A Case I Never Heard of Before-George Stinney
Posted: 21 Jan 2014, 12:36
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/witnesses-c ... execution/
When I was in college I took several African American history courses but this is the first time I've ever heard of George Stinney. At 14 he was the youngest person to ever die in the electric chair. The first question might be...why would they go to all that trouble? Especially in a state like South Carolina? Up until the mid-1960's they lynched people with impunity, why was it so important to them to make it look like a legitimate murder case?
If you're familiar with the story of Emmett Till. He was tortured and lynched and the trial of his killers was made public. The case was thrown out of court at the time. Two of the memorable pictures of that trial...the open casket and one of the accused in court, grinning and holding a package of Red Man tobacco. That case was reopened in 2004, but even with formal confessions on record no one was convicted...partly because several key witnesses were long deceased.
It will be interesting to see where they can go with reopening this case. Unfortunate that in some areas the mind-set that allowed these crimes hasn't changed a whole lot. We lived in rural PA a few years back...the cost of housing being quite reasonable. Two towns away was one of the largest branches of the KKK in the country...white or black it gives you chills...
When I was in college I took several African American history courses but this is the first time I've ever heard of George Stinney. At 14 he was the youngest person to ever die in the electric chair. The first question might be...why would they go to all that trouble? Especially in a state like South Carolina? Up until the mid-1960's they lynched people with impunity, why was it so important to them to make it look like a legitimate murder case?
If you're familiar with the story of Emmett Till. He was tortured and lynched and the trial of his killers was made public. The case was thrown out of court at the time. Two of the memorable pictures of that trial...the open casket and one of the accused in court, grinning and holding a package of Red Man tobacco. That case was reopened in 2004, but even with formal confessions on record no one was convicted...partly because several key witnesses were long deceased.
It will be interesting to see where they can go with reopening this case. Unfortunate that in some areas the mind-set that allowed these crimes hasn't changed a whole lot. We lived in rural PA a few years back...the cost of housing being quite reasonable. Two towns away was one of the largest branches of the KKK in the country...white or black it gives you chills...