02/27/2026
2. We want justice. Equal justice under the law. We want justice applied equally to all, regardless of creed or class or color.
https://www.facebook.com/share/1EYyB6o1Te/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Robert Lipscomb was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for counterfeiting $340 worth of $20 bills. When he arrived at Leavenworth in 1951, he initially earned good reports from the administration there, as he led classes for other incarcerated men teaching Spanish, French, art, and music. However, during this time he met others serving less than 10 years for counterfeiting up to a million dollars. Lipscomb began to realize that he had received a wildly disproportionate sentence due to the color of his skin. For complaining about this disparity, Lipscomb was labeled a “racial agitator” and transferred to Alcatraz.
Like many contemporary institutions, Alcatraz was racially segregated. African-American men incarcerated at Alcatraz were housed separately in the cell house and were forbidden from certain jobs within the prison such as being a plumber, electrician, or movie projector operator. Like in many theaters, they were required to sit in the back row when movies were shown on Saturdays.
Just like at Leavenworth, Lipscomb protested this racial discrimination at Alcatraz. Citing the recent Supreme Court decision “Brown vs Board of Education”, as well as President Truman’s Executive Order desegregating the armed forces, Lipscomb wrote appeals to lawyers, judges, civil rights advocates, and even to Attorney-General Robert Kennedy. He also engaged in acts of civil disobedience such as hunger and work strikes, and acts of self-injury. For engaging in this agitation, Lipscomb was disciplined with stints in solitary confinement. He remained on Alcatraz until the day it closed in 1963, still as a segregated institution.
📷: National Archives at San Francisco