Cries and sobs could be heard from some of the descendants after Northam's announcement. 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. First published on August 31, 2021 / 3:17 PM. Learn more about merges. [6], No trial lasted more than a day, and the longest jury deliberation lasted less than two hours. Fired RPS employee sues school district, alleges misuse of federal funds. 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. [2] The NAACP did not want the CRC to participate in the litigation directly. 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. Four of the men testified in their own defence. Edit a memorial you manage or suggest changes to the memorial manager. After being questioned by local police officers, the defendants initially confessed to committing or witnessing the crime. [2] The men were executed in early February. Still, preparations for the executions proceeded. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. The Martinsville 7 were African-American young men accused of the rape of a white woman, Ruby Stroud Floyd, on January 8, 1949 in Martinsville, Virginia. The victim of the rape recounted in The Martinsville Seven was Ruby Stroud Floyd, a thirty-two year old housewife who had moved to Martinsville with her husband, Glenn Floyd, a department store manager, only four years prior to the attack. [15] It is the largest execution for rape charges in the United States. Box 500 Station A Toronto, ON Canada, M5W 1E6. For the first time, records were kept at a central location. In December, advocates and descendants of the men asked Northam to issue posthumous pardons. Only one of the accused had a prior criminal record, and most of the men were employed. "Their punishment did not fit the crime. As manager of this memorial you can add or update the memorial using the Edit button below. Some of the defendants acknowledged having sexual intercourse with Floyd, but said that it was consensual, or that she did not resist or say no, either considered necessary as a condition to prove rape. "The Martinsville Seven were not given adequate due process 'simply for being black,' they were sentenced to death for a crime that a white person would not have been executed for 'simply for being black,' and they were killed, by the Commonwealth, 'simply for being black,'" the advocates wrote in their letter to Northam. 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 for . If you notice a problem with the translation, please send a message to [emailprotected] and include a link to the page and details about the problem. 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. Are you sure that you want to delete this memorial? We have set your language to 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. Virginia had historically convicted and executed numerous black men accused of raping white women; for most of its history, only blacks were sentenced to death for rape. [2][13] The CRC began to organize mass actions in Richmond. In May, Northamannounced new steps to streamline the pardon process, including increased staff and a new petition portal that allows electronic tracking submission and tracking of pardon requests, CBS affiliate WDBJ reported. Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option. You can cancel at any time. You are only allowed to leave one flower per day for any given memorial. Efforts by the defense team to change the trial's venue from the Martinsville Circuit Courton the grounds that sensationalist press about the events made a fair trial impossiblewere unsuccessful. 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. New York, Today: On January 8, 1949, from the dingy negro slums of Martinville, Virginia, staggered attractive, dark-haired Mrs. Ruby Stroud Floyd (32), shouting that she . To use social login you have to agree with the storage and handling of your data by this website. Your email address will not be published. SHELBY- Annie "Ruby" Raines Stroud, 89, of 329 Reece Road, Shelby, departed this life on April 11, 2015, at Hospice of Wendover. 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. Floyd's husband, a local store manager, said she. Please join us to mourn the passing of Ruby Stroud Floyd. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. It must be tried as though both parties were members of the same race. Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. Prospective jurors in each trial included some blacks, but all 72 jurors selected to try the cases were white. Do you find this information helpful? The image is a Civil Rights Congress flyer for a rally in New York City in 1950. Virginia Gov. Hampton said he, Howard Hairston, Booker T. Millner and Frank Hairston Jr., were drinking wine near some railroad tracks that Saturday night. All seven men were convicted and sentenced to death within eight days. John S. Battle to grant clemency to no avail. After being questioned by local police officers, the defendants initially confessed to committing or witnessing the crime. 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. This memorial has been copied to your clipboard. Verify and try again. 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. A system error has occurred. ", She also asked, "How many black women have been raped in Virginia and nobody has ever been executed?" Virginia would later execute three more men for rape, the last in 1961. When the NAACP appealed their convictions, its defense team noted that when the police had questioned the men, they had been drinking for some time, and they were not allowed to consult lawyers or their families. [4] Authorities showed increased professional conduct and procedures since the controversial arrest and execution of Odell Waller during World War II (he was initially represented at trial by the Trotskyite Revolutionary Workers League and ultimately executed).