Summary:
- 14 girls aged 12 to 15 were taken to the Leesburg Stockade in Georgia in July 1963
- They were jailed for two months in rough conditions without their parent's knowledge
- Danny Lyon's photographs of the girls in the stockade were featured in Jet magazine and taken to Congress, which demanded their release
- Shirley Reese and Carol Barnard say the experience made them stronger
In July 1963, 14 girls aged 12 to 15 were taken to the Leesburg Stockade in Georgia after they tried to buy tickets from a window reserved for white people. They spent two months there in rough conditions without their parent's knowledge.
Young Girls Jailed and Taken without their Parent's Knowledge
In July 1963, during the height of the Civil Rights era, Shirley Reese was one of 14 girls aged 12 to 15 that were taken to what's known as the Leesburg Stockade in Leesburg, Georgia. Shirley and some of the others attempted to buy movie tickets at a theater window reserved for white people in America's small town in South Georgia not far from Leesburg. During that time, Blacks were not allowed to enter through the front door of the one theater, but when they tried to buy tickets from that window, they were all arrested.
Jailed in America and Moved to Leesburg
Carol Barnard was 13 at the time she was also arrested in during a March in America's. Once jailed, she was moved to Dawson, Georgia before eventually being taken to the Leesburg stockade about 18 miles away. That's where she and the other girls spent two months, 60 long days in rough conditions. There were bugs, no beds, and no working shower or toilet, no lights, and no water to drink. All they had were the clothes on their backs and some hamburgers delivered daily by a stranger. The wrapping from those hamburgers was used as toilet paper. They had no idea where they were, and they didn't know that they were in Leesburg. The girls had no idea that Leesburg was known as Lynch bird, where black people
The girls were freed in mid-September 1963 after Danny Lyon's photographs of them were featured in Jet magazine and taken to Congress, which demanded their release. Shirley Reese and Carol Barnard say the experience made them stronger.