15 Black American Girls Imprisoned For Peacefully Protesting In Georgia.
In July 1963, 15 African American girls (ages 12–15) were imprisoned for 45 to 60 days in a filthy, one-room Leesburg, Georgia, stockade without charges after peacefully protesting segregation in Americus. Known as the "Stolen Girls," they endured squalid conditions, sleeping on cold concrete with little food.
Only twenty miles away, the girls' parents had no knowledge of their location. A month into their confinement, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) heard rumors of the girls' detention and sent photographer Danny Lyon, who took pictures of them through barred windows. Within days, these photographs appeared in publications around the country.
As the girls' ordeal gained national attention, they were released without charges. This is the story of the 'Stolen Girls.'
In 1963, at least 15 Black girls were imprisoned in the Leesburg Stockade for 45 days.
