WINFRED REMBERT

Winfred Rembert is an African American artist who hand-tools and paints on leather canvases. Rembert grew up in Cuthbert, Georgia, where he spent much of his childhood laboring in the cotton fields. He was arrested during a 1960s civil rights march and described himself as the only person to survive a lynching.

In 1964, Rembert participated in a demonstration, tussled with a sheriff, then escaped by jumping into a car with the keys inside. Four hours later, he was caught, thrown in the trunk of a car and brought to a site where he saw three ropes hanging. The following account is from the New Haven Register:

He heard one of the men say something about wanting "my private parts." He was stabbed and strung up by his feet in what he thinks was a scare tactic. Once he was cut down, he was tossed into jail, still bleeding. He remained there for a year until what he calls "his kangaroo court," where he was sentenced.

What did he think when he heard 27 years?

"I thought I was dreaming. I couldn't believe he was actually giving me 27 years, but it was true. I looked around the courtroom, and there was no one else there except the judge and the sheriff and what looked like a few lawyers, but no one there for me."