At age 37, World War II veteran Francis DeSales Grayson was the oldest of the defendants. The trial transcripts show that on the evening of Saturday, Jan. 8, 1949, Ruby Stroud Floyd, the 32-year-old wife of a department-store manager, entered a black area of the city to collect money owed her by Ruth Pettie, a woman to whom she had sold clothing. There was considerable community sentiment against the men. In December, advocates and descendants of the men asked Northam to issue posthumous pardons. This browser does not support getting your location. ", Hodge-Muse says, "This community does not have a hateful attitude that would lend itself to violence that's not our culture, and I think it speaks well of the black and white community that we have never had that type of meanness.". The last was Grayson, 38, who was pronounced dead at 8:15 that morning. The low IQ low life disregard they are the biggest killers of themselves. They were quickly tried in six separate trials (two agreed to be tried together), and each was convicted and sentenced to death. {{start_at_rate}} {{format_dollars}} {{start_price}} {{format_cents}} {{term}}, {{promotional_format_dollars}}{{promotional_price}}{{promotional_format_cents}} {{term}}, Independent Contractor (Newspaper Carrier), Virginia railroad union says safety concerns have been rising amid cost-saving moves, Nebraska cheerleader competes by herself at state competition, but crowd doesn't let her feel alone, Spotsylvania Sheriff's Office ends affiliation with Reelz TV show 'On Patrol: Live', Former Virginia basketball coach Terry Holland dies after battling Alzheimer's. ", She also asked, "How many black women have been raped in Virginia and nobody has ever been executed?" 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. cemeteries found within miles of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. Oops, we were unable to send the email. ", The lawyers used the figures in their clemency petition to Gov. The original trial records, including hundreds of pages of transcripts, are on file at the Martinsville Circuit Court clerk's office. [2], Judge Kennon Whittle told the attorneys: "this case must and will be tried in such a way as not to disturb the kindly feeling now, locally, existing between the races. A group of young Black men executed after being convicted by all-White juries of allegedly raping a White woman have been pardoned in Virginia 70 years after their deaths. Martin and the NAACP also agreed to represent the men in an appeal for the Seven with the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. The CRC also had organized an international campaign, and Governor Battle was swamped by letters from overseas asking him to commute the sentences of the men. Though our words can do little, we hope our thoughts and prayers will encourage you this period and always as you mourn, the passing soul. She had previously distributed Jehovah's Witnesses materials in the neighborhood. One of the convicted men's parents contacted the CRC directly and asked one of its lawyers to defend their son DeSales Grayson. Northam said some of the defendants were impaired at the time of their arrests or unable to read confessions they signed. Floyd identified Grayson and Hampton as her rapists but struggled to identify the others because the attack happened at night. It is a filthy, sick crime," Hodge-Muse said. This flower has been reported and will not be visible while under review. The Martinsville 7 were seven African American men convicted of raping a white woman in 1949. Your account has been locked for 30 minutes due to too many failed sign in attempts. The Martinsville Seven were a group of seven African-American men from Martinsville, Virginia, who were convicted and executed in 1951 for raping a white woman in 1949. [2], The officials separated the men. Washington and Lee University law professor David Bruck said that even if the trials were fair and the men guilty, "the idea that you could have a 45-to-nothing ratio and that does not prove anything tells you that this was simply a judicial system that was not prepared to do the right thing.". Rise said that after Battle's clemency rejection, Martin filed a writ of habeas corpus a civil challenge to the death sentences arguing that the seven were denied equal protection under the law guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. They noted the assaults of Floyd had no evidence of homicidal intent. They said that the men had been forced into confessing that they had raped Ruby Stroud Floyd, a 32-year-old white woman who had been visiting a predominantly Black section of Martinsville,. In their appeals, Martin and the NAACP discussed the unfairness of the venue, the pressure on later juries to arrive at the same sentence as the earlier ones, and the historical racial disparities in application of death penalty sentences in the state. Four of the men were executed in Virginia's electric chair on February 2, 1951. Another who believes the past is best left alone is Charlie Martin, the young boy who accompanied the victim and repeatedly testified at the trials. The campaign included picket lines, a demonstration by hundreds rallying in Richmond to try to persuade Gov. The judge ruled that there was no evidence that discrimination was involved in imposing the Martinsville death sentences. Previous actions by civil rights attorneys had resulted in changes in the Virginia process, improving their procedures. You can directly shop your flowers on Amazon. The seven men, most in their late teens or early 20s, were: Grayson, Frank Hairston Jr.; Howard Lee Hairston; James Luther Hairston; Joe Henry Hampton; Booker Millner; and John Clabon Taylor. Martin and his uncle later testified that the uncle warned Floyd not to make the trip in the dark. All seven men were convicted and sentenced to death within eight days. All of the appeals by the NAACP failed. Their quick arrest assured the community that stability was being preserved. As the final execution dates of Feb. 2 and Feb. 5, 1951, approached the governor's office was flooded with thousands of telegrams, including one from Moscow, asking that the men not be executed. