View Source. Photo by Henry Burroughts. Judge Kennon C. Whittle of the Martinsville Circuit Court granted requests to hold individual trials. "It's such a raw wound," said Naomi Hodge-Muse, president of the Martinsville chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Ruby Stroud Floyd always brought light to every room entered. Joe Henry Hampton, 21, was the first man tried. Virginia would later execute three more men for rape, the last in 1961. After being questioned by local police officers, the defendants initially confessed to committing or witnessing the crime. Forego a bottle of soda and donate its cost to us for the information you just learned, and feel good about helping to make it available to everyone. "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," he said. Save to. "I won't talk about that," Martin said. "A white lady and a little colored boy came by and the lady asked where Ruth Pettie lived we all planned to get her when she came back.". 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." The judge ruled that there was no evidence that discrimination was involved in imposing the Martinsville death sentences. But the remaining three men were executed on Monday, Feb. 5. For the first time, records were kept at a central location. northern cricket league professionals; breaux bridge jail inmates; virtualbox ubuntu failed to start snap daemon; len and brenda credlin Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina, USA. The first four were executed at 15-minute intervals on February 2. 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The Civil Rights Congress and the Virginia Committee to Save the Martinsville Seven publish a flyer November 8, 1950 explaining why the Virginia case of seven black men sentenced to death was important for the fight against white supremacy. Use Escape keyboard button or the Close button to close the carousel. In December, advocates and descendants of the men asked Northam to issue posthumous pardons. Failed to delete memorial. Please enter your email and password to sign in. Verify and try again. The Martinsville 7, seven African American men sentenced to death for the rape of a white woman in Virginia are shown in a group photograph while in prison in 1950. 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. Northam said some of the defendants were impaired at the time of their arrests or unable to read confessions they signed. 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. On the evening of January 8, 1949, Ruby Stroud Floyd accused 13 black men of raping her while she passed through a poor African American neighborhood in Martinsville, Virginia . Three days later, the remaining three were also electrocuted. Please login and add some widgets to this sidebar. If you have questions, please contact [emailprotected]. Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account. The next morning, a Friday, 75 people were praying at the Capitol when several blocks away at the penitentiary on Spring Street, Department of Corrections records show that Hampton, 21, was seated in the electric chair at 8:04 a.m. Image courtesy of Papers of the Civil Rights Congress. Thanks for using Find a Grave, if you have any feedback we would love to hear from you. '", She said her grandmother, Josephine Grayson, now living in Maryland, "will not speak on that at all under (any) circumstances.". Box 500 Station A Toronto, ON Canada, M5W 1E6. The mass executions were the largest in Virginia in modern times. . Though Governor William Tuck initially agreed to a stay during appellate litigation, by late July 1950, newly elected Governor John S. Battle refused to commute the men's sentences, saying he was horrified by the rapes. The night of Feb. 1, 1951, hundreds of people of both races gathered at the state Capitol to pray. Why do libtards treat niggers better than they treat themselves? The image is a Newspaper Enterprise Association photograph printed in a newspaper that has not been identified. 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 . The seven were charged with the rape of Ruby Stroud Floyd in a black neighborhood of Martinsville, Virginia on January 8, 1949. 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. Are you sure that you want to delete this memorial? The last was Grayson, 38, who was pronounced dead at 8:15 that morning. You can cancel at any time. The young men with spotty employment records but no real criminal history soon became known as the Martinsville Seven. The first man to die in Virginia's electric chair was Henry Smith, a black man who raped an elderly white woman. Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person. Tony L. Millner, vice president of the Martinsville NAACP chapter, said he was a child when it happened. All seven men signed statements admitting they were present during the attack, but they had no access to their parents or attorneys at the time, Rise said. Do I see a pattern here? "No one believed they should get off free " she said. A prosecutor asked him: "Charlie, do you know what happens to little boys who tell lies when they die?". Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code. "I was maybe 10 years old, and it was very, very, very hush-hush," he said. The Martinsville Seven were a group of young black men executed in 1951 after being convicted of raping a white woman. John S. Battle to grant clemency to no avail. She passed four men at the railroad tracks and continued into the neighborhood, where she was later assaulted by some of those four and other men. The case attracted national newspaper coverage. And will be dearly missed by family, friends, and everyone. After a long legal battle led by the NAACP and a grassroots campaign led by the Civil Rights Congress (CRC), the seven were executed in 1951 on February 2nd and February 5th. Eric W. Rise, Race, Rape, and Radicalism: The Case of the Martinsville Seven, 1949-1951. The Journal of Southern History LVIII, no. I'm grateful to the advocates and families of the Martinsville Seven for their dedication and perseverance. (renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax). Four of the Martinsville Seven were electrocuted on February 2, 1951. It is a filthy, sick crime," Hodge-Muse said. Virginia Governor Ralph Northam granted posthumous pardons Tuesday to seven Black men who were executed in 1951 for the rape of a White woman, in a case that attracted pleas for mercy from around the world and in recent years has been denounced as an example of racial disparity in the use of the death penalty. 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. During the eleven-day trials, juries heard testimonies from both sides, including medical evidence of Floyds physical injuries and accounts from black witnesses whom Floyd appealed to for help after the assault. The longest deliberations lasted less than two hours, Rise said. From 1908 when Virginia began using the electric chair to 1951, state records show that all 45 people executed for rape were Black, he said. ). There was considerable community sentiment against the men. John Marshall boys basketball reclaims No. [2], The NAACP thought that involvement by the CRC in appeals could endanger the defendants both because of their inflammatory tactics and its communist affiliation. In a news release, Northam said the pardons were not about whether the men were guilty, but it was "recognition from the Commonwealth" that the men did not receive adequate due process. Suggest Edits . Although it was dark, Floyd testified in all six trials identifying each of the seven. [12] The NAACP's interest was in establishing legal precedent "for the benefit of due process and equal protection in general and the Negroes' rights in particular. The "Martinsville Seven" were convicted of raping 32-year-old Ruby Stroud Floyd, who had gone to a predominantly Black neighborhood in Martinsville, Virginia, on Jan. 8, 1949, to collect money . At the time of their arrest, all but one were between the ages of 18 and 23. At the time, all 45 men executed for rape in Virginia since the state began using the electric chair in 1908 were blacks convicted of attacking white women. Search above to list available cemeteries. 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