Martinsville Seven

rdf:langString Martinsville Seven

rdf:langString 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. At the time of their arrest, all but one were between the ages of 18 and 23. They were quickly tried in six separate trials (two agreed to be tried together), and each was convicted and sentenced to death. It was the largest mass execution for rape that had been reported in the United States. On August 31, 2021, the Governor of Virginia pardoned the convictions of all seven men, 70 years after their deaths. The Civil Rights Congress defended the men originally, and later conducted two marches and other attempts to raise awareness and conduct a public campaign on behalf of their agenda. This was objected to by the NAACP, who feared further backlash because of the CRC's Communist affiliations. Martin A. Martin and other NAACP attorneys defended the men on appeals, attempting to ensure fair trials, set due process precedents, and gain clemency or sentence reductions. The case attracted national newspaper coverage. The NAACP appeals also noted that since Virginia started use of the electric chair, only black men had been executed for rape in the state for what was a non-lethal crime. 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 appellate courts upheld the convictions and sentences, and the US Supreme Court twice refused to hear the cases. In 1977 the Supreme Court referred to those arguments with respect to rulings in other cases. According to historian Eric W. Rise, this case "demonstrated the power of the southern legal system to enforce codes of racial behavior."