A judge has declared three Black men who were lynched in Virginia in the 1800s and early 1900s as innocent.
The men—Charles Allie Thompson, William Thompson, and William Grayson—were killed by mobs in Culpeper County, about 75 miles from Washington, D.C. Judge Dale B. Durrer ruled on Monday that the men were innocent of their charges because they didn’t get a fair trial. This decision was made after a request from prosecutor Russell L. Rabb III.
The ruling also ordered that documents about their cases remain available in court records for future generations to learn from.
Judge Durrer said, “The best history helps us recognize the mistakes that we’ve made and the evil corners in which humanity can dwell. This discomfort helps us learn and grow as a community.”
The effort to clear the men’s names was largely thanks to 76-year-old Zann Nelson, who spent nearly 20 years researching the cases and pushing local officials for justice. She said that the ruling was important because it brought closure, not just to the families but also to the community.
Charles Allie Thompson was lynched in 1918 after a white woman accused him of rape. He was held in jail for five days before a mob took him and hanged him.
In 1877, William Thompson was accused of raping an 11-year-old white girl. Three days after his arrest, a mob dragged him from jail and hanged him. It’s not clear if he was related to Charles Allie Thompson.
William Grayson, a free Black man, was accused of killing a white man in 1849. After two trials, Virginia’s Supreme Court overturned his convictions because he was proven to have been elsewhere. While awaiting a third trial, a mob broke into the jail, overpowered the sheriff, and lynched Grayson.