Execution of 14-Year-Old George Junius Stinney Jr. Alcolu, South Carolina

George Junius Stinney Jr., was a 14-year-old African-American young teenager, who lived with his parents, little sister, and older brother, Johnnie Stinney, in Alcolu, South Carolina.[1]Alcolu, was a mill town that was segregated.[2]Deep in the era of Jim Crow, on March 1944, in what would be considered illegal today, police came and picked up George Jr. and Johnnie, while their parents were away from the house[3]Possibly in fear of being taking too, their little sister hid in their family’s chicken coop that was located in the back of the family’s house.[4]  I’m sure unimaginable fear quickly set in with her not knowing the fate of her brothers. 

A brutal very senseless murder had been committed against two young white girls who had just been found.[5]These two girls sustained blunt force trauma to their heads with a railroad spike and then dumped in a ditch in a water-log.[6]Word was, George Jr. and his little sister were the last ones to see these two little girls alive.[7]Didn’t matter if this was the truth, someone was going to be held accountable for their murder. Authorities soon released Johnnie and maintained their focus solely on George Jr..[8]There’s no telling what was going on in George Jr.’s head with being questioned about a crime that he had no clue about and then not to have his parents there to console him through this entire ordeal, must have been very scary and moreso traumatizing for him.

In the end, since the police had no real leads, Amie Ruffner, George’s sister, years later told WLTX-TV in 2014, the police needed “someone to blame it on, so they used my brother as a scapegoat.”[9]Sadly, on June 16, 1944, although George Jr. was innocent, he was still executed for the crime, being the “youngest person in modern times to be put to death.”[10]It took 70 years from George Jr.’s senseless death, for him to be exonerated from these murders.[11]It’s unimaginably heartbreaking, of what might have been going on in George Jr.’s 14-year-old mind moments before he was placed in the electric chair. I mean, a child should never have to endure that type of anguish of fear, nor cruelty ever.  Extremely sad and tragic story for both George Jr. and these two little girls.

[1]Lindsey Bever, “It took 10 minutes to convict 14-year-old George Stinney Jr. It took 70 years after his execution to exonerate him.“ Morning Mix, The Washington Post, 18 

December 2014, , https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/12/18/the-rush-job-conviction-of-14-year-old-george-stinney-           exonerated-70-years-after-execution/.

[2]Lindsey Bever.

[3]Ibid.

[4]Ibid.

[5]Ibid.

[6]Ibid.

[7]Ibid.

[8]Ibid.

[9]Ibid.

[10]Ibid.

[11]Ibid.

Bibliography

Bever, Lindsey, “It took 10 minutes to convict 14-year-old George Stinney Jr. It took 70 years

after his execution to exonerate him.“ Morning Mix, The Washington Post, 18 

December 2014, Bever, Lindsey, “It took 10 minutes to convict 14-year-old George Stinney Jr. It took 70 years after his execution to exonerate him.“ Morning Mix, The Washington Post, 18 December 2014, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/12/18/the-rush job-conviction-of-14-year-old-george-stinney-exonerated-70-years-after-execution/.