Recy Taylor was an African American woman who was gang-raped by a group of young, white men in Alabama in 1944. At this point, more organizations rallied to Recys defense. Recy Taylor was a 24-year-old sharecropper who was gang-raped in September 1944 in Abbeville, Alabama. The seven men forced Taylor into the car at gunpoint and proceeded to drive her to a patch of trees on the side of the road. [11] Sparks had promised during his election campaign to, "keep the federal government's nose out of Alabama business", so after numerous attacks, including comparisons of the Henry County's police to the Nazis, "Governor Sparks reluctantly agreed to launch an investigation. It is Recy Taylor and rare other black women like her who spoke up first when danger was greatest, Buirski said. She courageously encountered intimidation and actively participated in two separate trials to bring her attackers to justice. On the 2nd of March, a white woman got on the bus and was left standing. . "[3][12] A joint resolution was adopted by the Alabama legislature on April 21, 2011, stating: BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA, BOTH HOUSES THEREOF CONCURRING, That we acknowledge the lack of prosecution for crimes committed against Recy Taylor by the government of the State of Alabama, that we declare such failure to act was, and is, morally abhorrent and repugnant, and that we do hereby express profound regret for the role played by the government of the State of Alabama in failing to prosecute the crimes.BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That we express our deepest sympathies and solemn regrets to Recy Taylor and her family and friends. When the grand jury met on October 3rd and 4th, 1944, Taylors loved ones were the only witnesses. Naturally, the black community of Henry County was outraged. National exposure of police brutality, institutional racism, and violent practices of white supremacists undermined arguments linking race and sex. Members of the local Ku Klux Klan burned crosses into the lawns of the boys family houses, and some even shot at the house. Benny Corbitt took guard in a tree every night with a gun guarding Taylor and her family until daybreak. On Sunday, 4th December 1955, black churches in the area, and the Montgomery Advertiser spread the word of the plans for a Montgomery Bus Boycott. One Year of #MeToo. On September 3, 1944, Taylor was kidnapped while leaving church and gang-raped by six white men. SNYC members, together with Rosa Parks and other primarily female activists helped spread Recy Taylor's story all the way up the coast to Harlem, New York. They believed because he did not inflict brutality, his life should be spared. DuBois, Mary Church Terrell and Langston Hughes got involved. Recy Taylor At the age of 17, her mother died, and she had to care for her younger siblings. Sheriff Gamble began to falsely claim he arrested all of the men involved, and he accused Recy of being a whore, mentioning how the Health Officer of Henry County treated her for a venereal disease. Recy Taylor tried to run, but one of the men grabbed the 24-year-old black mother and forced her into the sedan. Cook backed up the sheriffs story. Recy Taylor, the black woman from Alabama who bravely came forward in the 1940s against her white attackers, died Thursday morning. Taylors story made national news in 1944 when she was kidnapped at gunpoint and brutally raped by six white men. Finally, the case also demonstrated the lack of protection for black motherhood. One of the women, Edna Richardson, broke free of the men and ran into a nearby park, leaving Betty Jean Owens alone. The wider context of this case helps explain, though not justify, the severity of their sentencing. Parks and other activists formed the "Committee for Equal Justice for Mrs. Recy Taylor" to bring attention to the case. "[2]:xvi She was raped by six of the men, including Lovett. When students at A&M heard what happened, groups began to plan protests to demand justice for Owens. Hugo Wilson, he admitted having sex with Recy and named his five accomplices, Herbert Lovett, Dillard York, Luther Lee, Willie Joe . This flower has been reported and will not be visible while under review. After spending three months in jail, Juvenile Judge Hampton Price charged and convicted the boys of molestation. The men forced Taylor into the car at gunpoint and drove her to a grove of pine trees on the side of the road, where they forced her to disrobe. One assailant, however, admitted they were looking for a woman that night, there was a gun involved, and that they raped Recy Taylor that night. Public transportation became the target of resistance because it was easier and safer for Black women to stop riding buses than it was to bring their attackers to justice. When the sheriff returned with Wilson and his father, Taylor identified Wilson as one of her attackers, as did the teenage friend. For memorials with more than one photo, additional photos will appear here or on the photos tab. Since she was 17, Taylor had been taking care of her six younger siblings after her mother had died. Three months later, on the 27th August 1974, police discovered the body of jailer Clarence Alligood. Together with four other plaintiffs, Claudette Colvin became a part of Browder v Gayle (1956). Flowers added to the memorial appear on the bottom of the memorial or here on the Flowers tab. Rosa Lee Ingram helped to highlight the specific forms of oppression poor black women faced. He died at the age of 63 alone, never married with no children. (Hugo Wilson, Dillard York, Luther Lee, William Howerton, Joe Culpepper, Robert Gamble and Herbert . The civil rights activists eventually moved on, and Taylor faded into obscurity. Given that she took the risk of speaking out, Taylor would likely appreciate that her case continues to be remembered. At trial, the prosecution argued Little simply seduced Alligood just to murder him and escape. Hugo's parents were Nancy Nannie J Walker (1897-1981) and Lloyd L Wilson (1892-1953). 