Betty Jean Owens (born 1940) is an African American woman who was gang raped by three white men and a 16-year-old white boy in Tallahassee, Florida in 1959."'It Was like All of Us Had Been Raped': Sexual Violence, Community Mobilization, and the African American Freedom Struggle" by Danielle L. McGuire, The Journal of American History (2004) 91 (3): page 906. Her trial was significant in Florida, and the South as a whole, since the white men responsible were all found guilty and each received life sentences for their crimes. The Owens' case drew attention to sexual violence in the South by white men against black women and girls, crimes that often went with minimal or no punishment.McGuire, Danielle L. At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance- a New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010. Print. Pg 139 For example, in the case of Recy Taylor, who was gang-raped by six white men in Alabama in 1944, the men were never found guilty of any charges and released from jail with minimal fines.McGuire, Danielle L. (2010). At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance- A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power. Random House. pp. xv-xvii.
The attack On May 2, 1959, three white men, William Collinsworth, Patrick Scarborough, and David Beagles, along with Ollie Stoutamire, a 16-year-old white boy, set out together to find a woman to sexually assault. They approached a car at Jake Gaither Park armed with shotguns and switchblades. Patrick Scarborough pressed his shotgun against the African American driver's nose and ordered the occupants out of the car. Four African Americans stepped out of the car, two men and two women. All four people in the car were students at Florida A&M University (FAMU). Scarborough forced the two black men to kneel on the ground, and David Beagles held the two black women at knifepoint. Scarborough ordered the black men, Richard Brown and Thomas Butterfield, to leave and they slowly drove away.McGuire, Danielle L. At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance- a New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010. Print. Pgs 131-132
The two black women left at the hands of the four white men were Edna Richardson and Betty Jean Owens. Edna Richardson broke free of the men and ran into a nearby park, leaving Betty Jean Owens alone with her attackers. Beagles promised to release her only if she did what they wanted her to do. They drove her to the edge of town and subsequently raped her seven times. Edna Richardson and the other two male students were able to make it back to their car and went to the local police station to report what had happened to them. The officer on duty that night was Joseph D. Cooke Jr., a 19-year-old intern. To the surprise of many people, he called for back up and searched for Owens. The officer spotted the car of the assailants and a chase ensued. Eventually, the group pulled their car over and the muffled screams of Owens could be heard from the car. She was bound and gagged on the backseat floorboard.McGuire, Danielle L. At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance- a New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010. Print. Pgs. 132-134
The four attackers were then arrested and taken to jail. They did not take their arrest seriously and joked with each other on the way to jail. All of them made written confessions to having abducted Owens at gunpoint and raping her.McGuire, Danielle L. At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance- a New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010. Print. Pg. 134
Owens was impregnated by the rape. Officials helped make arrangements for her to get an abortion in New York.
Reactions to the rape
After FAMU students learned of the attack on Owens, a small group planned an armed march to city hall. This armed march would symbolize their protection of black womanhood with guns as the whites protected white womanhood.McGuire, D. L. (2011). At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape and Resistance - a New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power. Vintage Books. Other student leaders argued against an armed march and instead planned a “Unity” demonstration. Fifteen hundred students entered the Lee Auditorium to demand justice for Owens, and the student leaders announced that they would petition the governor for a "speedy and impartial trial". The following day, over a thousand students gathered with signs and prayers that were broadcast over news media. Many of these students connected the events to other issues in the struggle for black freedom, such as the desegregation issues in Little Rock, Arkansas. These students held up posters with scenes from Little Rock that read, "My God How Much More of This Can We Take". Even the BBC broadcast segments of the FAMU student demonstrations. As a result of prominent media coverage, student protests, and a threat to boycott classes, Judge W. May Walker called together a grand jury into special session on May 6, 1959.McGuire, Danielle L. At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance- a New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010. Print. Pgs. 135-138The FAMUAN May 1959 http://famu.digital.flvc.org/islandora/search/may%201959?type=edismax&collection=famu%3A68368
The trial More than 200 black spectators entered the courtroom that day to watch the trial. A nurse accompanied Owens because she was still undergoing treatment for injuries as well as depression. All four defendants pleaded not guilty, to the shock of the spectators in the courtroom. The four defendants were remanded to custody to await trial without bail.McGuire, Danielle L. At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance- a New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010. Print. Pgs. 138-139
