Yoruba Richen

I first encountered the Joan Little case while making “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks,” the first feature documentary about the pioneering activist. In that film, I explored Parks’s lifelong work exposing sexual violence against Black women in the South, including the case of Recy Taylor. Taylor was raped in Alabama by a group of white men who threatened to kill her if she spoke out. Her courage sparked a years-long campaign that united African American organizations, communists and women's groups. Though her attackers were never convicted, the campaign was a blueprint for the Free Joan Little movement.

When I learned that Rosa Parks was head of the Free Joan Little campaign in Detroit, I knew that I wanted to go deeper into the story. Little endured profound trauma as well as brief fame as a result of her case. My goal in making this film is to center her voice and to show how her fight was a crucial turning point in the anti-rape, prison reform and racial justice movements. Though once a cause célèbre, she has faded from public memory. In a time of growing backlash against efforts to confront these systemic issues and suppress our history, Joan Little’s story is more urgent than ever.