Joan Little (1974, Washington, North Carolina)
The case of Joan Little became a cause of celebration for those in the civil rights, feminist, and anti-death penalty movements. Joan Little dropped out of high school with no diploma aged fifteen. Aged twenty, after a spate of criminal offenses, police arrested Joan Little for three separate counts of felony breaking and entering, and larceny. On the 4th of June, 1974, a court convicted Little.
Three months later, on the 27th August 1974, police discovered the body of jailer Clarence Alligood. Found on Joan Little’s bunk, Clarence was naked from the waist down and had semen on his leg. He suffered stab wounds made by an ice-pick to his temple and heart. Most shocking of all, however, Joan Little was missing. Over a week later she turned herself in to North Carolina authorities and admitted to killing Alligood while defending herself against sexual assault.
The court charged Joan Little with first-degree murder. This charge carried an automatic death sentence. However, her case generated a lot of attention. The amount of death penalty cases in North Carolina attracted the attention of anti-death penalty advocates. Further, the gender component attracted second-wave feminists. Finally, the racial component thus drew the attention of civil rights activities. Together, a Joan Little Defence Committee raised over $350,000 to help her get the best lawyers and advice possible.
At trial, the prosecution argued Little simply seduced Alligood just to murder him and escape. Little, however, testified that Alligood entered her cell three times between 10 am and 3 pm to solicit sex. He finally forced her using an ice pick as a weapon to perform oral sex. After he orgasmed and let his guard down, she grabbed the ice pick and attacked him. The jury, comprised of six white Americans and six African Americans, deliberated the case for one hour and twenty-five minutes. They found Joan Little to be not guilty.
The case became a landmark decision. It challenged the age-old question of whether an African-American woman had the right to defend oneself against white male sexual assault. By exonerating Joan Little for killing a man in a position of authority, Joan Little became the first woman in US history to be acquitted using the defense that she used deadly force to resist sexual assault. Little’s victory showed the assertion of rights no longer depended so drastically on social respectability. National exposure of police brutality, institutional racism, and violent practices of white supremacists undermined arguments linking race and sex.