[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 3 (Friday, January 5, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E4]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           TRIBUTE TO THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF MRS. RECY TAYLOR

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. TERRI A. SEWELL

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, January 5, 2018

  Ms. SEWELL of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 
life and legacy of Mrs. Recy Taylor, an extraordinary Alabamian whose 
story and fight for justice was an early catalyst of the Civil Rights 
Movement.
  Mrs. Recy Corbitt Taylor was born on December 31, 1919, to a family 
of sharecroppers in Abbeville, Alabama. She cared for her six younger 
siblings after her mother died when she was 17.
  On September 3, 1944, at the age of 24, Mrs. Taylor, a wife and 
mother to a 3-year old daughter, was walking home from a church service 
at Rock Hill Holiness Church with a friend. A car full of young white 
men pulled up, and the men ordered Mrs. Taylor into the car at 
gunpoint. She was then blindfolded, brutally raped, and abandoned in 
the woods.
  In the Jim Crow South, Mrs. Taylor and other black women who dared 
come forward were threatened, shamed, and harassed for speaking out. 
Despite being threatened by her perpetrators and local law enforcement, 
Mrs. Taylor decided to seek justice and tried to identify her rapists.
  Because she spoke up, Mrs. Recy Taylor received death threats and her 
home was firebombed by white supremacists. As a result, she, her 
husband, and their young daughter moved in with her father and siblings 
the following day. Her younger siblings were no longer allowed to play 
in the front yard. According to reports, her father would sleep outside 
at night, watching over the family while cradling a shotgun for 
protection.
  The strength and resolve Mrs. Taylor showed over 70 years ago should 
compel all of us to remain vigilant in seeking justice for all victims 
of sexual assault today. The courage being demonstrated today by 
victims of sexual violence is fueled, in part, by the bravery shown by 
Mrs. Recy Taylor and many other victims of sexual assault.
  Like so many racially motivated rapes and crimes during the Jim Crow 
era, the perpetrators were never arrested. When a grand jury met in 
October 1944, no suspects in Mrs. Recy Taylor's case had been arrested 
so there was no police lineup for Mrs. Taylor to identify the 
perpetrators. The grand jury failed to indict any of the men linked to 
Mrs. Recy Taylor's assault.
  Rosa Parks, who began her career as an anti-rape activist, was called 
upon by the NAACP to investigate the case, determine why no arrests 
were made, and build public support for Mrs. Taylor. She was threatened 
and intimidated by the deputy sheriff when she came to Abbeville to 
interview Mrs. Taylor. Nevertheless, she persisted, later creating the 
``Alabama Committee for Equal Justice for Mrs. Recy Taylor'' triggering 
a movement to seek justice. Word spread nationally about Mrs. Recy 
Taylor's case through the black press. Mrs. Parks spearheaded a letter 
writing campaign urging Alabama Governor Chauncey Sparks to investigate 
the crime further.
  After additional pressure from activists like W. E. B. DuBois, Mary 
Church Terrell, and Langston Hughes, the Governor sent investigators to 
Abbeville. They found that the Sheriff had lied about arresting the 
men. Despite a confession by one of the men, a second grand jury 
refused to indict the men in February 1945.
  Mrs. Recy Taylor's courage and the network of black women that came 
together to defend her built a foundation for the Montgomery Bus 
Boycott over a decade later. Every movement since from the Civil Rights 
Movement in the 1950s and 1960s to the Women's Marches in 2017 have 
been influenced by the determination of Mrs. Recy Taylor, Mrs. Rosa 
Parks, and so many women like them. Most notably, Mrs. Taylor's case 
has been the impetus for a movement to end impunity for sexual violence 
committed throughout history.
  Mrs. Taylor's story gained renewed attention with the 2010 
publication of a book by historian Danielle McGuire entitled, ``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.''
  The book prompted long-overdue apologies from the mayor of Abbeville, 
the county, and a strongly worded apology from the state of Alabama in 
2011. The resolution, introduced by Rep. Dexter Grimsley in the state 
house and Senator Billy Beasley in the state senate, acknowledged, 
``the lack of prosecution for crimes committed against Recy Taylor by 
the government of the State of Alabama . . . was, and is, morally 
abhorrent and repugnant.'' The resolution went on to express ``profound 
regret for the role played by the government of the State of Alabama in 
failing to prosecute the crimes.'' The resolution was formally 
presented to Mrs. Taylor on Mother's Day at the church where she had 
worshipped the night of her attack, now known as Abbeville Memorial 
Church of God in Christ.
  Mrs. Taylor passed away on Thursday, December 28, 2017, just days shy 
of her 98th birthday.
  Mrs. Taylor's story is a pivotal link in the ever evolving pursuit of 
justice for victims of sexual assault.
  I ask my colleagues to join me in remembering and honoring an icon 
and an American treasure, Mrs. Recy Taylor. Her legacy continues to 
live on in the countless lives she touched and fuel justice for victims 
of sexual violence in all communities, especially for those who feel 
like they have no voice. May the blessing of God be with her family, 
including her brother, Mr. Robert Corbitt, two sisters, Mary Murry and 
Liffie Kinsey, granddaughter, and great-grandchildren, and friends as 
they celebrate her life.

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