On the morning of August 21, 1991, a group of Cuban detainees took over a federal prison in Talladega, Alabama, and demanded their freedom. But how did they get here? And what became of them after? In season two of NPR's Pulitzer-finalist show, we unspool a decades-long story about immigration, indefinite detention, and a secret list. It's a story about a betrayal at the heart of our country's ideals. And in charting a course to our current moment of crisis at the border, we expose the lies that bind us together.
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A boat arrives in Key West, Fla., with more Cuban refugees in April 1980 from Cuba's Mariel Harbor after crossing the Florida Straits. The historic Mariel boat lift brought over 100,000 Cubans into the United States. Tim Chapman/Miami Herald/Getty Images hide caption
Cuban detainees stand on the roof of the Federal Correctional Institution in Talladega, Als., after a take over of the prison in 1991. Joe Songer/Birmingham News/Donated by Alabama Media Group/Alabama Department of Archives and History hide caption
The Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., was the scene of the confrontation that became known as Bloody Sunday. William Widmer for NPR hide caption
A car passes by the vacant lot in modern-day Selma where the Silver Moon Cafe stood in 1965. The attack on the Rev. James Reeb occurred just outside the cafe. William Widmer for NPR hide caption
Pallbearers carry the casket of Jimmie Lee Jackson into a church in Marion, Ala., where a sign reads "Racism killed our brother." Bettmann/Getty Images hide caption
Frances Bowden stands in front of Selma Bail Bonds. Chip Brantley/NPR hide caption
Doctors care for the Rev. James Reeb in a Birmingham, Ala., hospital after he was attacked in Selma on March 9, 1965. Bettmann/Getty Images hide caption
In court on Dec. 9, 1965, William Stanley Hoggle (from far left), Namon O'Neal Hoggle and Elmer Cook review a street diagram showing where the attack on the Rev. James Reeb occurred in Selma, Ala. The three men were standing trial for the murder of Reeb; all were acquitted. Horace Cort/AP hide caption
Elmer Cook, William Stanley Hoggle and Namon "Duck" Hoggle (from left to right) were charged with first-degree murder after James Reeb's death and later acquitted at trial. TopFoto/The Image Works hide caption
