George Stinney Jr.

George Stinney, Jr was born on October 21st, 1929. He grew up in Alcolu, South Carolina. His father, George Stinney, Sr worked at the local lumberyard and sawmill. The sawmill brought a lot of life to the small town employing many of its residents. The Stinney family even lived in company owned housing. Their house was small, with a chicken coop in the back but room enough for George, his parents and his siblings. 

​When Stinney was 14, he was still rather small. He was only 5’1”and around 95 pounds. He had a younger sister named Aime that he often referred to as his shadow. She followed him everywhere. On March 22, 1944, they were playing outside their house when two little white girls riding their bikes stopped to talk to them. That was extremely unusual. At that time, the town was still extremely segregated. The white and black families attended different churches, the children went to separate schools, and the railroad tracks dived their houses. The girls were looking for “Maypops” a name used in that area for passion flowers. Stinney told them he didn’t know where to look and the girls continued on their way. 

​The next day, while his parents were away at work, two black cars rolled down the dusty driveway. Aime was scared and hid in the chicken coop. George Stinney and his brother, John, were taken into custody and questioned for murder. Betty June Binnicker, age 11, and Mary Emma Thames, age 7, never made it home from their bike ride. Their bodies had been found on the black side of the train tracks. Their heads had been beaten with a blunt object strong enough to crush their skulls and the oldest girl had physical signs that she may have been raped. John was released but George Stinney was charged with the crimes. 

​One of the arresting officers claimed that Stinney gave a full confession and even told them where to look for the murder weapon. After a search of the area, they found a railroad spike. In just 81 days, Stinney was dead too. 

​The trial started and ended on April 24th. Stinney’s defense was made up of one court appointed counsel, Charles Plowden, a tax commissioner that was running for a local office. The prosecution called on three of the arresting officers, the reverend that discovered the girls’ bodies, and the two doctors that performed the post-mortem exams. Plowden did not cross-examine the prosecution’s witnesses, called in none of his own, did not challenge the prosecutor’s recollection of events, even though he told two different versions, and did not question why there was no record, written or confirmed, of the confession. He did nothing to defend Stinney. The entire proceeding lasted only two and a half hours. In less than ten minutes, the jury, which consisted of twelve white men, returned from deliberation with a verdict of guilty for the 14-year-old boy. Judge Philip Stoll sentenced Stinney to death by electrocution. 

​The crowd, both in and around the courthouse, seemed pleased with the finding. There were over 1,000 white men and women that showed up for the trial. Even though the defendant was black, they did not allow black men or women in the courthouse. From the time Stinney was arrested, his parents were not allowed to see him until after the trial. He sat in the interrogation rooms alone, no parents and no counsel. He sat in jail awaiting the trial, alone. His parents had not been allowed to visit or communicate with him.

Stinney’s father was fired from his job, and since they lived in a company owned house, they had to immediately move. They relocated closer to grandparents while they figured out what to do.  They tried to find someone to help them appeal the ruling. Local churches and the NAACP appealed to Governor Olin Johnston to consider clemency, considering the age of the boy. Ironically, most of the letters he received were from white women that didn’t want to see someone so young executed. 

The Governor visited Stinney two days before his execution. The Governor said that he wanted those begging for clemency to know that Stinney killed the smaller girl so that he could rape the bigger one. But then he killed the bigger one before raping her dead body. He even returned later with the intention of raping her again but found the body was already too cold. He claimed Stinney admitted all of it. Of course it was reported those were all rumors that the Governor heard, and that it never came from Stinney directly. Stinney told other inmates he was coerced and maintained his innocence. 

On June 16, 1944 at 7:30am he was prepared for execution. His arms, legs and body were restrained to the chair. He was too short so they placed a thick Bible under him. When asked if he had any last words, he said “no, sir”. When they placed the leather strap in his mouth, he burst into tears. They placed a mask that seemed way too large on his head, and his sobs could be heard around the room. With the first flick of electricity, the mask shook off his head, revealing the tear stained face of the young boy. It took three flips of the switch before he was pronounced dead. 

There was a witness there from one of the victim’s families, and he said the event was not nearly so dramatic. He denied that they placed a Bible under him or that the mask fell off as soon as the electricity was turned on. Exact records of the event cannot be found, so we can only go on what is recounted from those who were there. 

So why 80 years later is this case still being debated? In case you haven’t been able to tell so far, very little has been actually agreed upon on what occurred in 1944. In 2004, George Frierson, a historian that grew up in Alcolu, started researching the case. It wasn’t long before several pro bono lawyers got involved. And then they got more people to volunteer. They went through historical documents, found witnesses, and located evidence that they believed could exonerate Stinney. Although there was no transcript of the actual trial. A motion for a new trial was filed in 2013. In 2014, the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project at Northeastern University filed an amicus brief with the court, stating the case was based exclusively on a confession that was not recorded or written, and taken without the consent of parents or presence of counsel. Rather than approving a new trial, the judge vacated the conviction. 

The overturning of the conviction did not mean that Stinney was innocent, but that he did not receive a fair trial and should not have been executed so quickly. The new ruling also caused a flood of responses. The Stinney family was thrilled. They always claimed that Stinney was innocent. That he was with his siblings when the murders occurred and could not have done it. The Binnicker and Thames families were disappointed. While they understood that he may not have received a fair trial, they felt as though he was being painted as a poor black boy that was unfairly charged with a crime, but in reality was undoubtedly guilty. 

The different opinions continued to be vocalized. There was an interview from Stinney’s 7th grade teacher that was published in 1995 that claimed he had threatened a girl at school the day the crime took place. Aime’, Stinney’s sister, contacted him and claimed that he told her it was not true, but he was paid to say it. The teacher died shortly after, so neither side of the story could be confirmed. 

The reverend that found the bodies said there was very little blood in the ditch. Considering how badly the girls had been beaten if they had been killed there, it seemed as though there would be a lot more blood. If they had been killed somewhere else and moved there, it didn’t seem possible such a small boy could have picked them both up and carried them. 

There was a theory that the girls may have been killed by George Burke, Jr. Stinney’s mom worked for their family for a short time. They were a wealthy white family. She was uncomfortable with the advances of the father. When she told her husband about it, he told her not to return to work for that family. Mrs. Burke was angry over the whole event, maybe even embarrassed. The theory was that the boys hurt the girls and pinned it on George Stinney to get even. Added to that, George Burke, Sr owned the property where the girls were found and served as the foreman on the grand jury in Stinney’s case. Supposedly a member of the family made a deathbed confession about the event, but once again, there are no records and no one to confirm it. 

Now Alcolu, South Carolina seems like a forgotten town. With a population of around 400 people, weeds have reclaimed old buildings and vacant stores line the streets. Yet, the memory of what happened is far from fading. Three memorial crosses are placed at the ditch where the girls were found. One for each young life lost after a tragic event. Sometimes it’s not the truth that decides the outcome of a story, sometimes the majority can be persuaded by which side is the most convincing. What’s that old saying, believe nothing you hear and half of what you see.