Martinsville Seven Executed for Rape in Virginia

In February 1951, Virginia executes seven Black men — Frank Hairston Jr., Booker T. Millner, Howard Lee Hairston, John Clabon Taylor, James Luther Hairston, Francis DeSales Grayson, and Joe Henry Hampton — for the rape of a white woman. NAACP lawyers document that Virginia had never executed a white man for rape. The seven are electrocuted over two weekends. Their case illustrates the racially discriminatory application of capital punishment.