7 Joan Little

1974

Joan Little was a 20-year-old African-American woman who was frequently in trouble with the
law. In 1974, she was charged with larceny and breaking and entering in her hometown of
Washington, North Carolina. On June 4, Little was convicted of all charges and received a
sentence of 7–10 years. She was held at the Beaufort County Jail as she appealed her
conviction. Sometime during the evening of August 27, Little escaped from the facility and the
body of 62-year-old jailer, Clarence Alligood, was found her in her cell. He had been stabbed
several times with an ice pick and was naked from the waist down. One week later, Little
decided to turn herself in to the authorities and was charged with first-degree murder.

Little claimed that she only killed Alligood in self-defense after he attempted to rape her. Her
story was that Alligood had tried to solicit sex from her on three occasions that night and
brought an ice pick into the cell to force her to perform oral sex on him. A semen stain on
Alligood’s leg seemed to support her claims. Since Alligood was white and Little was facing the
death penalty for his murder, her case garnered a lot of attention from civil rights activists, who
helped raise money for her defense. Little’s attorneys were able to get her trial moved to
Raleigh after convincing the judge that many of the residents of Beaufort County held
prejudicial beliefs towards black women. While the prosecution attempted to claim that Little
deliberately seduced and murdered Alligood in order to escape, the jury—consisting of six white
and six black people—believed Little’s claims of self-defense and acquitted her.
 REACTION

PAPER

Joan Little was convicted a murdered for the reason she killed the man was named Alligood but
Joan claim that she only killed Alligood in self defense after he attempted to rapr her.

Project
 in

Court testimony

Submitted by: Siarot, Ryan H.

Submitted to: Sir, Oplas