 --> 00:47:03,168
It's like they beat
that horse they're in.
870
00:47:03,255 --> 00:47:06,040
We want a fair hearing.
871
00:47:06,127 --> 00:47:09,087
And the only way to get that
is to pressure.
872
00:47:12,090 --> 00:47:13,918
Through letter writing,
873
00:47:17,008 --> 00:47:18,574
through the press.
874
00:47:22,665 --> 00:47:27,322
[Esther Cooper Jackson]
Most events happening in
black life were not published
875
00:47:27,409 --> 00:47:30,151
in the daily papers.
876
00:47:30,238 --> 00:47:33,415
The major newspapers
in the country
and major magazines
877
00:47:33,502 --> 00:47:35,591
didn't mention it.
878
00:47:35,678 --> 00:47:38,638
The only place we really
were able to publish
879
00:47:38,725 --> 00:47:40,858
articles about Recy
and the others
880
00:47:40,945 --> 00:47:44,426
was through
The Chicago Defender,
The Pittsburgh Courier,
881
00:47:44,513 --> 00:47:46,298
The Amsterdam News,
882
00:47:46,385 --> 00:47:48,691
The Baltimore, et cetera,
883
00:47:48,778 --> 00:47:50,432
through theBlack Press.
884
00:48:05,926 --> 00:48:08,929
[Crystal Feimster]
TheBlack Press
is a protest paper.
885
00:48:09,016 --> 00:48:10,888
It's trying to counter
886
00:48:10,975 --> 00:48:12,846
what the white press
is publishing.
887
00:48:12,933 --> 00:48:14,761
It is a lifeline
for the movement.
888
00:48:14,848 --> 00:48:16,763
It's how you get people
to join the movement,
889
00:48:16,850 --> 00:48:18,678
it's how you get people
to understand
890
00:48:18,765 --> 00:48:20,854
that their issues
are connected.
891
00:48:20,941 --> 00:48:25,685
So, what happens in Montgomery matters in Mississippi.
892
00:48:28,035 --> 00:48:30,298
It's gonna make
a huge difference
893
00:48:30,385 --> 00:48:32,605
once it's on the national radar
894
00:48:32,692 --> 00:48:35,086
because in the South
there is a culture of silent.
895
00:48:37,088 --> 00:48:39,699
What happened to Recy?
896
00:48:39,786 --> 00:48:42,441
How common is this?
What can we do
as a community
897
00:48:42,528 --> 00:48:45,009
to publicize this, to ensure
that Recy is gonna
have justice?
898
00:48:45,096 --> 00:48:49,839
So that,
her case just
doesn't disappear.
899
00:48:49,927 --> 00:48:52,668
[Danielle L. McGuire] The Committee for Equal Justice was largely
900
00:48:52,755 --> 00:48:54,888
waging a publicity campaign
901
00:48:54,975 --> 00:48:58,500
and trying to shame
the state of Alabama,
902
00:48:59,110 --> 00:49:00,894
uh, for their failure
903
00:49:00,981 --> 00:49:04,680
to really properly investigate
and prosecute her case.
904
00:49:04,767 --> 00:49:08,293
What they ask people to do is send letters to the Governor
905
00:49:08,380 --> 00:49:10,512
demanding an investigation,
906
00:49:10,599 --> 00:49:12,297
demanding a trial.
907
00:49:12,384 --> 00:49:15,300
And they send
postcards and petitions
908
00:49:15,387 --> 00:49:19,086
to hold the assailants
accountable by the thousands.
909
00:49:19,173 --> 00:49:21,045
And these postcards come from all over the country.
910
00:49:21,132 --> 00:49:23,569
So the newspapers
are really instrumental
911
00:49:23,656 --> 00:49:25,005
in spreading the story.
912
00:49:25,092 --> 00:49:26,746
And the Committee itself
913
00:49:26,833 --> 00:49:29,749
is really instrumental
in getting people to
914
00:49:29,836 --> 00:49:32,447
send in petitions
and postcards.
915
00:49:32,534 --> 00:49:35,407
There is a massive
Harlem rally
916
00:49:35,494 --> 00:49:38,018
for Recy Taylor
at the Hotel Theresa
917
00:49:38,105 --> 00:49:40,934
which is one of the, sort of,
iconic hotels in Harlem
918
00:49:41,021 --> 00:49:44,068
that Muhammad Ali
would stay at and others.
919
00:49:44,155 --> 00:49:47,854
And they hold the rally
for Recy Taylor in the ballroom.
920
00:49:47,941 --> 00:49:50,161
And, you know,
hundreds of people come.
921
00:49:50,248 --> 00:49:54,992
People from all walks
of the Black Freedom Movement
in the 1940s.
922
00:49:55,079 --> 00:49:58,517
Leftists, communist,
liberals, progressives,
923
00:49:58,604 --> 00:50:02,347
they're all there
and they all chip in money
924
00:50:02,434 --> 00:50:07,656
to help spread the word
of the terror that
is in Alabama.
925
00:50:07,743 --> 00:50:10,137
It's part of, kind of,
926
00:50:10,224 --> 00:50:12,096
infrastructure of injustice
927
00:50:12,183 --> 00:50:15,316
where the white press ignores
these kinds of crimes
928
00:50:15,403 --> 00:50:17,275
and then,
929
00:50:17,362 --> 00:50:20,234
and then there is no record
of them happening, which gives
930
00:50:21,279 --> 00:50:23,281
judges and juries
931
00:50:23,368 --> 00:50:25,631
plausible deniability
of any knowledge
932
00:50:25,718 --> 00:50:29,026
and maybe this is a rumor,
you know, it's not even
in the newspaper.
933
00:50:29,113 --> 00:50:31,680
And that's why
it's so important
that theBlack Press
934
00:50:31,767 --> 00:50:33,595
publishes these stories.
935
00:50:35,815 --> 00:50:38,035
[Crystal Feimster]
This is a long tradition
936
00:50:38,122 --> 00:50:40,428
from Frederik Douglass'
newspaper to Ida B. Wells,
937
00:50:40,515 --> 00:50:44,563
the black people understand
that the press is a weapon.
938
00:50:45,781 --> 00:50:48,306
They might not be able
to assault somebody
with a gun
939
00:50:48,393 --> 00:50:50,830
and get justice,
but that the pen
is a weapon.
940
00:50:50,917 --> 00:50:53,746
That if we can
narrate our stories,
941
00:50:53,833 --> 00:50:56,053
then we actually have a chance.
942
00:50:57,837 --> 00:51:00,622
They have no feeling
for a colored girl, Peter.
943
00:51:00,709 --> 00:51:03,495
No, not a speck.
944
00:51:03,582 --> 00:51:07,151
When one of us even
walks past on the street,
they whistle
945
00:51:07,238 --> 00:51:09,153
and say all kinds of things
out loud
946
00:51:09,240 --> 00:51:11,677
just as if
we weren't there at all.
947
00:51:11,764 --> 00:51:14,201
They... They don't care.
948
00:51:15,072 --> 00:51:16,725
We're just...
949
00:51:17,335 --> 00:51:18,988
just colored women.
950
00:51:22,253 --> 00:51:25,821
[Crystal Feimster]
Race films taking on
white supremacy.
951
00:51:25,908 --> 00:51:28,389
This is very similar
to theBlack Press.
952
00:51:30,261 --> 00:51:33,046
You have Oscar Micheaux's
Within Our Gates
953
00:51:33,133 --> 00:51:36,745
targeting lynching
and sexual assault
954
00:51:36,832 --> 00:51:40,184
that plays with both
lynching of a family,
955
00:51:40,271 --> 00:51:42,186
a black woman and a black man
956
00:51:42,273 --> 00:51:44,666
and also the sexual assault
957
00:51:44,753 --> 00:51:48,017
of a biracial woman
958
00:51:48,105 --> 00:51:50,019
who actually turns out to be
the daughter of the man
who's trying to rape her.
959
00:51:51,847 --> 00:51:55,068
Race films made for
black audiences were popular
960
00:51:55,155 --> 00:51:58,202
because they got
to see a diversity
961
00:51:58,289 --> 00:52:00,204
of black characters
962
00:52:00,291 --> 00:52:02,728
who's not the Sambo
or the Jezebel.
963
00:52:05,078 --> 00:52:07,254
Black people felt like
it was more authentic
964
00:52:07,341 --> 00:52:09,561
even if it was fictional.
965
00:52:09,648 --> 00:52:12,868
They wanted to see that
without the white gaze.
966
00:52:17,134 --> 00:52:20,049
If we go back to slavery
and what black women
967
00:52:20,833 --> 00:52:23,096
could claim, right,
968
00:52:23,183 --> 00:52:24,576
they couldn't claim
969
00:52:24,663 --> 00:52:26,404
legal recourse.
970
00:52:26,491 --> 00:52:29,537
There were no laws in place
that would protect them.
