I shunned this book when I saw it on the shelf of new non-fiction titles at the Falls Church library, knowing a little of the story and the horrible conditions, and not wanting to know more.
The world is awful enough; I needed more proof?
With that selfish attitude, I checked it out.
The crimes against the boys were worse than expected, a story of abuse and terror like so many which are worse than fiction.
A forensic anthropologist, Erin Kimmerle, has written an objective account of this latest horror story, except when it comes to family and residents' memories of what really went on inside the 111-year-old school in Florida to house and punish “bad” boys.
Some were guilty of the terrible crime of running-away from home (who hasn’t?); some were orphans; some, wards of the state.
Some were as young as five-years-old but sentenced by a judge to the Dozier School for Boys where many were tortured, beaten, burned alive, murdered by staff at the prison outside Marianna, Florida and raped in the "White House."
No one was brought to trial. Almost three of every four boys buried at the institution's "cemetery," Boot Hill, were black and many families never received word about the deaths of their youngsters.
Boys who were chained, as young as five years old, were unable to escape a fire in 1914 and died, unidentified.
One resident called it a "concentration camp for little boys." They were threatened by guards who did ... what else?
From Dr. Marvin Dunn's report, The Infamous Dozier School | Dunn History: The method of torture was for the prison guards to handcuff the teenagers and then hang them from the bars of their cells, sometimes for over an hour. The guards stated that their superiors approved the practice and that it was routine.
These were brutal crimes and hard to believe humans carried out these atrocities in this century, likely because most of the boys were black.
Families were unable to convince authorities of the truth behind the walls until momentum and a list of 500 grew among survivors and relatives of the dead to reveal the torture and murders.
Dr. Kimmerle worked for years with colleagues at the University of South Florida, students, other scientists, government officials, and journalists to unearth the real story and the graves of 55 boys of whom the prison had only reported 31.
Humanists owe deep gratitude to her and her team of students who pressed on, up against the will of Marianna's residents who resisted revelations which meant jobs for its citizens and cheap labor for area farms.
Dr. Kimmerle previously worked at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and, while pursuing her Ph.D., at the University of Tennessee's renowned "body farm," "the premier school" for forensic anthropologists run by Bill Bass.
Although legislation passed in the Florida House, 114-3, to bury the children properly, reimburse families for burials, and create a memorial, Matt Gaetz was one of the three Republicans to vote against the outlay of $500,000 which passed the Florida Senate and earned Gov. Rick Scott's signature, although Scott had earlier tried unsuccessfully to obstruct inspection of remains.
Dr. Kimmerle pays tribute to former Sen. Bill Nelson for his efforts to reveal the truth.
It's likely these crimes continue at other institutions where children have no families to speak up for them, have no defense against ugly adults, and don't know what to do.
Can you help them?
patricialesli@gmail.com
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