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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. At the time of their arrest soon after the events, all but one was between the ages of 20 and 23. They were quickly tried in six separate trials (two agreed to be tried together) and each was sentenced to death. All were executed in two days in early February 1951. It was the largest mass execution for rape that had been reported, nor had there been lynchings of so many men at once for rape. Under Virginia law, only black men were executed for rape convictions. According to historian Eric W. Rise, this case "demonstrated the power of the southern legal system to enforce codes of racial behavior." The NAACP defended the men in court on appeals in an attempt to ensure fair trials, set precedent on due process, and gain a reduction in sentences. The case attracted national newspaper coverage. The Civil Rights Congress attempted to raise awareness and conduct a public campaign on behalf of clemency for the men. The NAACP appealed their convictions and sentences to the state and federal appeals courts, and to the United States Supreme Court, noting 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. The appellate courts upheld the convictions and sentences, and the US Supreme Court refused to hear the cases. Newly elected Governor John S. Battle refused to commute the men's sentences, saying he was horrified by the rapes. ==Events== The rapes were alleged to take place on Saturday, January 8, 1949. Late that afternoon Ruby Stroud Floyd, a 32-year-old white woman, entered a black neighborhood in Martinsville, Virginia to collect money for clothing she had sold. She was known to have distributed Jehovah's Witnesses materials in the neighborhood. She was warned by residents not to stay too long. She passed four men at the railroad tracks and continued into the neighborhood, where she was later assaulted by some of those four and other men. At 7:30 p.m., after dark, she went to Mary Wade's house for shelter, showing signs of an assault. The Wades called an ambulance for her. Based on her account, in which she claimed to have been raped by several black men, the police quickly arrested Frank Hairston, Jr. and Booker Millner. They were followed by the arrest of four more suspects during the night, based in part on the first two men's confessions. By the next morning, all the men in custody had signed confessions. The last to be arrested, Joe Hampton, was taken into custody on January 10. All but one man was in his early 20s. After being held by police overnight, the first six all signed confessions, implicating themselves and each other. All admitted to being present at the event, including Joe Hampton, although not all took part in sexual intercourse. Only one of the accused had a prior criminal record, and most of the men were employed. When the NAACP appealed their convictions, its defense team noted that the police had questioned the men who had been drinking for some time, and without allowing them to consult with lawyers or their families.〔 The officials acted to protect the men by separating them and taking them to other jails outside Henry County. They held a preliminary hearing about a month later, and the grand jury two months after that. All the men were indicted by the grand jury, which included both black and white members. According to Eric W. Rise, actions by the authorities showed they had raised the professional level of their conduct and procedures in the period since World War II. Their quick arrest of the subjects assured the community that stability was being preserved.〔(Eric Walter Rise, ''THE MARTINSVILLE SEVEN AND SOUTHERN JUSTICE: RACE, CRIME, AND CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN VIRGINIA, 1949-1951'' ), 1992 PhD dissertation, pp. full text available at Internet Archive〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Martinsville Seven」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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