How Five Black Women Sued The Klan And Won

Black History Year

PushBlack

History

4.6 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 23 October 2025

⏱️ 3 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1982, five Black women were minding their own business when suddenly they were hit with birdshot – ammunition used to kill and shoot small birds. What in the world was going on?

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2-Minute Black History is produced by PushBlack, a non-profit Black media company.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Build your own package with TUI.
0:02.0	Let's go.
0:03.0	City break or a beach escape.
0:05.0	Lovely.
0:06.0	Fly from your local airport.
0:08.0	Taxis here.
0:09.0	Handy.
0:10.0	Any day of the week.
0:11.0	Ideal.
0:12.0	On a TUI flight or a partner airline.
0:15.0	This is your captain speaking.
0:17.0	Nice.
0:18.0	How many nights?
0:19.0	Three, five, 14? Perfect. More options, more choice. All wrapped up with a toy smile.
0:25.7	Tui, live happy, atoll and after protected. Booking Ties and Cs Applegs. On April 19th, 1980, the lives of Fannie Mae Crumsey, Viola Ellison, Leela Mae Evans, Catherine Johnson, and Opel Lee Jackson changed.
0:41.3	Ku Klux Klan members armed with shotguns fired birdshot at the women.
0:47.3	They survived their injuries, but they demanded justice.
0:51.3	I'm Len, and this is Too Many black history. What You Didn't Learn in
0:56.0	School.
1:08.8	The clan members behind the attack were arrested and charged with attempted murder.
1:12.6	Unfortunately, that summer, they were acquitted by an all-white jury, dashing the women's hopes for justice.
1:20.6	Then the NAACP stepped in.
	...

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