971
00:52:29,624 --> 00:52:31,931
Recy's case,
is one of the first
972
00:52:32,018 --> 00:52:35,195
that pushes equal access
to the court.
973
00:52:35,282 --> 00:52:38,633
They go back to the Governor
and they say, "We want
another hearing."
974
00:52:38,720 --> 00:52:40,331
And they pressure,
and they pressure.
975
00:52:40,418 --> 00:52:43,595
It's that pressure
from outside the state,
976
00:52:43,682 --> 00:52:46,206
from New York, and California,
and Michigan,
977
00:52:46,293 --> 00:52:49,209
from labor unions,
and longshoreman,
978
00:52:49,296 --> 00:52:52,038
auto workers
from all around the country.
979
00:52:52,125 --> 00:52:55,128
It's their petitions
for justice
980
00:52:55,215 --> 00:52:58,349
that finally moved
Governor Chauncey Sparks,
981
00:52:58,436 --> 00:53:01,178
to hire private investigators
982
00:53:01,265 --> 00:53:03,397
to go to Abbeville
to see what really happened.
983
00:53:33,035 --> 00:53:36,125
[Crystal Feimster]
She has witnesses.
984
00:53:36,213 --> 00:53:39,651
She has a woman and her son
who were walking with her
from the church.
985
00:53:39,738 --> 00:53:42,654
They report
her abduction right away.
986
00:53:42,741 --> 00:53:44,221
The police are there
987
00:53:44,308 --> 00:53:46,701
when her father
and her husband
988
00:53:46,788 --> 00:53:49,704
find her staggering
down the street.
989
00:53:49,791 --> 00:53:52,490
It's hard to not believe Recy.
990
00:53:52,577 --> 00:53:55,884
It's very easy for the sheriff not to do anything about it,
991
00:53:55,971 --> 00:53:59,323
without question, but you know that he knows
992
00:53:59,410 --> 00:54:01,325
and everybody knows
what happened.
993
00:54:01,412 --> 00:54:04,066
And everybody knows
she's not a prostitute.
994
00:54:05,067 --> 00:54:07,244
This is about us
being able to hear
995
00:54:07,331 --> 00:54:09,768
and the stories that people
are willing to tell
996
00:54:09,855 --> 00:54:11,900
and they have
the courage to tell.
997
00:54:13,075 --> 00:54:16,905
Recy is part of a longer
tradition of black women
998
00:54:16,992 --> 00:54:19,343
saying, "This is not right."
999
00:54:19,430 --> 00:54:23,912
That not only do we
deserve protection,
but we deserve justice.
1000
00:54:27,786 --> 00:54:29,440
Rape,
1001
00:54:30,441 --> 00:54:32,225
is this universal thing
1002
00:54:32,312 --> 00:54:34,532
that women suffer,
1003
00:54:34,619 --> 00:54:38,492
regardless of age,
race, religion,
1004
00:54:38,579 --> 00:54:40,842
sexual orientation.
1005
00:54:40,929 --> 00:54:43,105
What I think it's gonna be
interesting to think about
1006
00:54:43,192 --> 00:54:48,981
is the way the legal system
fails women, regularly.
1007
00:54:57,163 --> 00:54:59,774
[man] December 27th, 1944,
1008
00:54:59,861 --> 00:55:01,341
supplementary report,
1009
00:55:01,428 --> 00:55:04,039
regarding the alleged ravishing of Recy Taylor,
1010
00:55:04,126 --> 00:55:07,086
Abbeville, Alabama,
by seven white boys,
1011
00:55:07,173 --> 00:55:10,132
on the night of September 3rd.
1012
00:55:10,219 --> 00:55:13,310
Report submitted by
John O' Harris,
Assistant Attorney General.
1013
00:55:19,141 --> 00:55:22,449
Upon arriving at Abbeville,
we contacted the sheriff
1014
00:55:24,016 --> 00:55:27,062
and in his first statement
he told the investigators
1015
00:55:27,149 --> 00:55:29,413
that this negro
was nothing but a whore
1016
00:55:29,500 --> 00:55:33,025
and that he had
on one or two occasions
incarcerated her.
1017
00:55:33,112 --> 00:55:35,419
But he now says that
he has never arrested her
1018
00:55:35,506 --> 00:55:37,899
and committed her to jail
for any offense.
1019
00:55:38,552 --> 00:55:40,815
He further stated that
1020
00:55:40,902 --> 00:55:43,775
he has never had any trouble
with her or her husband
1021
00:55:43,862 --> 00:55:48,040
and that their reputation
is as good as any negro's
in that community.
1022
00:55:48,127 --> 00:55:50,999
The sheriff stated that
he arrested all of the boys
1023
00:55:51,086 --> 00:55:53,262
but it is our
off-handed opinion
1024
00:55:53,350 --> 00:55:57,658
that the sheriff never actually placed any of these defendants under arrest.
1025
00:56:01,053 --> 00:56:03,098
We decided to
interview each boy
1026
00:56:03,185 --> 00:56:05,971
alleged to have had intercourse with Recy Taylor.
1027
00:56:06,058 --> 00:56:08,321
We first talked
to Dillard York.
1028
00:56:08,408 --> 00:56:10,802
York said that he would tell
all he knew.
1029
00:56:10,889 --> 00:56:12,847
[Dillard York]
I'll tell all I know.
1030
00:56:12,934 --> 00:56:14,588
[man] And he said that
he got in Wilson's car,
1031
00:56:14,675 --> 00:56:17,678
[Dillard York]
I got in Wilson's car
1032
00:56:17,765 --> 00:56:19,463
in front of the Abbey theater
about ten o'clock, the night
she was picked up.
1033
00:56:19,550 --> 00:56:22,204
I had been to the picture show and when I went to the car,
1034
00:56:22,291 --> 00:56:25,077
Hugo Wilson and Herbert Lovett were in the car.
1035
00:56:25,164 --> 00:56:27,427
And we rode around town
for a little while.
1036
00:56:27,514 --> 00:56:29,386
And then picked up
Billy Howerton,
1037
00:56:29,864 --> 00:56:31,344
Robert Gamble,
1038
00:56:31,431 --> 00:56:32,476
Luther Lee,
1039
00:56:32,563 --> 00:56:34,608
and Joe Culpepper
1040
00:56:34,695 --> 00:56:37,089
on the corner of the
North Cut drug store.
1041
00:56:37,176 --> 00:56:39,874
We started out on the highway
leading toward Three Points
1042
00:56:39,961 --> 00:56:41,267
and picked her up.
1043
00:56:42,747 --> 00:56:44,575
We did not have her in mind
1044
00:56:44,662 --> 00:56:47,012
as I had never seen her before.
1045
00:56:47,099 --> 00:56:49,275
But I thought
Billy Howerton knew her.
1046
00:56:52,191 --> 00:56:54,411
I heard Lovett ask her
1047
00:56:54,498 --> 00:56:56,587
if she was going or not
and she said she would go.
1048
00:56:58,110 --> 00:56:59,807
There was no gun in the car
1049
00:56:59,894 --> 00:57:02,723
and no one put a gun on her.
1050
00:57:02,810 --> 00:57:04,856
When we got to the place
where we had intercourse
with her,
1051
00:57:04,943 --> 00:57:07,119
Lovett asked her to undress
1052
00:57:07,206 --> 00:57:09,382
and she undressed willingly
and without protest.
1053
00:57:10,949 --> 00:57:13,342
Lovett had intercourse
with her first,
1054
00:57:13,778 --> 00:57:15,388
me next,
1055
00:57:15,475 --> 00:57:16,607
Wilson next,
1056
00:57:17,303 --> 00:57:19,087
Lee next,
1057
00:57:19,174 --> 00:57:22,134
Culpepper next
and Gamble last.
1058
00:57:22,221 --> 00:57:24,353
We all took off our pants
and underwear
1059
00:57:24,441 --> 00:57:26,617
and left the top
to our underwear on.
1060
00:57:27,531 --> 00:57:30,708
All of us used rubbers.
1061
00:57:30,795 --> 00:57:34,320
She did not say anything
during the time all of us
had intercourse with her
1062
00:57:34,407 --> 00:57:38,019
and she was undressed
except for her shoes
and stockings.
1063
00:57:39,934 --> 00:57:42,937
We let her rest
between the acts
of intercourse.
1064
00:57:43,024 --> 00:57:45,418
And each time she was asked
if she was ready
1065
00:57:45,505 --> 00:57:48,029
before another boy
had intercourse with her.
1066
00:57:49,640 --> 00:57:51,685
After we were all dressed,
1067
00:57:51,772 --> 00:57:55,820
Lovett went to each boy, collecting money from all of us and paid her.
1068
00:57:55,907 --> 00:57:58,126
He asked her
if she was satisfied
1069
00:57:58,213 --> 00:58:00,607
and she said
she was satisfied.
