The Rape of Recy Taylor

Recy Taylor, a 24-year-old black mother and sharecropper, was gang raped by six white boys in 1944 Alabama. A common occurrence in the Jim Crow South, few women spoke up in fear for their lives. Not Recy Taylor, who instead bravely identified her rapists. The NAACP sent its rape investigator Rosa Parks to Alabama, who rallied support and triggered an unprecedented outcry for justice.

This film exposes the legacy of physical abuse inflicted upon black women and reveals Rosa Parks’ intimate role in Recy Taylor’s story. An attempted rape against Parks was but one inspiration for her ongoing fight for justice for countless women like Taylor. Parks’ 1955 bus boycott was the result of decades of activist work, not the beginning.

More and more women are now speaking up after their assault. THE RAPE OF RECY TAYLOR shines a light on the black women who spoke up when danger was greatest; it was their noble efforts to reclaim control of their bodies that paved the way for today’s generation of activists. The 2017 Women's March and the ongoing Black Lives Matter movement are directly linked to their courage.