7 Black Men Executed for Alleged Rape Just Got Pardoned 70 Years Later
The state of Virginia never gave the Martinsville Seven due process.
Sept. 2
In January 1949, a group of Black men, later dubbed the Martinsville Seven, were accused of raping a 32-year-old white woman in the small Virginia town. The men, ranging in age from 19 to 37, were never afforded the right to due process; they were instead promptly found guilty by all-white, all-male juries and placed on death row eight days after trial.
But now, 70 years after the men were executed for a crime the state never proved they committed, Virginias Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam announced he will pardon them.
We all deserve a criminal justice system that is fair, equal, and gets it rightno matter who you are or what you look like, Northam said in a statement released Tuesday. Im grateful to the advocates and families of the Martinsville Seven for their dedication and perseverance. While we cant change the past, I hope todays action brings them some small measure of peace.
The posthumous pardons of Francis DeSales Grayson, 37; John Claybon Taylor, 21; Joe Henry Hampton, 19; Booker T. Millner, 19; James Luther Hairston, 20; Frank Hairston Jr., 19; and Howard Lee Hairston, 18, comes after months of advocacy from their descendants as well as members of the Martinsville community.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkb4jg/martinsville-seven-ruby-floyd-pardons