1070
00:58:00,694 --> 00:58:03,654
And Lovett asked her
if she was going to
say anything about it,
1071
00:58:03,741 --> 00:58:06,483
and she told him
she would not say
anything about it.
1072
00:58:07,832 --> 00:58:09,747
We then got in the car
1073
00:58:09,834 --> 00:58:11,792
and put her out
at the street light.
1074
00:58:11,879 --> 00:58:14,273
We walked uptown
and sat on the corner
1075
00:58:14,360 --> 00:58:17,537
at the bank
for about five minutes.
1076
00:58:17,624 --> 00:58:22,107
This was the first time
I had ever had anything to do
with a negro woman.
1077
00:58:22,194 --> 00:58:24,326
I saw Recy Taylor
at the courthouse
1078
00:58:24,413 --> 00:58:26,067
during the
grand jury investigation
1079
00:58:26,154 --> 00:58:28,940
and recognized her as being
1080
00:58:29,027 --> 00:58:31,246
the woman that me
and the other boys
took off that night.
1081
00:58:33,118 --> 00:58:35,468
[man] The next boy we talked to was Robert Gamble
1082
00:58:35,555 --> 00:58:37,949
and his statement
is substantially the same
1083
00:58:38,036 --> 00:58:40,604
as that given by Dillard York.
1084
00:58:40,691 --> 00:58:43,824
Next boy interviewed by us
was Luther Lee.
1085
00:58:43,911 --> 00:58:46,740
Lee stated that
they proceeded on...
1086
00:58:46,827 --> 00:58:48,089
[Luther Lee] We proceeded
on to the place
where we had intercourse.
1087
00:58:48,176 --> 00:58:50,439
While there, I heard Recy say
1088
00:58:50,527 --> 00:58:52,180
something about her baby
and that she had to go home.
1089
00:58:54,443 --> 00:58:57,272
But Lovett is the one
that told her to undress.
1090
00:58:57,359 --> 00:59:00,014
All of us had intercourse
with her,
except Billy Howerton.
1091
00:59:00,101 --> 00:59:05,411
And Howerton said he did not wanna have intercourse with her because the negro knew him.
1092
00:59:05,498 --> 00:59:07,718
[man] We talked
with Billy Howerton.
1093
00:59:07,805 --> 00:59:10,634
He was reluctant
to give us any information.
1094
00:59:10,721 --> 00:59:13,506
But finally said
he would tell all he knew
1095
00:59:13,593 --> 00:59:17,771
and his statement collaborates the statements of York, Gamble and Lee
1096
00:59:17,858 --> 00:59:19,425
in all material aspects.
1097
00:59:19,512 --> 00:59:22,689
[Billy Howerton]
I will tell all I know.
1098
00:59:22,776 --> 00:59:25,649
[man] He said that he did not
see a blindfold
on the face of Recy Taylor.
1099
00:59:25,736 --> 00:59:27,651
[Billy Howerton] I did not
see a blindfold
on the face of Recy Taylor.
1100
00:59:27,738 --> 00:59:30,697
But there
could have been one there.
1101
00:59:30,784 --> 00:59:32,873
[man] He further stated
that he did not have
intercourse with Recy Taylor.
1102
00:59:32,960 --> 00:59:33,047
[Billy Howerton] I did not have intercourse with Recy Taylor.
1103
00:59:34,875 --> 00:59:37,095
I did not wanna have
intercourse with her
1104
00:59:37,182 --> 00:59:39,097
and I told the other boys
that I knew Recy Taylor.
1105
00:59:39,184 --> 00:59:41,882
But in truth and in fact,
I did not know her.
1106
00:59:41,969 --> 00:59:43,580
But just made
that statement to them
1107
00:59:43,667 --> 00:59:46,408
because I did not want to have anything to do with her.
1108
00:59:46,495 --> 00:59:49,324
[man] The next one
we talked to was
Willie Joe Culpepper
1109
00:59:49,411 --> 00:59:52,197
He stated that
he got into the automobile
in the town of Abbeville...
1110
00:59:52,284 --> 00:59:55,417
[Willie Joe Culpepper]
I got into the automobile
in the town of Abbeville
1111
00:59:55,504 --> 00:59:59,378
with the other boys
and we were talking
about getting a woman.
1112
00:59:59,465 --> 01:00:02,599
And we rode out
on the highway
1113
01:00:03,121 --> 01:00:04,862
toward Dothan
1114
01:00:04,949 --> 01:00:07,691
and saw two women
and a man
1115
01:00:07,778 --> 01:00:09,606
walking along the highway.
1116
01:00:10,345 --> 01:00:12,304
We went down the road
1117
01:00:12,391 --> 01:00:14,436
and turned around
1118
01:00:14,523 --> 01:00:17,309
and came back
and stopped the automobile.
1119
01:00:18,049 --> 01:00:20,704
Herbert Lovett had a shotgun.
1120
01:00:20,791 --> 01:00:22,575
In a few seconds,
1121
01:00:22,662 --> 01:00:25,404
Recy Taylor
came to the automobile
1122
01:00:25,491 --> 01:00:30,452
with Herbert Lovett behind her with the shotgun in his hand.
1123
01:00:30,539 --> 01:00:32,629
Just before we got in
the automobile,
1124
01:00:32,716 --> 01:00:36,154
I heard Recy Taylor
asking the negro woman
1125
01:00:36,241 --> 01:00:38,591
and negro man,
1126
01:00:38,678 --> 01:00:40,288
one or the other,
1127
01:00:40,375 --> 01:00:42,203
to come and go with her.
1128
01:00:42,290 --> 01:00:44,249
And they said
they could not go.
1129
01:00:45,554 --> 01:00:48,906
Herbert Lovett made her
get out of the car
1130
01:00:48,993 --> 01:00:50,864
and we had the gun on her
1131
01:00:50,951 --> 01:00:53,258
and told her to undress.
1132
01:00:53,867 --> 01:00:56,653
And she was crying
1133
01:00:56,740 --> 01:01:00,352
and asking us to
let her go home
to her husband and baby.
1134
01:01:02,963 --> 01:01:04,356
When it was all over
1135
01:01:04,443 --> 01:01:06,097
and each of us dressed,
1136
01:01:06,184 --> 01:01:08,273
as did Recy Taylor,
1137
01:01:08,360 --> 01:01:11,015
someone, I do not know who,
1138
01:01:11,102 --> 01:01:14,235
put a blindfold on Recy's face.
1139
01:01:15,846 --> 01:01:18,936
[man] And he took
hold of himself hardly
and said...
1140
01:01:19,023 --> 01:01:21,808
[Willie Joe Culpepper] While
she was having intercourse
with Herbert Lovett,
1141
01:01:21,895 --> 01:01:25,464
we walked over there to where she lay on the ground
1142
01:01:25,551 --> 01:01:28,293
and we placed
some money in her hand.
1143
01:01:33,211 --> 01:01:37,215
Hugo Wilson was the driver
of the automobile.
1144
01:01:37,302 --> 01:01:40,174
[man] Hugo Wilson denied
he had anything to do
with Recy Taylor...
1145
01:01:40,261 --> 01:01:42,263
[Hugo Wilson] I had nothin'
to do with Recy Taylor
on that night.
1146
01:01:42,350 --> 01:01:43,874
Stated by the other boys.
1147
01:01:43,961 --> 01:01:45,527
I was not present.
1148
01:01:45,614 --> 01:01:48,313
I know nothin'
in the world about it.
1149
01:01:48,400 --> 01:01:50,837
I was arrested the night
of September 3rd,
1150
01:01:50,924 --> 01:01:53,318
and while in the automobile
with the sheriff,
1151
01:01:53,405 --> 01:01:55,668
Recy Taylor was called
to the automobile
1152
01:01:55,755 --> 01:01:58,453
and asked by the sheriff
if I was one of the boys
1153
01:01:58,540 --> 01:02:01,152
and she said,
"Yes, he is one of them."
1154
01:02:01,239 --> 01:02:03,632
I told her she was a damn liar.
1155
01:02:04,546 --> 01:02:06,723
The sheriff is a liar
when he says
1156
01:02:06,810 --> 01:02:08,899
that I gave him the names
of the other six boys.
1157
01:02:08,986 --> 01:02:12,119
All the other boys are liars
when they say
1158
01:02:12,206 --> 01:02:14,818
that I was there at the time
rest of them had intercourse
with Recy Taylor
1159
01:02:14,905 --> 01:02:17,821
and that they were lying
when they said that.
1160
01:02:17,908 --> 01:02:19,257
[man] The next and last boy
that we talked to
was Herbert Lovett.
1161
01:02:19,910 --> 01:02:21,346
He was in the army.
1162
01:02:21,433 --> 01:02:24,436
Lovett stated that
1163
01:02:24,523 --> 01:02:27,047
he knew nothing of the affair
for which he was being
interrogated.