[5]. Blacks makeup 13% of the population but commit the majority of violent crimes in this country. After the verdicts and sentencings, the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals later rejected a racial-prejudice claim filed on behalf of the Martinsville Seven, ruling that sentences did not, "depend upon the race of the accused, but upon the circumstances, aggravation and enormity of the crime proven in each case." 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. Within hours, they admitted to having "sex" with Floyd or admitted to watching their friends have intercourse with the thirty-two-year-old. Please subscribe to keep reading. Save to. And the real victim Ruby Stroud Floyd didnt even get a mention from those coon descendants of her rapists ! You are using an out of date browser. 10 free downloads. The seven men, ranging in age from 18-37 years old, were arrested in 1949 for the reported rape of 32-year-old Ruby Stroud Floyd, a white woman who lived in Martinsville. 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. Your account has been locked for 30 minutes due to too many failed sign in attempts. Failed to remove flower. There were no black jurors because the prosecution vetoed all potential black jurors. 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 . 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 ! Your donation is fully tax-deductible. John Marshall boys basketball reclaims No. Photo by Henry Burroughts. Suggest Edits . Former NFL star Chad Johnson says he saved money by living inside Cincinnati Bengals stadium for 2 years. Their petition does not argue that the men were innocent, but says their trials were unfair and the punishment was extreme and unjust. 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. But, none was selected for any of the seven juries, as the prosecutors rejected all of them on various grounds. All 45 men executed in Virginias electric chair in 1951 for the crime of rape were black men convicted of assaulting white women. But the remaining three men were executed on Monday, Feb. 5. Reached by telephone, she said her family will not talk about her grandfather or what happened. "I won't talk about that," Martin said. [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. And, he asserts, it is "the most dramatic example of how the American judicial system has simply refused to face the facts about race and capital punishment.". She also had abrasions on her elbows, forearms, knees, lower legs and thighs. Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, 41, and Brandy Washington tied the knot last week, a year after the couple got engaged. All of them were tried by all-White juries. 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. [8][16], On August 31, 2021, Governor Ralph Northam posthumously pardoned all seven men. NAACP officials focused national attention to the case, hoping to delay or overturn the death penalty judgment. 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. JavaScript is disabled. Grayson said she once told her father that she wanted to meet her grandfather. Share. The appellate courts upheld the convictions and sentences, and the US Supreme Court twice refused to hear the cases. One of the pickets who identified himself as Richard O. Boyer of New York City, said most of the marchers were New Yorkers and the protest came from the New York Council of Arts, Sciences and Professions. Two days later, on Sunday, 100 people picketed the White House in Washington, and Josephine Grayson, wife of Francis Grayson, unsuccessfully sought to see President Harry S. Truman. All photos appear on this tab and here you can update the sort order of photos on memorials you manage. What happened to the white American Ruby Stroud Floyd more than 70 years ago in a black neighborhood in the small town of Martinsville, Virginia, will probably remain unexplained forever. A small donation would help us keep this available to all. NAACP officials focused national attention to the case, hoping to delay or overturn the death penalty judgment. COPYRIGHT (C) 2017 - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED - BLACK THEN The Martinsville Seven were a group of seven African American men from Martinsville, Virginia, who were convicted and executed for raping a white woman in 1949. Virginia Gov. Another, from China, called the sentence a "barbaric" example of American "fascist hooliganism". . The seven men, ranging in age from 18-37 years old, were arrested in 1949 for the reported rape of 32-year-old Ruby Stroud Floyd, a white woman who lived in Martinsville. The Library of Virginia has the letter from the lawyer, Martin, asking for execution data. We encourage you all to respect the dead and accord the family heartbroken with the loss of a cherished one, some privacy as you leave a message in the comment session. 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. Three days later, the remaining three were also electrocuted. The image is an auction find. At the time, rape was a capital offence. Are you sure that you want to remove this flower? James Walter Grayson is the son of Francis DeSales Grayson, who was one of the seven. But Hodge-Muse, Millner and others also believe that not all the facts came out during the trials and that there are many unanswered questions. Floyd identified Grayson and Hampton as her rapists but struggled to identify the others because the attack happened at night. 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. From left to right: Booker T. 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