Tripwire

While the courts had come to a resolution on who was liable for the 1971 explosion at Thiokol, it wasn't the end of the road for many of the victims. The next years forced many survivors and family members of the victims to relive the day over and over again in front of a judge.

What was the cost of a life? As litigators calculated what a person's life meant in dollars, the families just wished they could try and forget the day tha...

The dust had begun to settle in Woodbine and a new owner had taken over at the former Thiokol site. But the infamous day still lingered in the minds of survivors and victims as the legal battle began.

Thiokol and the U.S. government were pointing fingers at one another, but the former was protected by Georgia law. So the victims' families and the survivors went after the only one left: the federal government.

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After February 3, things were different in Woodbine. Families were broken, mothers lost and Thiokol wanted everyone back to work soon. Condolences came in from President Richard Nixon to Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter, and the state worked to help those affected by the blast to get their homes in order.

But that came and went... the effects of the blast still lingered.

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LISTENER WARNING: There will be graphic descriptions of the explosion and its aftermath in this episode. Listener discretion advised.

February 3, 1971 seemed like any other day when Thiokol workers entered the plant that morning for their shift.

By 10:53 a.m., the world as they knew it would change in an instant.

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As the U.S. was embroiled in the space race and the Vietnam War, Thiokol saw an opportunity in Woodbine in both realms. After securing a space contract with NASA, the prospect of 2,000 jobs in the small town was on the horizon until budget cuts from the federal government cut it short. Then came Vietnam and the need for weapons such as the trip flare.

With the new contract came ample employment opportunities for African American wo...

Welcome to the town of Woodbine, Georgia. It's the end of the 1960s.

A small town in Camden County, Woodbine was selected to house the Thiokol Chemical Corporation plant, which provided ample employment opportunities to Black women in the area, who previously could only find domestic work, line work at the shrimp factory in Brunswick or field work picking rice, lettuce, etc. The jobs were well-paid at the time and allowed the women...