1164
01:02:27,134 --> 01:02:28,788
[Herbert Lovett] I know nothing
of the affair for which
I am being interrogated.
1165
01:02:28,875 --> 01:02:30,921
Well, I do know
I was placed under bond
1166
01:02:31,008 --> 01:02:33,793
but I was never
arrested for this matter.
1167
01:02:33,880 --> 01:02:36,143
[man] Each of the boys
that did make a statement
about this affair stated
1168
01:02:36,230 --> 01:02:39,016
that they did not know
Recy Taylor before this night
1169
01:02:39,103 --> 01:02:42,062
and that none of them
ever remembered
having seen her.
1170
01:02:42,933 --> 01:02:44,761
Recy Taylor stated to us that
1171
01:02:44,848 --> 01:02:47,981
she could not identify
any of these boys.
1172
01:02:48,068 --> 01:02:50,854
And if they were all put into
a line up with
1173
01:02:50,941 --> 01:02:53,073
eight, 12 or 15 boys,
1174
01:02:53,160 --> 01:02:55,728
she could not go in
and pick out a single one
1175
01:02:55,815 --> 01:02:58,339
that picked her up
that night and ravished her.
1176
01:02:59,210 --> 01:03:01,299
Respectfully submitted,
1177
01:03:01,386 --> 01:03:03,649
John O' Harris,
Assistant Attorney General.
1178
01:03:16,793 --> 01:03:19,665
[Chris Money] It doesn't take much to get an indictment.
1179
01:03:20,535 --> 01:03:22,320
It's a one sided story,
1180
01:03:22,407 --> 01:03:25,105
so, what I mean by that is
1181
01:03:25,192 --> 01:03:27,629
when you go to the grand jury,
1182
01:03:27,716 --> 01:03:28,848
um...
1183
01:03:28,935 --> 01:03:30,458
it's secret,
1184
01:03:30,545 --> 01:03:33,592
the state only calls
their witnesses.
1185
01:03:33,679 --> 01:03:35,855
It's not like
the defense attorneys
1186
01:03:35,942 --> 01:03:38,902
get to cross-examine
during a grand jury process.
1187
01:03:38,989 --> 01:03:41,426
It doesn't work like that.
1188
01:03:41,513 --> 01:03:43,950
The District Attorney
at that time was,
1189
01:03:44,037 --> 01:03:48,346
a solicitor, I think it's what they ca... actually took the case to the grand jury, twice.
1190
01:03:48,433 --> 01:03:50,870
And never could get
an indictment.
1191
01:03:51,479 --> 01:03:54,439
And as I understand it
1192
01:03:54,526 --> 01:03:58,182
Mrs. Taylor testified
and they still couldn't get
an indictment.
1193
01:03:58,269 --> 01:04:01,446
During those times,
African-Americans
could not serve.
1194
01:04:01,533 --> 01:04:05,885
There was an all
white male jury.
1195
01:04:05,972 --> 01:04:08,627
I don't think the facts
were the problem
1196
01:04:09,236 --> 01:04:11,499
in the Recy Taylor case.
1197
01:04:11,586 --> 01:04:13,850
I think that color
had everything to do with it.
1198
01:04:21,814 --> 01:04:23,903
[Alma Daniels]
They'd left that night.
1199
01:04:25,035 --> 01:04:26,732
Joined the army,
1200
01:04:27,385 --> 01:04:28,734
navy,
1201
01:04:31,737 --> 01:04:33,870
'cause you know
they had done wrong.
1202
01:04:39,788 --> 01:04:42,139
[Crystal Feimster]
It takes profound courage
1203
01:04:42,226 --> 01:04:44,968
to speak out.
1204
01:04:45,055 --> 01:04:46,491
This is a story that
you want to share
with the world.
1205
01:04:46,578 --> 01:04:49,233
There is no sense of,
1206
01:04:49,320 --> 01:04:50,799
um, what did I do?
1207
01:04:50,887 --> 01:04:53,324
That's sort of, um, you know,
1208
01:04:53,411 --> 01:04:55,979
power of shame
and guilt that often
1209
01:04:56,066 --> 01:04:59,547
comes with a sexual assault.
1210
01:04:59,634 --> 01:05:01,723
You know, that Recy
did not have that shame.
1211
01:05:01,810 --> 01:05:03,638
She didn't have that guilt.
1212
01:05:03,725 --> 01:05:06,163
She knew that
what had happened to her
was a brutal assault.
1213
01:05:06,250 --> 01:05:09,340
We know that victims
of rape and trauma
1214
01:05:09,427 --> 01:05:11,516
suffer all kinds of emotions
1215
01:05:11,603 --> 01:05:12,996
and that may come later,
1216
01:05:13,083 --> 01:05:15,215
but it doesn't come
in those moments
1217
01:05:15,302 --> 01:05:19,176
where she is prepared
to speak out about
what happened to her.
1218
01:05:19,263 --> 01:05:22,483
It's about saying
that I am a woman,
1219
01:05:22,570 --> 01:05:25,617
and that I have
a right to consent
1220
01:05:25,704 --> 01:05:30,361
and that when
I do not consent,
it is a crime
1221
01:05:30,448 --> 01:05:33,364
and that, you know,
there's hell to pay.
1222
01:05:33,451 --> 01:05:37,934
Luther got a pretty bad whipping
1223
01:05:38,021 --> 01:05:40,937
for something that I never
did know what it was.
1224
01:05:41,024 --> 01:05:44,027
My dad worked him over.
1225
01:05:44,114 --> 01:05:47,465
Not with his fist, you know,
he had a strap.
1226
01:05:47,552 --> 01:05:50,859
Luther actually, ran around
1227
01:05:50,947 --> 01:05:54,733
with good people
that had too much time
on the hands.
1228
01:05:54,820 --> 01:05:58,737
You know,
time is a devil's workshop.
1229
01:05:58,824 --> 01:06:02,219
I liked every one of 'em.
I liked all of 'em.
1230
01:06:02,306 --> 01:06:04,221
With the whole... if...
1231
01:06:04,308 --> 01:06:07,398
I never did know
exactly what it was,
like I told you.
1232
01:06:07,485 --> 01:06:09,661
But I knew
there was something, but...
1233
01:06:11,402 --> 01:06:13,752
We didn't have any...
1234
01:06:13,839 --> 01:06:14,971
Abbeville,
1235
01:06:15,058 --> 01:06:17,060
would not tell on anybody else.
1236
01:06:17,147 --> 01:06:18,931
Dillard was
1237
01:06:19,018 --> 01:06:22,761
in with the group
that was always up to something.
1238
01:06:22,848 --> 01:06:25,590
It wasn't jail time, but they,
1239
01:06:25,677 --> 01:06:27,853
they got their share of
1240
01:06:27,940 --> 01:06:31,117
carrying on, you know,
doing things that
1241
01:06:31,204 --> 01:06:32,597
kids would do.
1242
01:06:32,684 --> 01:06:35,121
Lewey Corbitt
was the sheriff there.
1243
01:06:35,208 --> 01:06:36,731
One of the nicest.
1244
01:06:36,818 --> 01:06:39,821
If he put you in jail,
1245
01:06:40,387 --> 01:06:42,172
you had to go.
1246
01:06:42,259 --> 01:06:43,782
He'd give you every break.
1247
01:06:43,869 --> 01:06:45,784
He was married to Aunt Suzie.
1248
01:06:46,698 --> 01:06:49,222
And she was Mother's sister.
1249
01:06:49,309 --> 01:06:52,008
But Uncle Lewey, uh,
1250
01:06:52,095 --> 01:06:53,748
never lost an election.
1251
01:06:53,835 --> 01:06:57,274
He didn't even have to
get out on politics
1252
01:06:57,361 --> 01:06:59,798
because everybody knew
who he was.
1253
01:06:59,885 --> 01:07:02,801
So, here we have a grand jury
1254
01:07:02,888 --> 01:07:05,760
made up of local white men,
1255
01:07:05,847 --> 01:07:09,851
farmers, business owners,
sharecroppers,
1256
01:07:09,938 --> 01:07:13,290
being asked
to indict their sons,
1257
01:07:13,377 --> 01:07:15,596
their neighbors,
their brothers.
1258
01:07:15,683 --> 01:07:18,512
You know, local boys
1259
01:07:18,599 --> 01:07:21,211
who for all intents
and purposes in
their minds, at least
1260
01:07:21,298 --> 01:07:24,257
were just trying to have
a little fun and got
carried away.
1261
01:07:24,344 --> 01:07:26,129
They were never gonna indict
1262
01:07:26,216 --> 01:07:27,739
Recy Taylor's rapists.
1263
01:07:37,444 --> 01:07:41,057
[Robert Corbitt] My father
lived right just across
the street from
1264
01:07:41,448 --> 01:07:43,102
the Howertons.
