Barbara Ann Peterson

## The Leesburg Stockade In the summer of 1963, young people in Americus, Georgia demonstrated against segregation, including the Martin Theater’s separate entrances and ticket windows. Local authorities arrested hundreds of participants. More than 30 Black girls were held at different times in the Lee County Stockade in nearby Leesburg without formal charges or a court hearing. Contemporary sworn statements show that the girls did not all enter or leave together. They describe changing populations of roughly 32 to 35 children, overflowing or unusable toilets, contaminated bedding, undercooked food, rusty water, and periods when the children slept directly on concrete. The profile’s custody dates and duration are therefore individual where evidence permits; no universal 45-day range has been imposed. SNCC photographer Danny Lyon photographed the girls and the stockade conditions. The resulting photographs circulated through movement publications and the Black press and helped expose where the children were being held.