Pardons in the Afterlife: The "Justice" Given to the Martinville Seven

On August 31 Virginia Governor, Ralph Northam granted posthumous pardons to seven Black men accused of raping a white woman in 1951. None of them are alive to be cleared.

The “Martinville Seven”; Image via Twitter

Joe Henry Hampton. Frank Hairston Jr. Booker T. Millner. Howard Lee Hairston. Francis DeSales Grayson. John Clabon Taylor. James Luther Hairston.

In February 1951 seven young Black men from Martinville, Virginia were executed by electric chair three days apart from each other. The first four were on February 2, 1…