[8] Since Virginia started using an electric chair in 1908, all 45 of the men sentenced to death for rape had been black men convicted of raping white women. Learn about how to make the most of a memorial. The image is a Newspaper Enterprise Association photograph printed in a newspaper that has not been identified. In their first appeal to the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals in 1950, the lawyers argued among other things that the death sentence for rape in Virginia was reserved for blacks. For more information and other images, see www.flickr.com/photos/washington_area_spark/sets/72157643 Photo by Washington Daily News. "Their punishment did not fit the crime. In March, Northam, a Democrat, signed legislation passed by the Democrat-controlled legislature abolishing the state's death penalty. Please subscribe to keep reading. The remaining three were executed on February 5, 1951. Every single one of the 45 men executed by Virginias electric chair for rape at that point were African American men charged with assaulting white women. Based on her account, in which she claimed to have been raped by 13 black men,[3] the police quickly arrested Frank Hairston Jr. and Booker Millner. '", She said her grandmother, Josephine Grayson, now living in Maryland, "will not speak on that at all under (any) circumstances.". Here's everything to know about the Martinsville Seven case: It has been stated by several residents of Martinsville, Virginia that Grayson and Floyd were in a sexual relationship. Virginia law authorized capital punishment for accessories, parties to the act of rape who did not take part in the act. [2], The trials were held back to back, each with a separate jury of twelve white men. Did You Know That Disney Released A Cartoon Featuring A Freed Slave As The Hero? All of them were tried by all-white juries. The campaigns to stop the legal lynching of the Martinsville 7 and Willie McGee in Mississippi were met with red-baiting and gruesome determination by the white elite to protect strict racial codes. Governor Battle listened to their claims but was unwilling to bend on the issue of the Seven, saying: "The prisoners have not been convicted because they are Negroes and should not be released because they are Negroes." Cries and sobs could be heard from some of the descendants after Northam's announcement. / CBS/AP. To protect them from mob violence, they took them to other jails outside Henry County. Floyd identified Grayson and Hampton as her rapists but struggled to identify the others because the attack happened at night. A system error has occurred. Drag images here or select from your computer for Ruby Stroud Floyd memorial. It was not until a 1977 Georgia case that the U.S. Supreme Court ended death sentences for rape, but because the death penalty was a "grossly disproportionate" punishment for rape, and not on the basis of race. It's even worse than that. Ruby Stroud Floyd always brought light to every room entered. Northam said some of the defendants were impaired at the time of their arrests or unable to read confessions they signed. ), As far as Hodge-Muse and many others are concerned, the case "was just such an evil miscarriage of justice.". . The judge presiding was Kennon C. In 1977 the Supreme Court referred to those arguments with respect to rulings in other cases. Add to your scrapbook. Save to an Ancestry Tree, a virtual cemetery, your clipboard for pasting or Print. The police first arrested Frank Hairston, Jr. and Booker T. Millner, and soon picked up James Luther Hairston, Howard Lee Hairston, John Clabon Taylor, Francis DeSales Grayson, then James Henry Hampton as additional suspects. Failed to delete memorial. NAACP lawyers argued on appeal that Virginias legal code was hardly race neutral, since whites convicted of rape seldom, if ever received the death penalty. [2] A relative of the Hairstons has said that their family tradition always said that Floyd had been having an affair with one of the defendants, but this was not explored at trial. [2][13] The CRC began to organize mass actions in Richmond. cemeteries found in Duplin County, North Carolina, USA will be saved to your photo volunteer list. State And Regional Martinsville Film To Be Produced By Charlottesville Activist And Uvas Center For Politics. If people like George Floyd really did die "simply for being black," how can we doubt that black men in the . That they could be standing there for photos with those smug looks on their faces like they have something to be proud of is just beyond my comprehension ! She said her father, her uncle and Hampton's brother visited Hampton at the jail while he was awaiting trial and that Hampton told them they were making him sleep on the cement floor without clothes. Their trials and the electrocutions became a cause clbre similar to the Scottsboro Case of the 1930s. All Rights Reserved. . After a long legal battle led by the NAACP and a grassroots campaign led by the Civil Rights Congress, the seven were executed in 1951 on February 2nd and February 5th. New York Public Library. On January 8, 1949, a white woman named Ruby Stroud Floyd was raped in a black part of Martinsville, Virginia. Though they varied somewhat in detail, the accounts of what happened that night from the perpetrators, the victim, Martin and other witnesses in large part agreed. "[17], National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, False accusations of rape as justification for lynchings, "These 7 Black Men Were Executed For An Alleged Rape. After being questioned by local police officers, the defendants initially confessed to committing or witnessing the crime. The first four were executed at 15-minute intervals on February 2. While the NAACP focused on racial equality as part of Cold War American democratic visions, CRC mobilized left-based organizations and newspapers from around the world to pressure state and national officials to intervene. "[6], In December 2020, the Martinsville 7 Project asked Virginia Governor Ralph Northam to pardon the Martinsville Seven posthumously and issue an apology. Prospective jurors in each trial included some blacks, but all 72 jurors selected to try the cases were white. Required fields are marked *. MARTINSVILLE -- On April 19, 1949, Judge Kennon Whittle addressed prosecutors and defense lawyers gathered in his second-floor chambers of the Henry County courthouse. In 1908, Virginia became the fifth state in the U.S. to use the electric chair, and executions were carried out by the Virginia Department of Corrections at the State Penitentiary in Richmond. There was an error deleting this problem. Martin A. Martin of the Richmond law firm Hill, Martin and Robinson, was the lead attorney for the appellate defense team for the NAACP in Virginia, as his firm had considerable experience with civil rights cases. Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option. Before their executions, protesters picketed at the White House, and the governor's office received letters from around the world asking for mercy. It was a dramatic shift for Virginia, a state that had the second-highest number of executions in the U.S. A physician who treated Floyd after the attack testified that she suffered a swollen lip, scratches on the back of her neck, the back of her right chest and on her buttocks. Much of that attention was focused on Richmond, home of the governor, the legislature and the state's top civil-rights lawyers, as well as the location of what was then the Virginia State Penitentiary and its electric chair. After a long legal battle led by the NAACP and a grassroots campaign led by the Civil Rights Congress, the seven were executed in 1951 on February 2nd and February 5th. Every single one of the 45 men executed by Virginias electric chair for rape at that point in time were African American men charged with assaulting white women. There were no black jurors because the prosecution vetoed all potential black jurors. The Martinsville 7 Project, according to their website, seeks to highlight the case, share their stories, collect and post records related to the case, and promote the pardon request. "This is about righting wrongs," Northam said. Switch to the dark mode that's kinder on your eyes at night time. Four of the seven testified at their own trials. Eric W, Rise, an associate professor at the University of Delaware who wrote a 1995 book on the case,The Martinsville Seven: Race, Rape, and Capital Punishment,said Floyd told police she was raped by a large group of Black men and testified at all six trials. This account has been disabled. Please if you have any form of concern, suggestions, or query as regards this publication, kindly contact us. Our deepest condolences and heartfelt prayers are with the family and friends. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. You have chosen this person to be their own family member. The Seven were executed at the Virginia State Penitentiary in early February 1951. May you find comfort knowing that life continues forever in heaven even as the memories shared live forever in our hearts. Please login and add some widgets to this sidebar. Floyd did not know where the woman lived, so she enlisted the help of 11-year-old Charlie Martin, son of a "colored" woman she knew, to guide her. (renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax). "This was the Jim Crow South; this was prior to the civil-rights movement why would she be there," she asked. Cause of death Details of the circumstance surrounding our beloved, Ruby Stroud Floyddeath is not public yet, we will share more as we learn. Their petition does not argue that the men were innocent, but says their trials were unfair and the punishment was extreme and unjust. At 7:30p.m., after dark, she went to Mary Wade's house for shelter, showing signs of an assault. Weve updated the security on the site. Judge Kennon C. Whittle of the Martinsville Circuit Court granted requests to hold individual trials. It was the largest mass execution for rape that had been reported in the United States. Please enter your email and password to sign in. Ruby belonged to a predominantly black neighborhood in Martinsville,. On the evening of January 8, 1949, a 32-year-old White woman, Ruby Stroud Floyd accused 13 Black men of raping her while she had gone to a predominantly Black neighborhood in Martinsville . A prosecutor asked him: "Charlie, do you know what happens to little boys who tell lies when they die?". One telegram from Moscow was signed by "workers in science, literature, the arts," including composers Dmitri Shostakovich and Sergei Prokofiev. Are you sure that you want to report this flower to administrators as offensive or abusive? The young men with spotty employment records but no real criminal history soon became known as the Martinsville Seven. By the spring of 1949, all seven men were charged with rape. The Martinsville 7, seven African American men sentenced to death for the rape of a white woman in Virginia are shown on a flyer published by the Civil Rights Congress in 1950. Sorry! Resend Activation Email, Please check the I'm not a robot checkbox, If you want to be a Photo Volunteer you must enter a ZIP Code or select your location on the map. The "Martinsville Seven," as the men became known, were all convicted of raping 32-year-old Ruby Stroud Floyd, a white woman who had gone to a predominantly black neighborhood in Martinsville . Failed to report flower. Cries and sobs could be heard from some of the descendants after Northam's announcement. Now they've been pardoned | CNN, Shocking moment thief is burned to death by villagers who say he led a violent gang. After a long legal battle led by the NAACP and a grassroots campaign led by the Civil Rights Congress, the seven were executed in 1951 on February 2nd and February 5th. She had previously distributed Jehovah's Witnesses materials in the neighborhood. All admitted to being present at the crime, including Joe Hampton, although not all took part in rape. He kissed us and they took him away," he told The Associated Press in an interview after the announcement. He said none of the men had attorneys present while they were interrogated. But Northam said Tuesday that the death penalty for rape was applied almost exclusively to Black people. Virginia Gov. Now, They Have Been Pardoned", A Year of History: Martinsville Seven executions remain 'a raw wound' for many, "Seeking Justice For The Martinsville Seven", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Martinsville_Seven&oldid=1137887829, Frank Hairston Jr., age 20, confessed to rape, Booker T. Millner, age 22, said he was present, but did not take part. He sobbed loudly when Northam told the family members he would grant the pardons after meeting with them Tuesday. A grand jury (which included both black and white members) indicted all the men. August (1992): 461-490; Eric W. 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