These 7 Black Men Were Execvted For An Alleged Ra*pe. Now, They Have Been Pardoned

 

A nearly 70-year-old newspaper clipping about infamous "Martinsville Seven" rape case shows the seven Black men convicted of raping a white woman. They were executed in 1951 after exhausting their appeals.


Nearly 70 years after their unjust executions, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam granted posthumous pardons Tuesday to seven Black men known as the "Martinsville Seven," who were executed for the alleged rape of a white woman in 1951 in Martinsville, Va.


Northam granted the pardons after a meeting with the descendants of the Martinsville Seven. He said the pardons do not address whether the men were guilty, but rather serve "as recognition from the Commonwealth" that they were tried without adequate due process.


"This is about righting wrongs," Northam said in a news release. "We all deserve a criminal justice system that is fair, equal, and gets it right—no matter who you are or what you look like. While we can't change the past, I hope today's action brings them some small measure of peace."


'Interpreter' Explores WWII Black Executions


The history behind the Martinsville Seven


Seven Black men were executed in February 1951 over the alleged rape of a white woman, Ruby Stroud Floyd, in 1949. They were Frank Hairston Jr., 18, Booker T. Millner, 19, Francis DeSales Grayson, 37, Howard Lee Hairston, 18, James Luther Hairston, 20, Joe Henry Hampton, 19, and John Claybon Taylor, 21.


Floyd said 13 Black men raped her on the evening of Jan. 8, 1949, as she passed through a predominately Black neighborhood.


Floyd identified both Grayson and Hampton as her rapists, but she had trouble identifying the others, according to BlackPast.org, an online reference center for Black history.


As temperatures drop below freezing, demonstrators march in front of the White House in Washington in 1951, in an effort to persuade President Harry Truman to halt execution of seven Black men sentenced to death in Virginia on charges of raping a white woman.


After they were interrogated by local police officers, the Martinsville Seven initially confessed to committing or witnessing the crime. All seven men were charged with rape.


Their trials and electrocutions became a controversial issue shortly after the men were arrested.


The seven men were convicted and swiftly sentenced to death by juries made up of only white men, Northam's office said.


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