"Martinville Seven"(1949-1951)

Were a group of young black men executed in 1951 after being convicted of raping a white woman.Their trials and the electrocutions became a cause celebre similar to the Scottsboro case of the 1930s.On the eve of the January 8,Ruby Stroud Floyd accused thirteen black men of raping her while she passed through a through a poor African-American neighborhood in Martinville, Virginia.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.The young men with spotty employment records but no real criminal history soon became known as the Martinville Seven.Most of the men were between eighteen to twenty years old and worked as laborers in small-scale furniture factories and warehouses.At age thirty-seven,World War 2,veteran Francis Desales was the oldest of the defendants.Ruby identified Francis and James Hampton as her rapist but struggled to identify the others because the attack happened at night.After being questioned by local police officers,the defendants initially confessed to committing or witnessing the crime.By the spring of 1949,all seven men were charged with rape.Judge Kennon C.Whittle of the Martinsville Circuit Court granted requests to hold individuals trials.The prosecution vetoed all potential black jurors so that all-white  and all-male juries heard the cases.During the eleven-day trials,juries heard testimony from sides,including medical of Ruby physical injuries and accounts from black witnesses whom she appealed to for help after the assault.Defense lawyers argued that Ruby consented to sexual intercourse by failing to forcibly resist the men and that the initial confessions were forced by the local sheriff.All six juries convicted the young men of rape and recommended the death penalty.Virginia's court system repeatedly the NAACP'S arguments and the US Court rejected the case twice without review.By early 1951,legal strategies the save the Martinville Seven were exhausted and the NAACP,joined the Civil Rights Congress (CRC),turned towards a public relations campaign aimed at commuting the men's death sentences.While the NAACP focused on racial equality as part of Cold War America democratics visions,CRC mobilized left-based organizations and newspapers from around the world to pressure state and national officials to intervene.Despite the letter-writing campaigns,editorials,and local vigils,newly-installed Virginia Governor John S. Battle refused chemency.Four of the Martinville Seven were electrocuted on February 2, 1951.The reaming three electrocuted on February 5.These are the names of the Martinville Seven:
1.Frank Hairston.,Jr.age 20.
2.Francis Grayson,age 38.
Booker Millner,age 22.
James L.Hairston,age 22.
Howard Hairston,age 20.
John C.Taylor,age 23.
Joe Hampton ,age 21.
The day before Howard died,he said "God knows i didn't touch that woman and i"ll see ya"ll on the other side.