• Unreformed: the Story of the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children

  • By: iHeartPodcasts
  • Podcast
  • 5.0 out of 5 stars (8 ratings)

Unreformed: the Story of the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children

By: iHeartPodcasts
  • Summary

  • In 1968, police arrested five Black girls dressed in oversized military fatigues in Montgomery. The girls were runaways, escaping from a state-run reform school called the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children in Mount Meigs, Alabama. The girls were determined to tell someone about the abuse they’d suffered there: physical and sexual violence, unlivable facilities, and grueling labor in the fields surrounding the school. It was, as several former students called it, a slave camp.

    Peabody-nominated UNREFORMED is the story of how this reform school derailed the lives of thousands of Black children in Alabama for decades and what happened after those five girls found someone willing to blow the whistle. Host Josie Duffy Rice investigates the history of the school at the tail end of the Civil Rights movement in Alabama and speaks to former students who are still haunted by their experience but had the will to survive.

    2024 iHeartMedia, Inc. © Any use of this intellectual property for text and data mining or computational analysis including as training material for artificial intelligence systems is strictly prohibited without express written consent from iHeartMedia
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Episodes
  • Episode 8: Searching for Justice
    Mar 8 2023

    In the final episode, we look at where Lonnie, Mary, Johnny, Jennie, Johnny Mack, and Denny are fifty years after leaving Mt. Meigs. We also look at how juvenile justice in America has evolved and how other juvenile reform schools that mistreated their students have atoned for their wrongs. And lastly, we get a glimpse into the current state of Mt. Meigs. Has it changed? Or is it the same place it was more than fifty years ago?

    If you or someone you know attended Mt. Meigs and would like to connect with us, please email mtmeigspodcast@gmail.com. 

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    45 mins
  • Unreformed presents "5-4: Tanner v. United States."
    Mar 7 2023

    Hey folks, Josie here! We wanted to share a show that we think you might like. It's called 5-4, and it's about how much the Supreme Court sucks. 5-4 is all about how the Supreme Court DOESN'T provide justice, and we think that will resonate with Unreformed listeners. 

    If you like it, you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

    About 5-4: A podcast about how much the Supreme Court sucks. It’s a progressive and occasionally profane take on the ideological battles at the heart of the Court’s most important landmark cases and an irreverent tour of all the ways in which the law is shaped by politics. 

    Listen each week as hosts Peter, Michael, and Rhiannon dismantle the Justices’ legal reasoning on hot-button issues like affirmative action, gun rights, and campaign finance, and use dark humor to reveal the high court’s biases. 

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    49 mins
  • Episode 7: The Aftermath
    Mar 1 2023

    Many people who were incarcerated at Mt. Meigs as children ended up spending their entire lives tethered to the criminal legal system. Many were sentenced to life in prison. Many others were sentenced to death. This episode traces the lives of two of those people: Jesse James Andrews and Johnny Mack Young. 

    If you or someone you know attended Mt. Meigs and would like to connect with us, please email mtmeigspodcast@gmail.com. 

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    35 mins

What listeners say about Unreformed: the Story of the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children

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Letting those involved share their stories makes it so much more impactful and important

It can be so heartbreaking to hear some of the details and stories but it it’s important and needs to be heard because they didn’t get a choice and just because it hurts doesn’t mean it should be ignored. These stories and people are valid and important to teach us how we can be better to each other. I’m so sorry for their experience but I hope their sharing will lead even one person to a changed perspective and understanding. We grow from discomfort and pain and if it makes you uncomfortable and hurt imagine that another person had to experience these things and use it to grow,educate, and make us better to one another.

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deep and disturbing of the truth

I enjoyed the stories of the actual victims in the story, I enjoyed to hear their stories and experiences they had to go through. and to hear from the few heroes who tried to help the children.

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Thank you

An absolute failure of humanity to protect these children is appalling. Was there retribution? Gripping stories that tore at my heart. Thank you for illuminating a part of history in this country that some would like to erase.

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Such A Powerful Piece On Injustice...

This is a great podcast on another injustice swept under the rug for years. The participants speaking their very powerful truths on how this place has affected them throughout their lives is powerful as well.

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