Melvin Davis and Licurtis Reels refused to leave the land that had been in their family for generations – so they were sent to jail. They expected to be in jail for 90 days. They were there for 8 years. This week, part 1 of their story. For more on the Reels family’s story, you can read Lizzie Presser’s article, “Their Family Bought Land One Generation After Slavery. The Reels Brothers Spent Eight Years in Jail for Refusing to Leave It.” Say hello on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Sign up for our occasional newsletter, The Accomplice. Follow the show and review us on Apple Podcasts. Sign up for Criminal Plus to get behind-the-scenes bonus episodes of Criminal, ad-free listening of all of our shows, special merch deals, and more. We also make This is Love and Phoebe Reads a Mystery. Artwork by Julienne Alexander. Check out our online shop. Episode transcripts are posted on our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Support for Criminal comes from BetterHelp. Fall isn't my favorite time of year. I like summer. And when fall comes around, the days are getting shorter, vacations are behind us, and there's a sort of back-to-school anxiety in the air. If you haven't been feeling like yourself, you could consider a session with a licensed therapist.
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How long have you lived on this land? I've been on this land all my life. I am 64. I'll be 65 in August. I've been here all my life. And how long has your family lived on this land? 100, 200 years. We've been here all our life. That's all we know.
This is Mamie Reels Ellison. Her mother's family, the Reels family, has owned land on the coast of North Carolina since 1911, when Mamie's great-grandfather purchased 65 acres. What was it like growing, you know, in the summer here, being a kid here?
Well, for me, being that little girl, always wanted to go to Disney World. So the water... was just this magical thing to me. Because I just always had that imagination about mermaids. But growing up here on this road, you were free. I was a little girl, but I could kick off my blouse and run like the boys, you know? And you could run free. You had the fields to play ball in.
You could ride your bikes. And you could basically ride in the road because it was a dirt road. And I remember as a little girl, there was an ice cream truck that came down. So this was a quiet area. It was so quiet you could hear the crickets and the frogs at night. But the ice cream truck was coming. You could hear the ice cream truck coming, playing the music, and you run out.
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