Photo of Lee County Stockade Girls to be included in Smithsonian publication

WASHINGTON — A picture of the Lee County Stockade Girls taken during the Civil Rights Movement is being included in “Double Exposure: African American Women,” a publication from the National Museum of African American History and Culture at the Smithsonian Institution.

Shirley Green-Reese, a City Council member in Americus who was one of the 15 girls in the stockade during the summer of 1963, received a letter dated Feb. 24 from the museum’s director, Lonnie Bunch, notifying her of the inclusion.

“The National Museum of African American History and Culture is dedicated to documenting the Civil Rights Movement and the stories of individuals — adults and children — whose acts of courage in helping to bring about social change have gone unrecognized,” the letter said. “The story of the Leesburg Stockade Girls is an historic event that we realize warrants national attention today. Through our publications, we have already begun to record this story.”

A photograph including all 15 — taken by Danny Lyon, at the time was with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) — is being placed in “Double Exposure,” which the museum is putting together as a collection of photographs that “focus on the central role of women and girls in African American communities” to present to a nationwide audience.

“On behalf of the 15 Leesburg Stockade women, this (is) indeed a great honor to be recognized by Lonnie G. Bunch, the founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.,” Green-Reese said. “This national museum recognizes thousands of other Civil Rights legends and activists yearly throughout the world, including famous icons and African American women and children such as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King, Rosa Parks, Julian Bond, James Bond, John Lewis, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth and Etta Jones, among others.

“This is a major accomplishment for all of us after 53 years. We appreciate and accept this recognition with honor. We also thank Mr. Bunch for including the Leesburg Stockade Women for being a major part of this prestigious group of leaders as they continue our efforts to bring this story to their national and international audiences.”

The women, then ages 12-15, ended up in the stockade after their involvement in a 200-strong peaceful march from Friendship Baptist Church to the Martin Theater in Americus on July 15, 1963 to purchase tickets at the theater’s white entrance to protest its segregationist practices, inspired by the efforts of King to use nonviolent methods to advocate for civil rights.

The police were called in, and the protesters were incarcerated in Dawson overnight before being taken to the stockade the next day without the knowledge of their parents. Over the course of two months, they were fed raw burgers and lightly-cooked egg sandwiches, and there were no cleaning or hygiene supplies. There was a drippy, contaminated and rusted shower that was failed to produce sufficient water for drinking or bathing. No faucets or sinks were available for sanitation, and the rusted and molded toilet would not flush.

No protection was given against mosquitoes or roaches, or even the rattlesnake that made it in one morning. The girls slept on the cement floor with no blanket or pillow, and there was asbestos visible. The 1940s-era building, now being used as a public works facility on Leslie Highway, still has the window bars that were there in 1963.

Lyon took about 20 pictures in the stockade after SNCC heard of the plight ongoing in Leesburg, and those pictures have since circulated without names attached to them. The first photo appeared in the SNCC publication “The Student Voice” and was sent to newspapers across the country. One image appeared in the September 1963 issue of “Jet,” along with the story “Georgia Marchers Kept in Filthy, Stench-Filled Jail.” On Sept. 14, 1963, the headline “Kids Sleeping on Jail Floor: Leesburg Hellhole” was in “The Chicago Defender.”

The exposure helped to free the girls. Now, some of the surviving nine of the 15 are working to attach the names to the photos and tell their stories.