James Luther Hairston
James Hairston was one of seven Black men from Martinsville, Virginia, who were executed in the electric chair in Richmond in February 1951. Family members and advocates say the men were interrogated without a lawyer, that their confessions were coerced under threat of mob violence, and that their trials were unfair. The NAACP argued the sentences were racially unequal, but the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the appeals. In 2021 Governor Ralph Northam granted posthumous pardons, recognizing due process failures and a racially biased death sentence without addressing guilt.
Cause of death, as reported: Executed by the state. Family members and advocates say the men were interrogated without a lawyer and their confessions were coerced under threat of mob violence; the NAACP argued the trials were unfair and the death sentences racially unequal.
Reported by: family members and advocates; the NAACP (advocates).