• 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 cover art

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

By: iHeartPodcasts
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  • 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.

    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
  • Vote now! UNREFORMED Nominated For Webby Award

    Vote now! UNREFORMED Nominated For Webby Award
    Apr 9 2024

    Hi listeners! This is Josie Duffy Rice. We wanted to give you some good news and ask once more for your help, if you wouldn’t mind!

    First the good news! I am so honored to tell you that Unreformed has won a few very exciting awards lately. We won an Ambie award for best history podcast of the year, an international women’s podcast award, and we also won TWO Signal Listener’s choice awards because of you and your votes. We are unbelievably grateful for this recognition. The opportunity to tell this story and bring more light to this dark chapter in our American history.

    And now, Unreformed has been nominated for a Webby Award! This is very exciting. It's up for "Best Writing." We really really hope that you'll be willing to vote for us in the Webby People's Voice Award. You can cast your vote before April 18 at "

    So, please vote for us and support us by going to this link. Click on PODCAST in the categories and find us in BEST WRITING. A direct link to the category is here.

    The Deadline is April 18th to get your votes in. It has been the honor of a lifetime to be part of this project. Thank you SO much for listening AND voting.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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    2 mins
  • UNREFORMED Nominated for Signal Listener's Choice Awards - Vote now!

    UNREFORMED Nominated for Signal Listener's Choice Awards - Vote now!
    Sep 29 2023

    Unreformed has been nominated for two Signal Listener's Choice Award. Voting is open through October 5, 2023, you can vote for the show under "Best Host" and "History" in the Limited Series and Specials category. Link to vote is here. 

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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    2 mins
  • Episode 8: Searching for Justice

    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
World Social Sciences
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Profile Image for Anonymous User

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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Profile Image for J. Bivens

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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Profile Image for Beth T.

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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Profile Image for Peachymoto

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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