VA Gov. Ralph Northam Grants Posthumous Pardons to ‘Martinsville Seven’


Virginia Governor Ralph Northam issued posthumous pardons to the “Martinsville Seven,” nearly 70 years after their unjust execution.

The men were executed in 1951 for the alleged rape of a white woman. The juries that convicted them were all white, and each was convicted and sentenced in the span of eight days.

In his statement, Northam concluded that the death penalty for rape was applied almost exclusively to Black men, saying, “These men were executed because they were Black, and that’s not right.”

“The unfortunate outcome of the ‘Martinsville Seven’ was cited during debate on legislation to end Virginia’s death penalty. It was one example of how the punishment was used disproportionately against African Americans,” Charles Blow said.

All this and more on “Prime.”

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