During her now famous speech at the 2018 Golden Globes, Oprah Winfrey referenced the story of Recy Taylor, a woman who in 1944 was the victim of a horrific crime.

The story came as quite a surprise to the pastor and parishioners at First Missionary Baptist Church in Winter Haven, as it turned out they knew Recy Taylor very well, but never knew that part of her story.

  • Fellow church members knew her as Recy Martin
  • Taylor's family came to church to honor her on 1st Sunday of Black History Month
  • Taylor's story told in "At the Dark End of the Street," published in 2010

The book "At the Dark End of the Street," published in 2010, details how Taylor, walking home from church one night in Abbeville, Alabama, was taken at gunpoint by a group of six white men, gang-raped, and left tied up by the side of the road. Though the NAACP and an investigator named Rosa Parks sought justice for Taylor, the men were never prosecuted.

Taylor's family said they themselves didn’t know Taylor had gone through such trauma until "At the Dark End of the Street" was published.

“If you didn’t know it happened to her, you never would’ve known because she would always be jolly, happy, smiling,” Taylor’s niece, Rose Gunter said.

Taylor’s great-granddaughter, Aisha Walker, said she couldn’t believe it when she heard the details.

“When I found out I was very upset," Walker said. "I was crying. I called her and I said why didn’t you tell us? Why didn’t you speak about it?"

"She just said it was something you never talked about, but she always wanted everybody to know she wasn’t a liar and she was telling the truth," Walker continued. "That’s what hurt her the most, how they tried to portray her."

The family said they also didn’t know Taylor lived with Rosa Parks for a while when the NAACP got involved in her case and sent Parks to investigate.

“She lived with Rosa Parks for a few months, like six months or so. She took her into hiding,” granddaughter Joyce Owens said.

“She stayed with Rosa Parks for a while, because Rosa was coming to their house there in Abbeville, but the police threatened Rosa," Gunter explained. "So she had to leave, because they even threw her, pushed her off the porch down and told her not to come back."

After years of living with fear of retaliation in Alabama, Taylor moved to Florida, near her only daughter and her two grandkids. That daughter and one of her granddaughters died in a car crash not long after Taylor moved to Winter Haven.

Taylor raised her granddaughter and eventually her great-granddaughter. She worked in the citrus industry picking fruit before starting a job at the Jewitt School as a janitor.

In 2013, Taylor moved back to Alabama to be closer to family. She died Dec. 28, 2017 at the age of 97.

Honoring Recy Taylor

Members of Taylor's family came to First Missionary Baptist Church in Winter Haven the first Sunday of Black History Month to honor her.

Church members said they consider it a blessing to have sat next to a woman whose story made history, now that they know the story. But like his congregation, First Missionary Baptist Church Pastor Clifton Dollison said he was surprised when he heard Oprah's speech.

“What threw many of us is that the Taylor last name, and not Martin, because many here knew her as 'Recy Martin,'" Dollison said. "So once that was made clear, it was like, everybody here was like, 'That’s who that was!' So a lot of people were quite surprised to say the least."

Myrtle Williams said she had no idea about this story when she first met Taylor at the Winter Haven church back in the '60s. However, she said it told a lot about who Taylor was.

“Well, the one thing that I think they really should know is that to have been treated like that and to overcome and move in life like she did, having lost a daughter in an accident, you can’t say nothing but she had to believe in God,” Williams said.