By Stefany Strong
FLORIDA COURIER
Tananarive Due has written multiple Black horror stories during her career but none compared to her stumbling upon a horrific story that was even beyond her imagination.
And this horror story was real and was surprisingly close to home.
“It all started in 2013 when I received a call from the Florida State Attorney’s Office. I was advised of an investigation into the old Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, Florida and my mother’s uncle, Robert Stephens, may be buried out in a field at the school,” Due related.
Florida’s Dozier School for Boys had been under investigation for horrific crimes against the children who were sent there. The allegations included sexual assault, verbal abuse and physical torture that involved gruesome beatings and deaths.
The thrashings were described as so horrific that boys were left bloodied by the whip that pierced well into their flesh leaving whelps, bruises and blood splattered on the walls.
The White House
Due was invited to a meeting in Marianna in 2013 for victims of the Dozier School where Erin Kimmerle, a University of South Florida forensic anthropologist, spoke.
“There were both Black and white survivors there and they all had profound stories to tell. They told horrific stories of beatings and abuse. Beatings so bad you had to remove your clothing from the penetrated flesh wounds. These men were traumatized for life.
And at the time, they were only children,” Due said with disgust.
Survivors said the whippings took place in a white building called the White House.
“I immediately knew I had to write about this atrocity and tell my great Uncle Robert’s
story.” Due gathered information and discovered her uncle was killed there in 1937 at age 15. His bones were recovered during the work done by the USF team led by Kimmerle.
During the four-year investigation, Kimmerle’s team discovered 51 boys who had been buried in unmarked graves at the school.
Earlier this month, Florida lawmakers approved $20 million to the survivors of the Dozier School for Boys and the Okeechobee School, another reform school.
The funds would create the Dozier School for Boys and Okeechobee School Victim Compensation Program. They would compensate “living persons who were confined” at Dozier or the Okeechobee School, another reform school, between 1940 and 1975 and “who were subjected to mental, physical or sexual abuse perpetrated by school personnel.”
Due said she was told that her uncle was stabbed to death by another resident. That person was charged with his death. But the writer had reason to doubt whether this information was true, coming from a family that was known for fighting for truth and freedom.
Family of Freedom Fighters
Due was born at the old Florida A&M University Hospital and grew up in Miami.
She is an award-winning author who teaches Black Horror and Afrofuturism at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She has been a leading voice in Black speculative fiction for over two decades and has won an American Book Award, an NAACP Image Award, and a British Fantasy Award.
She is one of the daughters of FAMU College of Law original graduate John Dorsey Due, Jr., who was known for his civil rights work during the Freedom Rides in Mississippi. As an attorney for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), he helped pioneer the tactic of moving civil rights cases to federal court to avoid biased southern state courts.
Due’s mother, Patricia Stephens Due, also was a civil rights leader in her own rights.
She was instrumental in boycotting segregated establishments in the 1960s and was arrested for her efforts. She and her sister, Priscilla Stephens Kruize, started a CORE chapter at FAMU.
“My mom was on the front line in leading the movie theater protests and the lunch counter sitins,” Due fondly recalled. “Mom was arrested many times and also was traumatized by tear gas causing her to wear dark glasses. Mom fought for freedom because she strongly disliked being treated as a second-class citizen.”
For their significant contributions, John Dorsey Due, Jr. and Patricia Stephens Due are inducted into the Florida Civil Rights Hall of Fame in Tallahassee.
‘The Reformatory’
Once Due decided to write the story of Robert Stephens as a horror story, she began to put all of the pieces together. The final product is a book called “The Reformatory,’’ which was released last year. It’s a gripping tale of a disgustingly broken juvenile criminal justice system. The novel is set in Jim Crow Florida as it follows the journey of Robert Stephens, Jr.
‘My readers are understanding that Jim Crow was one of the monsters. Another realization is that some human monsters are scarier than ghosts.’ – Tananarive Due
The 12-year-old character is sentenced to six months at the Graceland School for Boys for kicking the son of the largest landowner in town as he defended his older sister, Gloria. It started with just a kick that turned the character’s life upside down and ultimately ended his young life too soon at a horrible place for young men.
“I’m very happy that people are responding positively to my book, ‘The Reformatory.’ My readers are under- standing that Jim Crow was one of the monsters. Another realization is that some human monsters are scarier than ghosts,” Due said.
The national book reviews from leading publications are strong. The famous horror author Stephen King offered his opinion. “You’re in for a treat. The Reformatory is one of those books you can’t put down. Tananarive Due hit it out of the park.”
Her other books include “Ghost Summer: Stories,” “My Soul to Keep” and “The Good House.’’ She and her late mother co-authored “Freedom in the Family: A Mother-Daughter Memoir of the Fight for Civil Rights.
