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Hidden Herstory:

the story behind the story

  The jailed activists, Leesburg, GA, 1963

In the summer of 1963, approximately 500 children, some as young as 10-years-old, were arrested for protesting at the segregated Martin Theater in Americus, GA. A group of the girls “disappeared.” Never charged with a crime, they sat in a Civil War-era stockade for nearly sixty days without their families being informed of their whereabouts. The goal was to break their spirits and punish them for fighting for their rights. Their captors did not anticipate their courage, faith, and resolve.

Resources

Georgia Stories: Girls of the Leesburg Stockade

Stolen Girls: The untold story of the Leesburg Stockade Girls