Recy Taylor

Recy Taylor (née Corbitt; December 31, 1919 – December 28, 2017) Despite the confessions of the attackers to authorities, two grand juries subsequently declined to indict the attackers. No charges were ever brought against her assailants.

In 2011, the Alabama Legislature officially apologized on behalf of the state "for its failure to prosecute her attackers." Taylor's rape, refusal to remain silent, and the subsequent court cases were among the early instances of nationwide protest and activism among the African-American community and ended up providing an organizational spark in the civil rights movement. The Congressional Black Caucus led Democratic Caucus members in wearing red "Recy" pins while attending the 2018 State of the Union, where Taylor's granddaughter, Mary Joyce Owens, was a guest.

Early life Recy Corbitt was born on December 31, 1919, in rural Alabama, to a family of sharecropping farmworkers. At 17, her mother died and she cared for her six siblings. She continued to work in sharecropping and by 1944, she had married Willie Guy Taylor and they had a young daughter, Joyce Lee.

Reactions to the assault Taylor's kidnapping was reported immediately to the police by Daniel. Daniel identified the car as belonging to Hugo Wilson, who admitted to picking up Taylor and, as he put it, "carrying her to the spot" and pinned the rape on six men and teenage boys, Dillard York, Billy Howerton, Herbert Lovett, Luther Lee, Joe Culpepper, and Robert Gamble. In early October, the Chicago Defender, which had a national African-American audience, ran a front-page article titled "Victim of White Alabama Rapists", which profiled Taylor and the case. 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."

Aftermath The black community was shocked at the second dismissal of Taylor's case. The news coverage of the second hearing was more hostile towards Taylor based on the false claims of her being a prostitute. The assistant attorney general stated that: "This case has been presented to two grand juries in Henry County and both grand juries have not seen fit to find an indictment", claiming that "no facts or circumstances connected with this case have been suppressed." 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.

State Representative Dexter Grimsley, along with Abbeville Mayor Ryan Blalock and Henry County Probate Judge JoAnn Smith, also apologized to Taylor for her treatment. 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. "I felt good," she said. "That was a good day to present it to me. I wasn't expecting that."

In 2011, Taylor visited the White House and attended a forum on Rosa Parks at the National Press Club. A 2017 documentary by Nancy Buirski, The Rape of Recy Taylor, premiered at the Venice Biennale and the New York Film Festival, and was screened across the U.S. in 2018. The film, which won the Venice Biennale's Human Rights Night Award, focused on Taylor and her family recounting their struggle for justice, and sought to expose a context of systemic racism that fostered the crime and coverup, and persists today.

In 2018, Oprah Winfrey, spoke of Taylor saying, "They threatened to kill her if she ever told anyone ... Recy Taylor died 10 days ago ... for too long, women have not been heard or believed if they dared speak their truth to the power of those men ... And I just hope — I just hope that Recy Taylor died knowing that her truth ... goes marching on." In discussing the historical context, Danielle McGuire noted, "Decades before the women's movement, decades before there were speak-outs or anyone saying 'me too,' Recy Taylor testified about her assault to people who could very easily have killed her — who tried to kill her." In describing Taylor later in life, McGuire said, "She was funny, witty. She was a churchgoer. She loved going to church, she loved to sing. She was very welcoming ..."

At the 2018 State of the Union, members of the Congressional Black Caucus invited Taylor's family to attend the speech and wore red "Recy" pins in honor of Taylor.

In 2019, Time created 89 new covers to celebrate women of the year starting from 1920; it chose Taylor for 1944.

Death Taylor died in her sleep at a nursing home at the age of 97 in Abbeville, Alabama, on December 28, 2017. She was buried next to her daughter's grave at New Mount Zion Freewill Baptist Church.