Recy Taylor, a 24-year-old black mother and sharecropper, was gang raped by six white boys in 1944 Alabama. Common in Jim Crow South, few women spoke up in fear for their lives. Not Recy Taylor, who bravely identified her rapists. The NAACP sent its chief rape investigator Rosa Parks, who rallied support and triggered an unprecedented outcry for justice.
The film exposes a legacy of physical abuse of 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 work to find justice for countless women like Mrs. Taylor. The 1955 bus boycott was an end result, not a beginning.
The film has screened at Venice Film Festival where it received the Special Prize for Human Rights Award (2017) and was nominated for Best Documentary at the 2018 NAACP Image Awards. It made its National Television Broadcast on STARZ July 2, 2018.
Directed by Nancy Buirski | Run Time 1 hour 31 minutes | A Transform Films Production
A journey of change through film
Read a recap of the full social impact campaign facilitated by Odyssey Impact®.
Impact Goal
The social impact campaign for The Rape of Recy Taylor was designed to engage, educate, and activate the public around issues related to sexual violence against women and underscore the historical trauma faced by Black women during the Jim Crow South and still today.
Strategic Partners
Odyssey Impact® partnered with the NAACP College and Youth division for an HBCU screenings tour.
Diverse Film Screenings
The film screenings were hosted by both faith-based and secular communities at educational institutions, non-profit organizations, faith-based institutions, houses of worship, African American museums, campus-based initiatives, Black Greek letter organizations, government, advocacy, and community groups. Community groups made up 31% of completed screenings, while faith-based screenings made up 29%, followed by educational institutions with 26% of completed screenings. Museums, advocacy, and government screenings made up the rest.
CAMPAIGN WRAP
A journey of change through film
Read a recap of the full social impact campaign facilitated by Odyssey Impact®.
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