Attitudes about the trial varied among black leaders. Ella Baker, the director the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, felt that the evidence in the case was so strong that the jury could not fail to convict. Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Nation of Islam, said that the four rapists destroyed the "virginity of our daughters". Furthermore, he explained that "Appeals for justice will avail us nothing... We know there is no justice under the American flag." The Pittsburgh Courier wrote that the trial would most likely end in acquittal, although the case was "as open and shut as a case can be." Following the indictment of the four attackers, Martin Luther King Jr., expressed praise for the FAMU student protesters. King explained that they gave "hope to all of us who struggle for human dignity and equal justice."McGuire, Danielle L. At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance- a New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010. Print. Pgs. 139-142
On June 12, 1959, Betty Jean Owens testified on her own behalf in front of 400 witnesses. She retold the events of the attack to the jury in detail. She told the jury, "I was so scared, but there was nothing I could do with four men, a knife, and a gun ... I couldn’t do anything but what they said.” The defense attorneys worked diligently to prove that Owens had consented to the attack and argued that if a rape did occur that she would have sustained more serious injuries. The doctors that treated Owens told the jury that her injuries resulted in a five-day hospital stay and that she was in a terrible condition. Owens testified that she was unable to use one leg and one arm for several days in the hospital. When the prosecution rested its case, the defense attorneys claimed that the state had failed to do anything but prove sexual intercourse had occurred and called for a judgment of acquittal. Judge Walker denied the motion and the defense was set to return the next day to present their case.McGuire, Danielle L. At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance- a New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010. Print. Pgs. 143-145
The defense claimed that the defendants were drunk and that their taped confessions were inadmissible. However, under cross-examination, David Beagles admitted that his confession was voluntary. The defense tried to present the men as reputable and incapable of committing such a heinous crime, and characterized Owens as a Jezebel, who therefore could not have been raped. When their attempts to discredit Owens failed, the defense then discussed the troubled backgrounds of the defendants. Scarborough's mother had been murdered when he was seven and his father had committed suicide the same year. Stoutamire, whose mother had died during childbirth, was mildly intellectually disabled, and the defense argued that he had an "evident mental incapacity and is therefore incapable of serious thought." Collingsworth was also intellectually disabled and illiterate.
In his final summation, State Attorney William D. Hopkins left the question of sentencing up to jury, but asked them to consider what would happen to four black men who kidnapped a white woman at gunpoint and raped her seven times. He said Owens was only alive since she had submitted to the demands of the defendants.
The jury read the verdict out loud: "guilty with a recommendation for mercy." Had the jury not recommended mercy, the defendants would've faced mandatory death sentences. Instead, they faced any term of years and a maximum of life in prison. Jury foreman A. H. King, a wealthy planter, said he and the other jurors did not believe the defendants were equally culpable and that there was a "great difference" between Scarborough and Stoutamire. As for why they had recommended mercy for all four defendants anyway, he said there was "no brutality involved" and claimed that the decision would have been the same "if the defendants had been four Negroes." The outcome sparked anger, with many local black people believing that at least two of the adult defendants should've been sentenced to death.
Judge Walker deferred sentencing for 15 days and sent the four defendants to the Florida State Prison, now the Union Correctional Institution. On June 15, 1959, Judge Walker sentenced all four of them to life in prison. He told the defendants that they had committed "an offense that is horrible and under horrible circumstances," and that they were "fortunate that the jury recommended mercy." Under Florida law, the defendants would become eligible for parole in six months, albeit the average time served was 10 years. After sentencing, Owens told reporters that she had initially been scared that the judge would be extremely lenient: "After the jury recommended mercy, I thought that one or two of them might have been turned loose and that the others would get short terms," she said. "And that was why I was afraid ... I felt they would come back and do something to me.""I feel better now for the first time since it happened. For the first time, I feel safe."McGuire, Danielle L. At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance- a New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010. Print. Pgs. 147-151
Later years All of Owens's attackers were eventually paroled. Three of them would return to prison after committing additional crimes.