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, Virginia, on Jan. 8, 1949, to collect money for clothes she had sold.
In December, advocates and descendants of the men asked Northam to issue posthumous pardons. Their petition does not argue that the men were innocent, but says their trials were unfair and the punishment was extreme and unjust.
Was he wearing blackface or a white hood?POS
His re-election must be coming soon
Egregious acts like this need to be made public. This helps put our current racial stress in perspective. I’m glad for the families involved and hope we can use this and so many other lessons that need to come out to make ourselves better.
Too little. Too late
Lot of damn good it did them
'All seven men were convicted and sentenced to death within eight days. Northam said some of the defendants were impaired at the time of their arrests or unable to read confessions they signed. He said none of the men had attorneys present while they were interrogated.' Wow.
This is exactly why there should be no death penalty. This is incredibly sad.
70 years. Really?
That doesn’t mean shit. Pardon the thousands of black men in jail for weed possession
Meanwhile, white men who ACTUALLY rape white women may get probation, or they may end up on the Supreme Court!
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