Joan Little and one of her defense attorneys, Kern Galloway, right, wait for an elevator in the lobby of the Wake County Courthouse in Raleigh, N.C., July 14, 1975, where she is on trial in the 1974 stabbing death of a jailer. (AP Photo/Harold Valentine)
Joan Little was initially charged with the 1974 murder of a white jailer but was acquitted on August 15, 1975. Her defense argued that Little, who was incarcerated at the time, acted in self-defense when she fatally stabbed the jailer with an ice pick during a sexual assault.
Murder trial defendant Joan Little sits with Georgia state Sen. Julian Bond at a news luncheon in Raleigh, N.C., July 28, 1975, where she said the prosecution will “be out like wolves to get me.” Ms. Little is charged in the death of a white jailer. (AP Photo/Harold Valentine)
Little’s case made history as she became the first woman in the United States, regardless of race, to be acquitted on the grounds of using deadly force to prevent sexual assault.
Gesturing, Joan Little tells newsmen at her motel in Raleigh, N.C., Aug. 16, 1975, the feeling she enjoys after being found not guilty in the slaying of jailer Clarence Alligood. (AP Photo/BL)
Her trial spotlighted crucial issues, including a woman’s right to defend herself against rape, the use of capital punishment, and the racial inequalities within the criminal justice system.
The case galvanized activists across civil rights, feminist, and anti-death penalty movements, uniting them in their efforts to support her cause.
Joan Little and attorney William Kunstler talk to the press in New York, June 9, 1979. Ms. Little was released on parole from a North Carolina prison and came to New York to work for a law firm. She was returned to prison last year after escaping while serving a sentence for breaking and entering. (AP Photo/David Karp)
Clay Cane is an award-winning journalist, writer, radio host, and political commentator. A graduate of Rutgers University with a degree in African-American Studies, his work on race, culture, and politics have appeared in national publications, including the Washington Post, CNN, and The Grio. Clay is a regular political commentator on MSNBC.
