Robertiena Freeman-Fletcher

AKA: Robertina Freeman; Robertiena Freeman
Released
Date of birth:1950
Gender:Female
Race:Black
Era:1960s
State:Georgia
Time Imprisoned:
10 Days
Support
Civil Rights
Robertiena Freeman-Fletcher

Biography

Robertiena Freeman-Fletcher 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. Her individual custody duration is documented in a contemporary sworn statement or closely contemporaneous record. 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.

At age 13, she gave a sworn statement describing her August 21–31 stockade confinement, more than 30 girls, overflowing toilets, contaminated mattresses, and the later removal of the beds.

Photo: Servant Emannu'el Branch / BHBP News, September 27, 2019. Original-image crop; identified by the source (fifth 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
Incarcerated: Aug 21, 1963
Released: Aug 31, 1963
Sentence: Held without formal charges for approximately 10 days.
Institution State: Georgia

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