In her recent speech at the Golden Globes, actress Oprah Winfrey referenced Recy Taylor, a woman whom Winfrey said was “abducted by six armed white men, raped, and left blindfolded by the side of the road coming home from church.”

Rosa Parks investigated the case, and though the men were never persecuted, Parks became a Civil Rights Movement activist.

Winfrey says that Taylor, who just recently passed away, “lived as we all have lived, too many years in a culture broken by brutally powerful men.”

In the wake of Winfrey’s rousing speech, the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque has added the documentary film The Rape of Recy Taylor to its schedule.

Director Nancy Bairiki’s 2017 documentary uses interviews, photographs and film clips to examine the incident. The New York Times proclaims that the film is “a documentary of multiple layers and marvelous gumption.”

It screens at 6:45 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 25.

This article appears in Jan 10-16, 2018.

Jeff has been covering the Cleveland music scene for more than 25 years now. On a regular basis, he tries to talk to whatever big acts are coming through town. And if you're in a local band that he needs to hear, email him at jniesel@clevescene.com.