5. 13 Hostages Were Soon Released
Two weeks into the hostage crisis, after Khomeini took control of the situation, he ordered that all the women and African-American hostages, except for one African-American and two women, should be released. He claimed that women have a special place in Islam and that African-Americans endure enough hardships in the United States due to racial discrimination. The remaining 53 hostages were mainly kept in solitary confinement, with no information about what was happening to their compatriots or the efforts that the Carter administration was undertaking to try to secure their release.
Weeks turned into months for the remaining hostages. By Christmas of 1979, over six weeks into the crisis, support for the hostages was uniting Americans in a national fervor. They wore ribbons and erected flags in favor of the hostages. President Carter did what he could to support the families of the hostages, who formed an action group to try to work with the government to gain the release of the hostages. Meanwhile, in Tehran, those who had been taken hostage were forced to live either in solitary confinement or in close quarters with each other, 24 hours a day. There was no end in sight. Despite negotiations, Ayatollah Khomeini was not prepared to give up his bargaining chip.