10 Horrifying Facts about the Sexual Exploitation of Enslaved Black Women You May Not Know. Becoming a Find a Grave member is fast, easy and FREE. Director Nancy Buirski (producer of Loving, the 2016 movie about interracial couple Richard and Mildred Loving) spoke to The Guardian earlier in December about the importance of remembering and amplifying Taylors story. She married Willie Guy Taylor in 1944 and the two had a daughter named Joyce Lee. No animated GIFs, photos with additional graphics (borders, embellishments. [14] Taylor received the apologies on Mother's Day in 2011, when she visited Rock Hill Holiness Church in Abbeville, the very church where she worshipped the night of the crime. The stereotypical image of Rosa Parks sees her a symbol of virtuous black womanhood. Though Taylor was known to be a diligent worker and dedicated churchgoer, the sheriff and others would eventually make false claims that Taylor had been jailed and had a history of venereal disease. One of the other people with her corroborated her statement. Wilson gave up the names of his accomplices: Dillard York, Billy Howerton, Herbert Lovett, Luther Lee, Joe Culpeper, and Robert Gramble. It was common for white men to racially-target and sexually assault black women as a part of the many brutal attacks on black people during the Jim Crow era. Parks and her allies formed the Alabama Committee for Equal Justice for Taylor, "with support from national labor unions, African-American organizations, and women's groups." Acknowledging the respectable nature of Rosa Parks, Robinson believed that now was the time to seize the opportunity and rally around a figure that nobody could possibly object to. Year should not be greater than current year. On the 13th July 1965, a white man named Norman Cannon offered an African-American fifteen-year-old girl named Rosa Lee Coates a job babysitting. These women have a right to be heard and their commitment to speaking out against such violence aided the civil rights movement in ways that have not been fully appreciated thus far. Decades passed before the case gained renewed attention, with the publication in 2010 of At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape and Resistance a New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power, by historian Danielle L McGuire. As harrowing as her story is, it is also undoubtedly inspiring. 2018. In the days that followed, the Black community reported the incident to the NAACP in Montgomery. Recy Taylor, at her Florida home in 2010. Recy Taylor, the black woman from Alabama who bravely came forward in the 1940s against her white attackers, died Thursday morning. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Committee for Equal Justice for Mrs. Recy Taylor, Committee for Equal Justice for the Rights of Mrs. Recy Taylor, "Rosa Parks' political journey didn't begin on the bus", "Recy Taylor, Who Fought for Justice After a 1944 Rape, Dies at 97", "Recy Taylor: the woman whose rape inspired Rosa Parks in 1944, and is inspiring Oprah Winfrey today", "Southern black women find justice elusive for civil rights-era rapes", "Recy Taylor's brutal rape: The NAACP sent Rosa Parks to investigate", "Material related to the case of Recy Taylor, an African American woman who was raped by six white teenagers in her hometown of Abbeville, Alabama", Alabama Department of Archives and History, "After 67 Years, Alabama Lawmakers Apologize to Woman", Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project, "Abbeville mayor apologizes for 1944 rape of black woman by white men", "Civil rights-era rape victim revels in White House tour", https://www.therapeofrecytaylor.com/upcoming-screenings/, "Review: 'The Rape of Recy Taylor' Takes a Deep Dive Into Systemic Injustice", "How Recy Taylor Spoke Out Against Her Rape, Decades Before #MeToo", "Recy Taylor, who fought for justice after 1944 rape, dies", "Funeral held for Abbeville civil rights figure Recy Taylor", "Hidden Pattern Of Rape Helped Stir Civil Rights Movement", Historically black colleges and universities, Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC), Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL), Black players in professional American football, John F. Kennedy's speech to the nation on Civil Rights, Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States, Chicago Freedom Movement/Chicago open housing movement, Green v. County School Board of New Kent County, Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, Council for United Civil Rights Leadership, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, "Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind Stayed On Freedom)", List of lynching victims in the United States, Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, African American founding fathers of the United States, Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument, William "Froggie" James and Henry Salzner, Elijah Frost, Abijah Gibson, Tom McCracken, Thomas Moss, Henry Stewart, Calvin McDowell (TN), Thomas Harold Thurmond and John M. Holmes, Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore, Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching, Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act, The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, National Museum of African American History and Culture, "The United States of Lyncherdom" (Twain), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Recy_Taylor&oldid=1130085255, Civil rights protests in the United States, Racially motivated violence against African Americans, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 28 December 2022, at 14:33. Taylor received apologies from the mayor of Abbeville and from the county and state government in 2011 after the publication of McGuires book. Civil Rights groups felt extenuating circumstances should have been taken into account such as the fact Mr. Stratford had sexually assaulted Rosa. That becomes clear in this documentary and through the Recy Taylor story." . Wilson named the others who had been with him: Herbert Lovett, Dillard York, Luther Lee, Willie Joe Culpepper, Robert Gamble and Billy Howerton (Howerton was the one who said he didn't take part in the rape). White officials, however, dismissed Gertrudes case and the rape charge as fictitious. Hugo Wilson, confessed to the rape and named the other men involved (Dillard York, Billy Howerton, Herbert . She took Taylors case 12 years before her iconic refusal to give up her bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama. Drag images here or select from your computer for Hugo Wilson memorial. Taylor died in Abbeville on December 28th, three weeks after the release of The Rape of Recy Taylor, a documentary about the crime. Du Bois; Mary Church Terrell, a suffragist and founder of the National Association of Colored Women; Charlotte Hawkins Brown, a popular clubwoman and respected educator; Ira De A. 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