WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
Carol Jenkins was just 21 years old when she was stabbed and killed in 1968 while selling encyclopedias in the former sundown town of Martinsville, Indiana. For three decades, the murder mystery sat cold in police files, void of justice. Carol’s death prompted generations of fear and warnings for African Americans throughout Central Indiana and among students passing through Martinsville en route to Indiana University in Bloomington. Martinsville became known nationally as a racist community that refused to believe Carol’s death was the result of a hate crime. In 2001, investigative reporter Sandra Chapman exposed police missteps and prompted a break in the case when an unexpected child witness called Chapman with a shocking revelation: “If the girl had a yellow scarf and was killed with a screwdriver, my father could be the killer.” For the first time in three decades, there was an arrest. But who was the accomplice? Now, 50 years after Carol’s death, family members reveal what they know to Chapman, and the rural communities where Carol lived and died face a reckoning with race relations as the nation grapples with cultural sensitivities. [59 min; documentary; English]
A Q&A will follow the screening with filmmaker Sandra Chapman, Kevin Brown (IU Maurer School of Law), David Brooks (investigative editor/photographer), Mario E. Page (cinematographer), and Saddam Al-Zubaidi (producer/video production specialist, WTIU-TV), moderated by Gerry Lanosga (IU Media School).
