Posted on 09/02/2013 6:08:50 AM PDT by SoFloFreeper
This weekend, Florida will begin digging into its tragic past as anthropologists start unearthing what they believe are the remains of dozens of children buried on the grounds of a former reform school.
The exhumations at the Dozier School for Boys —which closed in 2011 —are the culmination of years of controversy surrounding the reform school and a mythology that has taken on a life of its own.
Rightly or wrongly, the Florida Panhandle town of Marianna —just west of Tallahassee —has become synonymous with the school and its dark past.
Some of those who were once sent to Dozier —now senior citizens —have come forward with stories of abuse at the school, including alleged beatings, torture, sexual abuse, killings and the disappearance of students, during the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s.
(Excerpt) Read more at myfox8.com ...
The implication is that Tallahassee....or Rick Scott, to be specific, is to blame for a cover-up. I even saw someone from the NAACP talking about the problems at the school....
Whatever happened at Dozier, one fact must NEVER be forgotten: the DEMOCRAT PARTY was at the head of the executive branch EXCLUSIVELY during the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, most of the 1960s....and the 70s.....
this is absolutely disgusting
bump
I don’t understand how these kids could be buried on school grounds.I do understand that some of them were poor and had no real family to speak of, but even then,why weren’t they buried in a cemetary?
Up until about 1960, disease would have taken a toll on the inmates. That 100 are buried there over a period spanning a century and a decade is not surprising.
It was the school cemetery. Many bodies were unclaimed by families or families couldn’t be contacted, authorities said at the time.....so they were buried by the school.
There is a cemetery on school grounds, and it has always been known that the cemetery was there, it’s been part of the school. The investigators have found bodies in coffins in the cemetery, so it’s not like there are a bunch of graves dug to hide bodies. The school started operation in 1900, so it may be there are more graves outside the known cemetery.
It was not a good place to be sent and conditions were harsh, but we’ll just have to wait to see what investigators find. The spin right now makes it seems that all the bodies they’ve found are from secret graves meant to hide bodies, which is not true.
A sane society can't do without reform schools. Where are we supposed to put the Trayvons? Today, we keep them in the public high school to prey on the other students, because the administrators collect more taxpayer money for every lawless punk they can claim is occasionally going to class at their school.
Real reform schools, run by religious brothers, had a track record of straightening at least some kids out.
Conditions in southern lockups up until the latter half of the 20th century were harsh because life was hard in general and for a lockup to be seen as punishment, the belief was that conditions inside needed to be harsher than in general society. So yes, some of the boys likely died at the hands of guards and as is the case in lockups, some would have been killed by other boys.
The number of reported/speculated graves seems unremarkable for such an institution in operation for over a century. In the first half of the 20th century, nutrition was poor and so was healthcare. We forget what a toll diseases such as TB, smallpox, polio, measles, influenza, malaria, etc used to take on populations.
Florida was a wild, sparsely populated place in the first half of the 20th century. Life in general was difficult and communications were poor. For many of these boys, their families had already given up on them, or never cared about them in the first place.
In 1920, you couldn't just keep a body on ice while trying to notify next of kin. If next of kin were notified, you couldn't just load a body into a refrigerated truck and deliver it to a funeral home in South Florida. People back then generally buried their dead where they died and moved on.
Reminds me of the find of unmarked graves at Cummins Prison Farm in Arkansas years ago. The press ran with that story as far as they could before dropping it.
My bet is the majority died of disease.
This place was a hell hole where kids were dumped into,
By modern standards, all southern detention facilities prior to the latter half of the 20th century were hellholes.
even orphans who were abandoned by their parents
Dozier was not an orphanage.
or those who were incarcerated for rather minor crimes
I suspect you will find long rap sheets and a judges warning about "the next time" prior to the "minor" crime.
who were subjected to sadistic beatings,
Unfortunately, this was widespread, even in mental hospitals.
many of which resulted in deaths that the “school” never recorded, their family members never informed of their deaths or allowed to give them proper burials.
In the first half of the 20th century in Florida, notification of next of kin, especially when next of kin may have been unknown would have been difficult.
People back then buried the dead near where they died, placed a makeshift wooden cross on the grave and moved on. Within a year, or two, the wooden marker would have rotted away.
I knew a boy sent there in the mid-50’s for stealing his father’s car and going for a joyride.
He went there as a scared little 14 y.o.
Came out 2 yrs. later as a big mean 16 y.o. Big and really mean.
Sounds like Haut de la Garenne children’s home.
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