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. We will review the memorials and decide if they should be merged. Northam announced the pardons after meeting with about a dozen descendants of the men and their advocates. 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. On the stand, each of the defendants at least partially rejected his confession. 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. 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. In advance of a large planned CRC demonstration in the state capital, Governor Battle doubled the capital guard and alerted the state militia. Eric W. Rise, author of "The Martinsville Seven, Race, Rape and Capital Punishment" and a professor of criminal justice at the University of Delaware, said prospective black jurors were excused for expressing reservations about the death penalty or struck by prosecutors. Oh boo, fricking hoo look what they do to criminals in their Afreakan homeland. The seven were charged with the rape of Ruby Stroud Floyd in a black neighborhood of Martinsville, Virginia on January 8, 1949. 69-year-old suffers stroke in his N.C. home; Realtor showing house leaves him there. I suppose that's how the electric nigglet was found innocent too. The last to be arrested, Joe Hampton, was taken into custody on January 10. 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. There are no volunteers for this cemetery. Within hours, they admitted to having "sex" with Floyd or admitted to watching their friends have intercourse with the thirty-two-year-old. Four of the Martinsville Seven were electrocuted on February 2, 1951. Gravely also does not believe everything has come out about the case. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password. "These men were executed because they were Black, and that's not right," Northam said. This is a carousel with slides. The remaining three were electrocuted on February 5. [8][16], On August 31, 2021, Governor Ralph Northam posthumously pardoned all seven men. [6], No trial lasted more than a day, and the longest jury deliberation lasted less than two hours. This account has been disabled. The" Martinsville Seven," as the men became known, were all convicted of raping 32-year-old Ruby Stroud Floyd, a white woman on Jan. 8, 1949. The pardons do not address the guilt or innocence of the men, but Northam said the pardons are an acknowledgement that they did not receive due process and received a "racially-biased death sentence not similarly applied to white defendants.". This page was last edited on 6 February 2023, at 23:13. . Tensions between the CRC and the NAACP characterized the relationship where the NAACP accused the CRC of using the case for its own ends. At 7:30p.m., after dark, she went to Mary Wade's house for shelter, showing signs of an assault. Do you find this information helpful? Please subscribe to keep reading. Cause of death Details of the circumstance surrounding our beloved, Ruby Stroud Floyddeath is not public yet, we will share more as we learn. To add a flower, click the Leave a Flower button. 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. Try again. A system error has occurred. Most of the men were between 18 and 20 years old and worked as laborers in small-scale furniture factories and warehouses. / CBS/AP. Four more suspects were arrested that night, based in part on the first two men's confessions. They should not have been executed," he added. I will not have it otherwise.". "I don't want to bring that up again.". To protect them from mob violence, they took them to other jails outside Henry County. It was the largest mass execution for rape that had been reported in the United States. Here are some dire statistics detailing the horrible "culture" of African Americans: nationwide, blacks are committing crimes at 7 times the rate of whites. Before their executions, protesters picketed at the White House, and the governor's office received letters from around the world asking for mercy. Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option. Hundreds stayed in Richmond for a prayer vigil until the executions took place. JavaScript is disabled. A small donation would help us keep this available to all. The mass executions were the largest in Virginia in modern times. This relationship is not possible based on lifespan dates. Doris Gravely, 80, of Martinsville, a first cousin of Joe Henry Hampton, the first of the seven executed, talked about the case in her living room last month. It's even worse than that. The CRC focused on producing pamphlets and publicity for outside campaigns to raise awareness about the case, including internationally, and hoped to put pressure on government officials. 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. Photo by Henry Burroughts. 