The Life and Legacy of Sandra Bland: A Catalyst for Change (1987–2015)

Sandra Annette “Sandy” Bland, an African American social activist whose death in police custody sparked national momentum for the Black Lives Matter movement, was born on February 7, 1987, in Naperville, Illinois. Raised by her single mother, Geneva Reed-Veal, Bland was the fourth of five daughters. As a child, she was active in the DuPage African Methodist Episcopal Church in Lisle, Illinois, and around the age of ten she started playing the trombone. In 2005 Bland graduated from Willowbrook High School in Villa Park, Illinois, and earned a marching band scholarship to attend Prairie View A&M University, a historically Black institution in Prairie View, Texas. Bland studied agriculture and had the goal of becoming an inspector for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. While earning her degree, she became a member of the Sigma Gamma Rho sorority, a historically Black Greek-letter organization. In 2009 she graduated with a bachelor’s of science degree in agriculture.

Bland lived in Houston before moving back to Illinois in 2012. In January 2015 she started a video blog series on her social media account titled “Sandy Speaks.” She used this platform to discuss a number of topics, including police brutality, inattentive parents, and mental health. Later in the year, on July 9, Bland returned to Texas for a job interview at Prairie View A&M and was hired as a community outreach coordinator. She was to begin her new job on August 3.

Arrest and Death

On July 10 Bland returned to Prairie View A&M to fill out some paperwork. As she drove away from the university, she was followed by Brian Encinia, a White state trooper, who eventually pulled her over on University Drive for changing lanes without signaling. Dashcam footage from the trooper’s vehicle showed Encinia ordering Bland to extinguish her cigarette. After she refused to do so, he then ordered her to exit her vehicle. Bland challenged Encinia’s authority to order her to do so, at which point Encinia attempted to physically pull Bland from her vehicle and then drew his Taser gun. Bland exited her car and was led out of view of the dashcam. She was forced to the ground and handcuffed before being taken to the Waller County jail in Hempstead, Texas, and jailed on suspicion of felony assault on a public servant—Encinia wrote in his arrest affidavit that Bland had kicked him. Despite informing police during booking that she had previously attempted suicide, Bland was not placed under observation and assigned to an isolated cell. Her bail was set at $5,000. During the following days, she made several phones calls from jail to friends and family as efforts were made to raise the money to post her bail.

On July 13, 2015, police reported that Sandra Bland had used a plastic garbage bag to hang herself in her cell. Following an autopsy, the Harris County Institute of Forensic Science concluded that her death was a suicide. This judgment was quickly challenged by Bland’s friends and family, who insisted that Bland was not suicidal and called for an independent autopsy.

Impact of Death and Legal Consequences

Bland’s death came in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement and heightened scrutiny of police violence towards African Americans. Her death sparked a series of demonstrations throughout the United States, including Hempstead, Texas, where Black Lives Matter protesters and armed members of the New Black Panther party gathered outside the Waller County jail. Her death galvanized the #SayHerName movement, which addresses police violence against Black women. Bland’s funeral was held at DuPage AME Church in Lisle, Illinois, and she was buried at Mount Glenwood Memory Gardens in Hickory Hills, Illinois.

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) placed Trooper Encinia on administrative duty for violating protocol for traffic stops, and a joint investigation into Bland’s death was launched by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Texas Rangers, the investigative arm of the DPS. The Waller County jail was cited for violating minimum standards for the training of staff in the supervision of potentially suicidal inmates and for violating a requirement that inmates be observed at least once every hour. In December 2015 a grand jury declined to indict anyone in the death of Sandra Bland. In January 2016 the same grand jury indicted Encinia on a charge of perjury for claiming in his arrest report that he removed Bland from the car “to more safely conduct a traffic investigation.” Encinia was fired by DPS. In 2016 Bland’s family settled a wrongful death lawsuit against DPS, Encinia, Waller County, and two county jailers for $1.9 million and a promise of jail reform and de-escalation training for police. In 2017 Encinia agreed to never work in law enforcement again in exchange for having the perjury charge against him dismissed. That year the Texas legislature passed Senate Bill 1849, also known as the Sandra Bland Act, which mandated racial profiling and de-escalation training for police officers and created new procedures for county jails to follow when dealing with inmates with mental health or substance abuse issues.

Documentary filmmakers Kate Davis and David Heilbroner, working closely with Bland’s family and their legal team, tracked the legal battle between Bland’s family and Texas authorities. Their film, Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland, was released in 2018 by HBO. In April 2015 the Prairie View city council voted to rename the portion of University Drive where Bland was arrested Sandra Bland Parkway in her honor. In 2019 the city of Austin in Texas declared July 13 “Sandra Bland Day.”