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Letter urges Gov. Northam to issue posthumous pardons for Martinsville Seven
TOP STORY
Letter urges Gov. Northam to issue posthumous pardons for Martinsville Seven
By Frank Green Richmond Times-Dispatch 11 hrs ago
In late 1950 and early 1951, seven Black men awaited death in Virginia’s electric chair in the rape of a white woman, drawing attention to Richmond from across the country and around the world. ... Letters pleading for mercy flooded the governor’s office along with telegrams from as far away as Moscow. There was picketing at the White House, marches on the state Capitol in Richmond and a prayer vigil there attended by hundreds of people both Black and white — all for naught.
The “Martinsville Seven” were executed in two groups, four men on Feb. 2, 1951, and three on Feb. 5, at the former Virginia State Penitentiary a mile and a half from the state Capitol — the most executions for crimes against a single victim in state history and one of the largest in U.S. history.
Seven decades later, at least two relatives of the men — one a former mayor of Richmond — and others are asking Gov. Ralph Northam to issue a posthumous pardon and an apology for the seven executions in a state where the death penalty for rape was almost entirely imposed on Black men.
The request, sent to Northam’s office on Thursday, comes as the 70th anniversary of the executions approaches in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement that has shaken Richmond and the nation, and as the Virginia General Assembly will soon again consider abolishing the death penalty.
{snip}
Letter urges Gov. Northam to issue posthumous pardons for Martinsville Seven
By Frank Green Richmond Times-Dispatch 11 hrs ago
In late 1950 and early 1951, seven Black men awaited death in Virginia’s electric chair in the rape of a white woman, drawing attention to Richmond from across the country and around the world. ... Letters pleading for mercy flooded the governor’s office along with telegrams from as far away as Moscow. There was picketing at the White House, marches on the state Capitol in Richmond and a prayer vigil there attended by hundreds of people both Black and white — all for naught.
The “Martinsville Seven” were executed in two groups, four men on Feb. 2, 1951, and three on Feb. 5, at the former Virginia State Penitentiary a mile and a half from the state Capitol — the most executions for crimes against a single victim in state history and one of the largest in U.S. history.
Seven decades later, at least two relatives of the men — one a former mayor of Richmond — and others are asking Gov. Ralph Northam to issue a posthumous pardon and an apology for the seven executions in a state where the death penalty for rape was almost entirely imposed on Black men.
The request, sent to Northam’s office on Thursday, comes as the 70th anniversary of the executions approaches in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement that has shaken Richmond and the nation, and as the Virginia General Assembly will soon again consider abolishing the death penalty.
{snip}