1265
01:07:43,189 --> 01:07:45,191
And Billy Howerton
1266
01:07:45,278 --> 01:07:47,672
was in and out
of the house, but he was,
1267
01:07:47,759 --> 01:07:50,762
seemed to be pretty,
kind of, shy guy.
1268
01:07:50,849 --> 01:07:53,852
He'd never look
in our directions.
1269
01:07:53,939 --> 01:07:57,551
Recy did see Billy Howerton
after the rape.
1270
01:07:57,638 --> 01:07:59,249
But they wouldn't make
1271
01:07:59,336 --> 01:08:01,251
eye contact with each other.
1272
01:08:01,338 --> 01:08:03,340
Even as a kid, at that time,
1273
01:08:03,427 --> 01:08:05,037
I was expecting
something bad to happen,
1274
01:08:05,124 --> 01:08:07,170
but they stayed distant
away from me.
1275
01:08:07,257 --> 01:08:09,215
And they know my father always
1276
01:08:09,302 --> 01:08:12,218
had his shotgun handy.
1277
01:08:12,305 --> 01:08:15,178
So, I think they were
a little afraid of him.
1278
01:08:15,265 --> 01:08:18,311
He believed in that
double barrel shotgun.
[chuckles]
1279
01:08:19,269 --> 01:08:20,879
We have, you know,
1280
01:08:20,966 --> 01:08:24,100
black men in her family,
her husband
and her father
1281
01:08:24,187 --> 01:08:26,145
who were unable
to protect her, right?
1282
01:08:26,232 --> 01:08:27,712
They're no longer...
They don't have
1283
01:08:27,799 --> 01:08:31,411
access to kind of
the traditional, um...
1284
01:08:31,498 --> 01:08:33,196
the traditional mechanisms
of manhood
1285
01:08:33,283 --> 01:08:36,547
being able to protect your wife
and your daughter.
1286
01:08:36,634 --> 01:08:40,116
White men are always
in a position to protect
1287
01:08:41,117 --> 01:08:42,640
their wives
and daughters, right.
1288
01:08:42,727 --> 01:08:45,338
It becomes the justification
for lynching.
1289
01:08:45,425 --> 01:08:47,558
We had a good relationship
1290
01:08:47,645 --> 01:08:49,908
with the blacks and I knew
1291
01:08:49,995 --> 01:08:52,258
a great number of them in town.
1292
01:08:52,345 --> 01:08:54,869
The blacks and the whites...
1293
01:08:56,915 --> 01:08:59,526
They knew they were blacks
and they knew they were whites,
1294
01:08:59,613 --> 01:09:01,833
but they were friends.
1295
01:09:01,920 --> 01:09:04,096
Yes, we knew the Wilsons
before the rape
1296
01:09:04,183 --> 01:09:07,578
and also know Hugo
before the rape
1297
01:09:07,665 --> 01:09:11,103
because they owned
a taxi cab fleet.
1298
01:09:11,190 --> 01:09:12,278
It was, uh...
1299
01:09:12,931 --> 01:09:14,846
Wilson call Wilson cab.
1300
01:09:14,933 --> 01:09:17,762
I can't remember
the old man's name
1301
01:09:17,849 --> 01:09:20,808
but we used to call him
Bulldog Wilson 'cause he
1302
01:09:20,895 --> 01:09:24,464
was out of shape,
like a bulldog.
1303
01:09:25,073 --> 01:09:27,119
And, uh...
1304
01:09:27,206 --> 01:09:30,775
I would deliver
groceries to their house.
1305
01:09:30,862 --> 01:09:35,127
My father told me
not to talk to the Wilsons.
1306
01:09:35,214 --> 01:09:38,348
Give them
a yes or a no and leave.
1307
01:09:38,435 --> 01:09:42,221
Recy was like a mother-sister
to me, she raised me.
1308
01:09:42,308 --> 01:09:44,832
I didn't feel good
about it at all.
1309
01:09:46,747 --> 01:09:50,098
[Danielle L. McGuire]
So, it's never the same
as enduring a rape.
1310
01:09:50,186 --> 01:09:52,318
The effect on the husband
is never the same,
1311
01:09:52,405 --> 01:09:55,147
uh, as it is on the woman
who had to endure the rape.
1312
01:09:55,234 --> 01:10:00,370
But it's used
as a political weapon
all around the world
1313
01:10:00,457 --> 01:10:04,722
to undermine, um, men
1314
01:10:04,809 --> 01:10:06,985
and their positions in society.
1315
01:10:08,204 --> 01:10:11,076
When I think about
Robert Corbitt, for example,
1316
01:10:12,251 --> 01:10:15,602
and the ways
in which he internalized
1317
01:10:15,689 --> 01:10:18,344
the rape of his sister,
Recy Taylor,
1318
01:10:20,172 --> 01:10:23,784
it really gets to the way
sexual violence
1319
01:10:23,871 --> 01:10:28,180
terrorizes people,
not just the victims.
1320
01:10:28,267 --> 01:10:31,314
It's what
motivates him today to help
1321
01:10:31,401 --> 01:10:33,751
get his sister's story
out into the world.
1322
01:10:33,838 --> 01:10:37,145
I get by only without them
knowing it. [chuckles]
1323
01:10:37,233 --> 01:10:40,584
I would never let them know that
I was inquiring about them.
1324
01:10:40,671 --> 01:10:45,502
I would just be talking to him,
I'd say, "How is Luther Lee?
Is he still around?"
1325
01:10:45,589 --> 01:10:52,030
My brother Luther Lee left
to join the Navy
when he was 17.
1326
01:10:52,117 --> 01:10:57,862
And he stayed in there a while and then got out and then went back
1327
01:10:57,949 --> 01:10:59,864
and stayed till he was retired.
1328
01:10:59,951 --> 01:11:05,130
And that made him be
in World War II
1329
01:11:06,349 --> 01:11:08,916
and the Korean War
1330
01:11:09,003 --> 01:11:11,397
and the Vietnam War.
1331
01:11:11,484 --> 01:11:17,360
My brother Dillard York
was the oldest and, uh,
1332
01:11:17,447 --> 01:11:22,365
he finished high school
in Abbeville and joined
the Navy in World War II.
1333
01:11:22,452 --> 01:11:25,542
He had the Purple Heart
from being wounded
1334
01:11:25,629 --> 01:11:32,375
and he served
as the chief recorder
1335
01:11:32,462 --> 01:11:34,420
for the Korean peace talks.
1336
01:11:34,507 --> 01:11:37,380
I knew Joe Culpepper.
1337
01:11:37,467 --> 01:11:40,731
He later on went on to service
1338
01:11:40,818 --> 01:11:44,212
and when he did
he was in the Korean War
1339
01:11:44,300 --> 01:11:48,782
and they captured him
and he stayed in prison
for a long time.
1340
01:11:48,869 --> 01:11:51,394
He was a Korean War prisoner.
1341
01:11:51,481 --> 01:11:54,092
And he came back as a hero.
1342
01:11:54,179 --> 01:11:58,009
From talking to him afterwards,
it was just the
1343
01:11:58,096 --> 01:12:00,881
experience of seeing all the
1344
01:12:01,752 --> 01:12:04,755
people that was killed
at Pearl Harbor
1345
01:12:04,842 --> 01:12:07,192
and all the devastation there
1346
01:12:08,236 --> 01:12:10,891
just changed his mind
about the life.
1347
01:12:11,849 --> 01:12:14,330
He married a girl from Japan.
1348
01:12:15,983 --> 01:12:17,637
That went over great.
1349
01:12:21,119 --> 01:12:23,339
Lewey Corbitt told, um,
1350
01:12:24,078 --> 01:12:25,950
told my father that
1351
01:12:26,037 --> 01:12:28,909
two of these guys
had got killed.
1352
01:12:28,996 --> 01:12:31,129
He was told that, uh,
1353
01:12:31,216 --> 01:12:33,349
one guy killed
in a car accident,
1354
01:12:33,436 --> 01:12:36,526
and one guy killed
at a man's house going
1355
01:12:36,613 --> 01:12:38,310
with another man's wife.
1356
01:12:38,658 --> 01:12:40,007
This, uh...
1357
01:12:40,094 --> 01:12:42,445
So, we presumed
that had happened.
1358
01:12:42,532 --> 01:12:44,272
So, years later,
1359
01:12:44,360 --> 01:12:47,537
we just find out that
those guys didn't die until...
1360
01:12:48,320 --> 01:12:51,323
Well, one of them died
in 2010.
1361
01:12:51,410 --> 01:12:53,238
Well, that was part
of the cover up.
1362
01:12:53,325 --> 01:12:57,024
What happens to Recy's case
after the second grand jury?
1363
01:12:57,111 --> 01:13:00,376
Nothing, nothing happens
to Recy Taylor's case.
1364
01:13:00,463 --> 01:13:03,944
The Committee for Equal Justice for Mrs. Recy Taylor,
1365
01:13:04,031 --> 01:13:06,991
regroups as
the Committee
for Equal Justice.
