Jail Cell Door -- Americus GA - Preserved Architectural Remnants and Ruins on Waymarking.com

The old Sumter County Jail held a famous prisoner during the civil rights era: Dr. Martin Luther King. That jail has long since been retired and replaced with a modern facility. One jail cell door from that facility was saved and incorporated with a historical marker into a civil rights memorial that stands on the grounds of the Sumter County Courthouse.

The marker reads as follows:

"Sumter County in the Civil Rights Movement

Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested for protesting racial segregation in Albany on December 16, 1961, and held in the Sumter County jail. Kings arrest dovetailed with community and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) efforts to establish the Sumter County Movement. Largely comprised of preteen and teenage students, the movement repeatedly challenged segregation from 1963 to 1965. In 1963, 33 adolescent girls were incarcerated in the Civil War era stockade after their arrest for protesting. The "Stolen Girls" gained national attention after a SNCC photographer revealed the stockades unsanitary conditions. America's garnered further attention when 4 activists were arrested for insurrection under George's 1871 seditious conspiracy law, a capitol crime. A federal court ruled the law unconstitutional, establishing that peaceful protests could not be punishable by death. The movement success helped in segregation in Southwest Georgia.

Erected by the Georgia Historical Society
and the Sumter County Board of Commissioners

2015.2

1294"

Type: Remnant Fee: 0 Hours: 24/7 Related URL: Not listed

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Date Logged Log   07/29/2017 Benchmark Blasterz visited it