Dec 30, 2024 Story by: Editor
More than 100 years after three Black men were unjustly lynched, a judge in Culpeper County, Virginia, has officially cleared their names, marking a significant step toward acknowledging the racial injustices of the past.
On December 16, Virginia’s 16th Circuit Court Judge Dale B. Durrer, in collaboration with Commonwealth’s Attorney Russell L. Rabb III and the nonpartisan advocacy group Righting the Record, issued a landmark court order. The ruling confirmed the innocence of William Grayson, William Thompson, and Charles “Allie” Thompson, declaring that they were denied due process and unjustly targeted for crimes they did not commit.
“These men were our brothers, and Culpeper County was their home,” said Kaleb Hackley, president of the NAACP-Culpeper Branch, during the court hearing. “We declare that their stories will not be buried. We declare them innocent.” Hackley referred to the lynchings as “unhealed wounds in the fabric of our community,” adding, “These events remind us of how injustice has devalued Black lives and denied our shared humanity. This is not just our story; it is also a part of America’s story.”
A History of Lynching in Virginia and Beyond
According to the NAACP, more than 4,700 lynchings occurred in the United States between 1882 and 1968. In Virginia alone, James Madison University’s “Racial Terror in Virginia” project has documented 116 cases of lynching between 1866 and 1932, though historians suspect the actual number is higher.
The three men exonerated in Culpeper were victims of this racial terror:
- William Grayson, a free man of color, was accused of murdering David Miller in 1849. Despite multiple trials and successful appeals overturning his convictions, a mob hanged Grayson in 1850 before his third trial could take place.
- William Thompson was accused of raping a white child in August 1877. Three days after being jailed, Thompson’s body was found hanging from a tree, with no trial or evidence presented.
- Charles “Allie” Thompson, an 18-year-old, was accused of raping a white woman in November 1918. He was kidnapped from jail and lynched by a mob just five days after his arrest, without a trial or any legal proceedings.
A Community’s Commitment to Justice
“This is something that we all need to learn from,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Rabb during the commemoration event. “These were free men in America, and their constitutional rights were absolutely deprived. We can now use these court documents to learn from these terrible moments in history and work to ensure they never happen again.”
Judge Durrer emphasized the importance of transparency in addressing past injustices, stating, “All of these records will remain open for public inspection and scrutiny. At the end of the day, that means we’ve made our community just a little bit better.”
Honoring the Victims
Following the court ruling, the Culpeper community gathered at the Culpeper Baptist Church for a “Peace Through Justice” event to honor the three men and reflect on this milestone.
The exoneration of Grayson, Thompson, and Thompson serves as a poignant reminder of America’s long history of racial injustice and the ongoing efforts to confront it. As Hackley poignantly noted, “Their stories will not be buried.” Source: InsideNova
