Carolyn DeLoatch

Released
Gender:Female
Race:Black
Era:1960s
State:Georgia
Support
Civil Rights
Carolyn DeLoatch

Biography

Carolyn DeLoatch was one of the Black school-aged girls imprisoned in southwest Georgia in 1963 after participating in demonstrations against racial segregation in Americus. Authorities moved girls arrested during the campaign to the Lee County Stockade in neighboring Leesburg, concealed their location from their families, and held them without formal criminal charges. The archival roster establishes her confinement, but the reviewed sources do not establish her individual arrival and release dates. The children endured overcrowding, inadequate food and water, broken sanitation, little or no bedding, and delayed medical attention. SNCC photographer Danny Lyon documented the confinement through the bars; publication of his photographs helped force public attention and the girls’ release.

Photo: Servant Emannu'el Branch / BHBP News, September 27, 2019. Original-image crop; identified by the source (fourth of five survivors in foreground, from left). Source: https://bhbpnews.com/historical-marker-for-stolen-girls-held-at-leesburg-ga-stockade-p518-203.htm . Copyright status unconfirmed; used for educational biographical identification at the site owner's direction. No permission or open license claimed.

## 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.

Case

Lee County Stockade
Institution State: Georgia

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