1366
01:13:07,078 --> 01:13:10,560
And because crimes like this
happen again, and again,
and again,
1367
01:13:10,647 --> 01:13:13,519
across the South.
1368
01:13:13,606 --> 01:13:15,347
They organized to defend
another black woman
in another state
1369
01:13:15,434 --> 01:13:18,002
whose been assaulted by
a group of white men.
1370
01:13:18,089 --> 01:13:20,831
It's common in
a lot of social movements
1371
01:13:20,918 --> 01:13:25,357
for victims of crimes
to be used as symbols,
1372
01:13:25,444 --> 01:13:28,795
as figures that
people can rally around,
1373
01:13:28,882 --> 01:13:33,147
and then when they become
less useful, the organization
moves on.
1374
01:13:33,234 --> 01:13:35,585
It's really a tragedy because
1375
01:13:35,672 --> 01:13:39,415
I don't think Recy Taylor really knew the extent to which
1376
01:13:39,502 --> 01:13:42,679
so many people
around the country
rallied to her defense
1377
01:13:42,766 --> 01:13:47,727
and took comfort and courage
from her brave testimony.
1378
01:13:47,814 --> 01:13:50,121
But she also didn't really know
1379
01:13:50,208 --> 01:13:52,079
when they decided to move on
1380
01:13:52,166 --> 01:13:54,081
because no one
consulted with her.
1381
01:14:04,135 --> 01:14:06,093
She goes on with her life.
1382
01:14:06,180 --> 01:14:09,096
She goes on living.
She's back in Abbeville
1383
01:14:09,183 --> 01:14:14,275
and the attention
has moved elsewhere.
1384
01:14:14,362 --> 01:14:17,844
And I think she's largely forgotten about.
1385
01:14:17,931 --> 01:14:19,977
And she leads a very hard life
1386
01:14:20,630 --> 01:14:22,545
as a sharecropper,
1387
01:14:22,632 --> 01:14:25,504
she moves to Florida
to pick oranges,
1388
01:14:25,591 --> 01:14:27,680
her marriage ends,
1389
01:14:27,767 --> 01:14:30,596
her daughter dies
in a tragic car accident.
1390
01:14:35,645 --> 01:14:38,474
She suffers enormously
1391
01:14:38,561 --> 01:14:39,910
because of what happened
to her and then
what comes later.
1392
01:14:39,997 --> 01:14:41,825
But there's no justice
in the case.
1393
01:14:41,912 --> 01:14:43,566
There's never justice
in the case.
1394
01:14:50,660 --> 01:14:53,706
You're asking me to talk
about something now
1395
01:14:54,707 --> 01:14:58,363
that, uh, I'm uncomfortable
talking about.
1396
01:15:00,017 --> 01:15:01,540
People are still living.
1397
01:15:02,933 --> 01:15:04,674
I have to still live here.
1398
01:15:05,718 --> 01:15:08,112
A book came out that, uh,
1399
01:15:08,199 --> 01:15:10,157
told about the...
1400
01:15:10,244 --> 01:15:13,552
the Recy Taylor situation.
1401
01:15:14,248 --> 01:15:16,424
A young black lady
1402
01:15:17,164 --> 01:15:19,471
was allegedly raped
1403
01:15:20,428 --> 01:15:22,779
by six or seven
young white boys.
1404
01:15:22,866 --> 01:15:29,046
It incited some people
in the northern area
of the country.
1405
01:15:29,133 --> 01:15:32,832
They began giving
some local people here
1406
01:15:32,919 --> 01:15:35,574
some heavy harassment.
1407
01:15:35,661 --> 01:15:39,273
There was conflict
and testimony
in that situation.
1408
01:15:39,360 --> 01:15:42,102
I don't know rightly
or wrongly.
1409
01:15:42,189 --> 01:15:43,713
I'm not here to judge.
1410
01:15:44,409 --> 01:15:46,542
But, I'm just a historian.
1411
01:15:47,673 --> 01:15:48,805
But, uh...
1412
01:15:50,371 --> 01:15:53,070
not professionally trained,
I might add.
1413
01:15:54,245 --> 01:15:57,857
Finally, our local
representative
in the Legislature
1414
01:15:59,206 --> 01:16:01,469
decided to, uh,
1415
01:16:03,254 --> 01:16:05,561
to maybe, you know, helped
1416
01:16:06,257 --> 01:16:09,652
both sides of the situation
1417
01:16:10,000 --> 01:16:11,349
calm down.
1418
01:16:13,177 --> 01:16:16,920
He had an Act introduced
in the Alabama Legislature,
1419
01:16:17,007 --> 01:16:21,141
officially giving Recy Taylor
an apology.
1420
01:16:37,810 --> 01:16:41,379
[Crystal Feimster] Often times, the cases like Recy Taylor
1421
01:16:41,466 --> 01:16:44,556
seems like
a break from tradition
1422
01:16:44,643 --> 01:16:47,037
because we've ignored
those stories.
1423
01:16:47,124 --> 01:16:50,040
We've refused
to hear those voices.
1424
01:16:50,127 --> 01:16:52,216
In the end,
what makes her story
1425
01:16:52,303 --> 01:16:54,697
is these connections
to Rosa Parks
1426
01:16:54,784 --> 01:16:58,570
and these longer histories
of black women speaking out.
1427
01:16:59,963 --> 01:17:03,488
On the 5th of December 1955,
1428
01:17:06,317 --> 01:17:08,624
a fine, dignified,
1429
01:17:09,799 --> 01:17:13,629
disciplined, courageous seamstress from this community
1430
01:17:15,761 --> 01:17:18,634
sitting down on a bus.
1431
01:17:20,548 --> 01:17:24,727
Sister Rosa Parks
with dignity and discipline,
1432
01:17:24,814 --> 01:17:28,774
said in substance
that the cup of endurance
has run over.
1433
01:17:30,515 --> 01:17:32,560
I can take it no longer.
1434
01:17:35,302 --> 01:17:37,827
Martin Luther,
back in the 16th century,
who said,
1435
01:17:37,914 --> 01:17:41,482
"Here I stand
and I can do none other,
so help be God."
1436
01:17:41,569 --> 01:17:44,703
It was Rosa Parks,
on the 1st of December,
who said,
1437
01:17:44,790 --> 01:17:48,881
"Here I sit and I can do
none other, so help me God."
1438
01:17:48,968 --> 01:17:52,493
[Crystal Feimster] If we
go back to those images
from that time period,
1439
01:17:52,580 --> 01:17:54,844
images that are of Martin,
1440
01:17:54,931 --> 01:17:58,021
you know, the speaking
and with his beautiful voice,
1441
01:17:58,108 --> 01:17:59,500
who do we see
in those images?
1442
01:17:59,587 --> 01:18:01,328
We see women,
black women
1443
01:18:01,415 --> 01:18:03,896
walking, walking,
pounding the pavement.
1444
01:18:03,983 --> 01:18:05,811
We see black women
in the churches
1445
01:18:06,899 --> 01:18:09,075
with the fans, singing.
1446
01:18:09,162 --> 01:18:11,121
So, that the women are there.
1447
01:18:11,208 --> 01:18:13,166
And the women
have always been there.
1448
01:18:13,253 --> 01:18:15,603
And they're gonna
remain there, right?
1449
01:18:15,691 --> 01:18:18,389
The shock troops
are on the ground.
1450
01:18:18,476 --> 01:18:21,392
They're educating
their daughters on
how to stay safe
1451
01:18:21,479 --> 01:18:23,220
when they work
in these homes.
1452
01:18:23,307 --> 01:18:24,612
They're pressing charges.
1453
01:18:24,700 --> 01:18:26,789
Like, they don't stop doing
1454
01:18:26,876 --> 01:18:28,094
what they've been doing.
1455
01:18:28,181 --> 01:18:29,835
But, we can't see them
1456
01:18:29,922 --> 01:18:33,317
because the light is on Martin,
it's on the man.
1457
01:18:35,188 --> 01:18:37,277
It's not surprising that
1458
01:18:37,364 --> 01:18:39,497
public transportation
became a battleground
1459
01:18:39,584 --> 01:18:41,760
for black women particularly.
1460
01:18:41,847 --> 01:18:44,067
Before Jim Crow South,
1461
01:18:44,154 --> 01:18:47,723
a lot of train stations
didn't actually have
bathrooms
1462
01:18:47,810 --> 01:18:49,942
for people of color.
1463
01:18:50,029 --> 01:18:51,683
We often think,
okay, well,
there is the black one
1464
01:18:51,770 --> 01:18:54,512
and the white one.
1465
01:18:54,599 --> 01:18:56,340
But you didn't build
four bathrooms
in a train station.
1466
01:18:56,427 --> 01:18:58,821
There was usually two,
a male and a female.
