Denied Care, Fairness, And Justice – (The Sad Story of George Junius Stinney, Jr.)
The wrongful execution of a little black child
by ODEHEBI KOJO
Editor-MBBA
Do you recognize that name? Probably not, seeing how most people have never heard of him. Do you know who was the youngest person ever executed in the United States? If you are now thinking that it is George Junius Stinney, Jr. then you are correct. Little George, as he was sometimes called, was an African American boy who stood 5 feet 1 inch and weighed almost 90 lbs. In 1944 he was convicted of murdering two White girls in less than 10 minutes by an all-White jury in South Carolina.
George Stinney Jr, of African descent, was the youngest person to have been executed in the 20th century in the United States.
This young black boy was only 14 years old at the time of his execution by electric chair. 70 years later, his innocence has been officially recognized by a judge in South Carolina. From his trial to the execution room, the boy always had his Bible in his hands while claiming his innocence.
George was unfairly accused of murdering two White girls (Betty 11 and Mary 7), whose bodies had been found not far from the house where the boy and his parents lived. At that time, all the members of the jury were white. The trial lasted 2H,30M, and the jury made the decision of his sentence after 10 minutes.
The boy’s parents, threatened, were barred from taking part in the trial after being ordered to leave the city.
Prior to his trial, George spent 81 days in detention without the possibility of seeing his parents for the last time.
He was imprisoned alone in his cell, 80 kilometers from his hometown. His hearing of the facts was done alone, without the presence of his parents or a lawyer. George’s electrocution charge was 5,380 volts on his head. We sure leave it to you to you imagine what such an electric shock can have on a young child’s head.
Kindly watch the video of his execution acted in a television movie and documentary titled “Carolina Skeletons” in the year 1991 in this