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. All of them were tried by all-white juries. "Their punishment did not fit the crime. Blacks makeup 13% of the population but commit the majority of violent crimes in this country. All six juries convicted the young men of rape and recommended the death penalty. The young men were arrested, interrogated & charged with rape & attempted rape. "Their punishment did not fit the crime. All seven men were convicted and sentenced to death within eight days. They would soon be handling the volatile case of seven black men charged with raping a white woman, and Whittle admonished them that the accused "will be tried as though both parties were members of the same race. "[2] The prosecution did not explicitly discuss race; it argued the case based on the "preservation of community stability, not the protection of southern womanly virtues,"[2] as had formerly been common. 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 . 7 Black men executed in 1951 for rape granted posthumous pardons The Martinsville Seven were convicted of raping 32-year-old Ruby Stroud Floyd, a white woman who visited a predominantly Black community in 1949 to collect money for outfits she sold. In 1977, in its ruling in Coker v. Georgia, the US Supreme Court ruled that "it is repugnant to an enlightened society for the state to kill a person for a crime that does not result in death," declining to extend the death penalty to a person guilty of raping an adult woman. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot loses reelection bid, Fiery train crash in Greece kills at least 36, injures some 85, Garland to face Congress amid ongoing special counsel investigations, FBI chief says agency feels pandemic likely started with Chinese lab leak, House select committee hearing paints China as a strategic antagonist, JetBlue flight forced to abort landing in close call at Logan Airport, Three officers shot, standoff follows in Kansas City, Mo., police say, Vanessa Bryant, family settles claims over Kobe crash site photos for $28.5M, Bald eagle couple lays new egg after losing eaglets two years in a row, Supreme Court hears case on race and the death penalty. The seven were charged with the rape of Ruby Stroud Floyd in a black neighborhood of Martinsville, Virginia on January 8, 1949. Audience Relations, CBC P.O. Martinsville remained quiet. Virginia Gov. 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. The Martinsville 7 were charged with the rape of a white woman, Ruby Stroud Floyd, in a black neighborhood of Martinsville, Virginia on January 8, 1949. 0 cemeteries found in Duplin County, North Carolina, USA. Please login and add some widgets to this sidebar. Defense lawyers claimed that the initial confessions were forced by the local sheriff. By the spring of 1949, all seven men were charged with rape. Your email address will not be published. It was the largest group of people executed for a single-victim crime in Virginia's history. It must be tried as though both parties were members of the same race. The Wades called an ambulance for her. John Marshall boys basketball reclaims No. "No one believed they should get off free " she said. The rapes occurred on Saturday, January 8, 1949, after Ruby Stroud Floyd, a 32-year-old white woman, entered a black neighborhood in Martinsville, Virginia, to collect money for clothing she had sold. When she and the boy returned, Hampton said he grabbed her and the others joined in the assault, according to his confession. James Walter Grayson is the son of Francis DeSales Grayson, who was one of the seven. Include gps location with grave photos where possible. While we can't change the past, I hope today's action brings them some small measure of peace.". Northam has now granted a total of 604 pardons since taking office in 2018, more than the previous nine governors combined, his administration announced Tuesday. Before their executions, protesters picketed at the White House, and the governor's office received letters from around the world asking for mercy. Persons: howard lee hairston, ruby stroud floyd , liz ryan, frank hairston, james grayson, annie hobson, booker t millner, john battle, mary wade, ruby floyd, james hairston, james luther hairston, frank hairston jr, joe henry hampton. "I remember the very day the police came to the door. At a hospital where she was examined for internal injuries, she told police that a group of black men raped her. Ruby belonged to a predominantly black neighborhood in Martinsville,. Grayson said he was fouryears old when his father was executed. All six juries convicted the young men of rape and recommended the death penalty. The trial lasted for eleven days, during which the jury 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. I'm grateful to the advocates and families of the Martinsville Seven for their dedication and perseverance. Privacy, I Saw Black Spirits & White Spirits Engaged In Battle: The Confessions Of Nat Turner, Black Thens Chocolate Scoop Submit A Scoop-Worthy Story. 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. . After being questioned by local police officers, the defendants initially confessed to committing or witnessing the crime. Three days later, the remaining three were also electrocuted. Ralph Northam, left, looks over the. Oops, something didn't work. COPYRIGHT (C) 2017 - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED - BLACK THEN He further stated, "We all deserve a criminal justice system that is fair, equal, and gets it rightno matter who you are or what you look like. Of Appeals, fricking hoo look what they do to criminals in their Afreakan homeland impaired! 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