1467
01:18:58,908 --> 01:19:01,780
And so black women,
middle class black women
1468
01:19:01,867 --> 01:19:04,348
in their fancy dress
have to use a bathroom.
1469
01:19:04,435 --> 01:19:05,479
Where are they gonna go?
1470
01:19:05,566 --> 01:19:06,829
They go around the building,
1471
01:19:06,916 --> 01:19:08,352
they go in the woods.
1472
01:19:08,439 --> 01:19:10,180
And it's a way
to kind of say,
1473
01:19:10,267 --> 01:19:12,748
"Look at these people,
look at this woman,
1474
01:19:12,835 --> 01:19:15,620
she's peeing on the side
of the road,
1475
01:19:15,707 --> 01:19:18,144
or she's peeing
in the bushes.
1476
01:19:18,231 --> 01:19:20,364
This is not
a respectable woman."
1477
01:19:20,451 --> 01:19:23,019
When black women
paid for a first class ticket
1478
01:19:23,106 --> 01:19:25,064
trying to get into
the ladies cars,
1479
01:19:25,151 --> 01:19:27,588
they were often
physically manhandled,
1480
01:19:27,675 --> 01:19:30,766
thrown off the trains,
beaten once they've
gotten off the trains.
1481
01:19:30,853 --> 01:19:33,246
It was a way of saying
that you're not a woman
1482
01:19:33,333 --> 01:19:35,292
and we will not treat you
as a woman.
1483
01:19:39,731 --> 01:19:41,820
[Danielle L. McGuire]
The entire boycott is rooted
1484
01:19:41,907 --> 01:19:44,388
in the defense
of women like
Recy Taylor.
1485
01:19:44,475 --> 01:19:46,999
And is propelled
by black women
1486
01:19:47,086 --> 01:19:50,655
who had to endure
the most horrific
treatment on the buses.
1487
01:19:50,742 --> 01:19:53,049
Without those women
there's no Bus Boycott.
1488
01:19:53,136 --> 01:19:55,921
I mean, they are the ones...
1489
01:19:56,008 --> 01:19:57,923
They make up 80%
of the Montgomery
City Lines ridership.
1490
01:19:58,010 --> 01:20:00,273
So, without them,
who's gonna walk?
1491
01:20:00,360 --> 01:20:01,927
Who's gonna stay off
the buses?
1492
01:20:02,014 --> 01:20:04,669
And without the Bus Boycott,
I mean, we could
1493
01:20:04,756 --> 01:20:06,279
go into this long
1494
01:20:06,366 --> 01:20:07,585
'what if,' of history
1495
01:20:07,672 --> 01:20:09,239
but without the Bus Boycott,
1496
01:20:09,326 --> 01:20:10,893
there's no demonstration
1497
01:20:10,980 --> 01:20:13,809
of how non-violent
social revolution happens.
1498
01:20:14,548 --> 01:20:17,203
And how powerful it can be.
1499
01:20:17,290 --> 01:20:19,205
How a boycott
1500
01:20:19,292 --> 01:20:22,165
can bring the cradle
of the confederacy
to its knees.
1501
01:20:22,252 --> 01:20:23,644
It's not about where you sit.
1502
01:20:23,731 --> 01:20:26,996
It's about being able to
1503
01:20:27,083 --> 01:20:29,694
go on public transportation
and being sure that
you're not gonna be molested.
1504
01:20:31,565 --> 01:20:33,393
What does freedom mean?
1505
01:20:33,480 --> 01:20:35,700
If you can't
walk down the street
1506
01:20:35,787 --> 01:20:38,790
without being touched
inappropriately or slapped,
1507
01:20:38,877 --> 01:20:40,009
or brutalized.
1508
01:20:40,096 --> 01:20:41,575
What does it mean?
1509
01:20:41,662 --> 01:20:44,927
If you could vote, or you could sit in a theater,
1510
01:20:45,014 --> 01:20:46,842
it means very little.
1511
01:20:46,929 --> 01:20:49,540
So, the buses are about
a struggle for bodily integrity
1512
01:20:49,627 --> 01:20:52,848
led by women,
organized by women
1513
01:20:52,935 --> 01:20:54,806
and really made possible
1514
01:20:54,893 --> 01:20:56,764
by the women
who rode the buses every day
1515
01:20:56,852 --> 01:20:59,028
and then when they
decided not to ride them,
1516
01:20:59,115 --> 01:21:01,204
the women
who walked every day.
1517
01:21:01,291 --> 01:21:04,598
♪ Who's that yonder
Dressed in white ♪
1518
01:21:04,685 --> 01:21:07,950
♪ Let my people go ♪
1519
01:21:08,037 --> 01:21:11,649
♪ Looked like the children
Of the Israelite ♪
1520
01:21:11,736 --> 01:21:15,348
♪ Let my people go ♪
1521
01:21:15,435 --> 01:21:18,830
♪ Go tell it on the mountain ♪
1522
01:21:18,917 --> 01:21:22,616
♪ Over the hills
And everywhere ♪
1523
01:21:22,703 --> 01:21:25,750
♪ Go tell it on the mountain ♪
1524
01:21:25,837 --> 01:21:29,667
♪ To let my people go ♪
1525
01:21:29,754 --> 01:21:31,799
[Danielle L. McGuire]
These movements that
we know about
1526
01:21:31,887 --> 01:21:34,150
didn't start because
someone wanted to sit
1527
01:21:34,237 --> 01:21:35,978
at a lunch counter,
1528
01:21:36,065 --> 01:21:37,893
or go to a movie,
1529
01:21:37,980 --> 01:21:40,591
or sit at the front
of the bus.
1530
01:21:40,678 --> 01:21:43,376
They are almost always rooted
1531
01:21:43,463 --> 01:21:45,683
in the protection
of black womanhood.
1532
01:21:46,118 --> 01:21:48,120
[all singing]
1533
01:21:52,081 --> 01:21:56,041
If we trace the roots
of all these campaigns,
1534
01:21:56,128 --> 01:21:59,871
what we see
are black women
fighting for the right
1535
01:21:59,958 --> 01:22:02,874
to move through
the world unmolested.
1536
01:22:04,745 --> 01:22:06,922
["This Bitter Earth"
playing]
1537
01:22:14,407 --> 01:22:17,541
♪ This bitter earth ♪
1538
01:22:23,808 --> 01:22:28,726
♪ Well, what a fruit it bears ♪
1539
01:22:33,122 --> 01:22:35,689
♪ Ooh... ♪
1540
01:22:35,776 --> 01:22:38,257
It is this sort
of rite of passage
1541
01:22:38,344 --> 01:22:40,259
where young southern
white boys
1542
01:22:40,346 --> 01:22:42,914
hunted for
a young black girl.
1543
01:22:44,785 --> 01:22:46,570
[Crystal Feimster]
Their behavior
1544
01:22:46,657 --> 01:22:49,051
was that black women
1545
01:22:49,138 --> 01:22:52,576
would be happy
to sleep with a white man.
1546
01:22:53,794 --> 01:22:55,709
Under slavery
there was no way
1547
01:22:55,796 --> 01:22:59,148
that a black woman
could not consent.
1548
01:22:59,235 --> 01:23:01,324
These young men believed
1549
01:23:01,411 --> 01:23:03,239
that Recy Taylor would be
1550
01:23:03,326 --> 01:23:05,067
a consenting partner
1551
01:23:05,154 --> 01:23:07,025
and if she wasn't
1552
01:23:07,112 --> 01:23:08,200
that they would
force that consent
1553
01:23:08,287 --> 01:23:10,724
with a gun to her head.
1554
01:23:10,811 --> 01:23:13,771
I mean, I guess what I
often think is
1555
01:23:14,598 --> 01:23:16,992
that they didn't see her.
1556
01:23:17,079 --> 01:23:19,298
In the sense that they
really did not see her.
1557
01:23:19,385 --> 01:23:22,606
That she was an idea
1558
01:23:22,693 --> 01:23:24,608
of what black women are.
1559
01:23:24,695 --> 01:23:26,436
That they are all prostitutes.
1560
01:23:26,523 --> 01:23:28,090
And, uh,
1561
01:23:28,177 --> 01:23:30,875
and that they had a right
to her body, right?
1562
01:23:30,962 --> 01:23:33,660
And, of course,
I keep seeing this young
1563
01:23:33,747 --> 01:23:36,446
frightened woman
who has a daughter
and a mother
1564
01:23:36,533 --> 01:23:38,187
and a husband at home.
1565
01:23:38,839 --> 01:23:40,232
Um...
1566
01:23:40,319 --> 01:23:42,017
If they couldn't see her,
1567
01:23:43,105 --> 01:23:45,107
in the way that
she needed to be seen,
1568
01:23:45,194 --> 01:23:48,066
because how could
they have,
1569
01:23:48,153 --> 01:23:51,287
you know, how could
they have brutalized her
in this way?
1570
01:23:51,374 --> 01:23:53,115
It just doesn't...
1571
01:23:53,202 --> 01:23:55,117
I mean, so,
as a scholar
1572
01:23:55,204 --> 01:23:57,032
I can see all the pieces,
1573
01:23:57,641 --> 01:23:59,034
how white supremacy works,
1574
01:23:59,121 --> 01:24:02,124
how sexism works
and patriarchy, but,
1575
01:24:02,211 --> 01:24:04,387
at the end of the day
you think, okay,
1576
01:24:04,474 --> 01:24:06,215
these are six boys
1577
01:24:06,302 --> 01:24:07,651
and a woman.
1578
01:24:07,738 --> 01:24:10,567
Like, where is the humanity?
1579
01:24:11,742 --> 01:24:14,049
♪ Too soon you're old ♪
1580
01:24:20,838 --> 01:24:23,623
♪ But while a voice ♪
1581
01:24:26,235 --> 01:24:29,064
♪ Within me cries ♪
1582
01:24:33,198 --> 01:24:38,203
♪ I'm sure someone
May answer my call ♪
1583
01:24:43,730 --> 01:24:45,863
♪ And this bitter earth ♪
1584
01:24:45,950 --> 01:24:48,387
[Alma Daniels]
All six of 'em,
1585
01:24:48,474 --> 01:24:50,346
what they did to her,
1586
01:24:50,433 --> 01:24:52,043
they didn't need to live.
1587
01:24:52,130 --> 01:24:55,090
And then what they,
what happened to them
1588
01:24:55,438 --> 01:24:56,917
afterwards
1589
01:24:57,527 --> 01:24:59,442
was,
1590
01:24:59,529 --> 01:25:02,358
well, a good thing
'cause someone
had tragical death.
1591
01:25:02,445 --> 01:25:05,361
They died tragical deaths.
1592
01:25:05,448 --> 01:25:09,800
And so, it's just good
for them for what
they did to her.
1593
01:25:11,106 --> 01:25:13,847
And just thank God
she is still around.
1594
01:25:15,458 --> 01:25:17,808
She is still here.
1595
01:25:17,895 --> 01:25:21,028
♪ This bitter earth ♪
1596
01:25:31,430 --> 01:25:34,912
♪ Oh, this bitter earth ♪
1597
01:25:48,317 --> 01:25:51,320
♪ What good is love ♪
1598
01:25:55,498 --> 01:25:59,458
♪ Mm-hmm, that no one shares? ♪
1599
01:26:01,504 --> 01:26:02,983
♪ And if my life ♪
1600
01:26:03,070 --> 01:26:04,855
[Recy Taylor]
Many ladies got raped.
1601
01:26:05,508 --> 01:26:07,249
♪ Is like the dust ♪
1602
01:26:09,816 --> 01:26:12,036
The people there
didn't seem like them
1603
01:26:12,123 --> 01:26:14,821
weren't concerned about
what happened to me
1604
01:26:14,908 --> 01:26:16,954
and then tried to do
nothin' about it.
1605
01:26:18,521 --> 01:26:20,392
I can't help
but tell the truth
1606
01:26:21,698 --> 01:26:23,178
of what they done to me.
1607
01:26:24,527 --> 01:26:26,790
♪ What good am I? ♪
1608
01:26:26,877 --> 01:26:29,836
[Recy Taylor] They could have
killed me anyway.
1609
01:26:29,923 --> 01:26:32,709
There was time I knew
they could have killed me
with their gun.
1610
01:26:34,232 --> 01:26:36,365
The Lord was
just with me that night.
1611
01:26:55,471 --> 01:26:57,473
["Hush-A-Bye" playing]
1612
01:27:05,742 --> 01:27:10,834
♪ Hush-a-bye ♪
1613
01:27:10,921 --> 01:27:14,098
♪ Don't you cry ♪
1614
01:27:15,665 --> 01:27:21,366
♪ Go to sleep my little baby ♪
1615
01:27:24,587 --> 01:27:28,547
♪ When you wake ♪
1616
01:27:29,461 --> 01:27:33,117
♪ You shall have ♪
1617
01:27:34,161 --> 01:27:41,038
♪ All the pretty
Little horses ♪
1618
01:27:43,562 --> 01:27:46,435
♪ Black and bays ♪
1619
01:27:48,175 --> 01:27:51,440
♪ Dapples and grays ♪
1620
01:27:52,963 --> 01:27:59,796
♪ All the pretty
Little horses ♪
1621
01:28:02,320 --> 01:28:09,284
♪ Way down yonder
On the meadow ♪
1622
01:28:11,895 --> 01:28:17,466
♪ Lies a poor little lambie ♪
1623
01:28:21,644 --> 01:28:25,822
♪ Bees and butterflies ♪
1624
01:28:26,518 --> 01:28:29,565
♪ Picking out its eyes ♪
1625
01:28:31,001 --> 01:28:37,312
♪ Poor little thing's
Crying mami ♪
1626
01:28:40,576 --> 01:28:43,492
♪ Blacks and bays ♪
1627
01:28:45,232 --> 01:28:48,453
♪ Dapples and grays ♪
1628
01:28:49,889 --> 01:28:56,418
♪ All the pretty
Little horses ♪
1629
01:28:56,505 --> 01:28:58,811
♪ Sister of my tears ♪
1630
01:28:58,898 --> 01:29:01,379
♪ Sister of my cries ♪
1631
01:29:01,466 --> 01:29:03,642
♪ Hand in hand
We stand as one ♪
1632
01:29:03,729 --> 01:29:06,297
♪ We push we reach we rise ♪
1633
01:29:06,384 --> 01:29:07,472
♪ We rise ♪
1634
01:29:07,559 --> 01:29:08,691
♪ We rise ♪
1635
01:29:08,778 --> 01:29:11,302
♪ We rise ♪
1636
01:29:11,389 --> 01:29:13,609
♪ Hand in hand
We stand as one ♪
1637
01:29:13,696 --> 01:29:16,481
♪ We push we reach we rise ♪
1638
01:29:16,568 --> 01:29:18,744
♪ Sister of my tears ♪
1639
01:29:18,831 --> 01:29:21,138
♪ Sister of my cries ♪
1640
01:29:21,225 --> 01:29:23,270
♪ Hand in hand
We stand as one ♪
1641
01:29:23,358 --> 01:29:25,838
♪ We push we reach we rise ♪
1642
01:29:25,925 --> 01:29:27,057
♪ We rise ♪
1643
01:29:27,144 --> 01:29:28,450
♪ We rise ♪
1644
01:29:28,537 --> 01:29:31,061
♪ We rise ♪
1645
01:29:31,148 --> 01:29:33,237
♪ Hand in hand
We stand as one ♪
1646
01:29:33,324 --> 01:29:35,805
♪ We push we reach we rise ♪
1647
01:29:35,892 --> 01:29:38,198
♪ A mother's strength ♪
1648
01:29:38,285 --> 01:29:41,071
♪ A daughter's love ♪
1649
01:29:41,158 --> 01:29:45,815
♪ A sister's will
That will be done ♪
1650
01:29:45,902 --> 01:29:50,385
♪ Our voices raised
Together will ♪
1651
01:29:50,472 --> 01:29:55,651
♪ Do the work
Of a million guns ♪
1652
01:29:56,565 --> 01:29:58,871
♪ Sister of my tears ♪
1653
01:29:58,958 --> 01:30:01,047
♪ Sister of my cries ♪
1654
01:30:01,134 --> 01:30:03,267
♪ Hand in hand
We stand as one ♪
1655
01:30:03,354 --> 01:30:05,487
♪ We push we reach we rise ♪
1656
01:30:05,574 --> 01:30:06,705
♪ We rise ♪
1657
01:30:06,792 --> 01:30:07,880
♪ We rise ♪
1658
01:30:07,967 --> 01:30:10,492
♪ We rise ♪
1659
01:30:10,579 --> 01:30:12,711
♪ Hand in hand
We stand as one ♪
1660
01:30:12,798 --> 01:30:15,497
♪ We push we reach we rise ♪
1661
01:30:15,584 --> 01:30:17,673
♪ Sister of my tears ♪
1662
01:30:17,760 --> 01:30:20,197
♪ Sister of my cries ♪
1663
01:30:20,284 --> 01:30:22,373
♪ Hand in hand
We stand as one ♪
1664
01:30:22,460 --> 01:30:24,767
♪ We push we reach we rise ♪
1665
01:30:24,854 --> 01:30:25,942
♪ We rise ♪
1666
01:30:26,029 --> 01:30:27,117
♪ We rise ♪
1667
01:30:27,204 --> 01:30:29,511
♪ We rise ♪
1668
01:30:29,598 --> 01:30:32,035
♪ Hand in hand
We stand as one ♪
1669
01:30:32,122 --> 01:30:35,168
♪ We push we reach we rise ♪
121312
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