Thomas Griffin (January 1, 1889 – September 29, 1915) and Meeks Griffin were brothers and prominent Black farmers who lived in

Chester County, South Carolina Chester County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, its population was 32,294. Its county seat is Chester. Chester County is included in the Charlotte-Concord- Gastonia, NC-SC Metropolitan Statistic ...

. They were executed via the

electric chair An electric chair is a device used to execute an individual by electrocution. When used, the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes fastened on the head and leg. This execution method, ...

in 1915 for the murder in 1913 of 75-year-old John Q. Lewis, a

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

veteran of Blackstock, South Carolina. The Griffin brothers were convicted based on the accusations of a small-time thief, John "Monk" Stevenson. Stevenson, who was found in possession of the victim's pistol, was sentenced to life in prison in exchange for testifying against the brothers. Two other African Americans, Nelson Brice and John Crosby, were executed with the brothers for the same crime. However, some in the community believed that the murder might have been the result of Lewis's suspected sexual relationship with 22-year-old Anna Davis. Davis and her husband were never tried, possibly for fear of a

miscegenation Miscegenation ( ) is the interbreeding of people who are considered to be members of different races. The word, now usually considered pejorative, is derived from a combination of the Latin terms ''miscere'' ("to mix") and ''genus'' ("race") ...

scandal. The Griffin brothers, who were believed to be the wealthiest Black people in the area, sold their farm to pay for their defense against the accusations. Over 100 people petitioned Gov.

Richard Manning Richard "Dick" Manning is an American environmental author and journalist who writes about music, neuroscience, and agriculture. Career Manning is the author of 11 books and has worked as a journalist, reporter and editor for more than 40 year ...

to commute the brothers' sentence. The signatories included Blackstock's mayor, a sheriff, two trial jurors and the grand jury foreman. Nevertheless, they were sent to the electric chair. Thomas Griffin and Meeks Griffin were pardoned in October 2009 after

Tom Joyner Thomas Joyner (born November 23, 1949) is an American retired radio host, former host of the nationally syndicated ''The Tom Joyner Morning Show'', and also founder of Reach Media Inc., the Tom Joyner Foundation, and BlackAmericaWeb.com. Early l ...

sought the pardons of his great-uncles from state appeals court in

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is List of municipalities in South Carolina, the second-largest ...

. Joyner learned about his relationship to the Griffins through research conducted for the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

documentary, ''

African American Lives 2 ''African American Lives'' is a PBS television miniseries hosted by historian Henry Louis Gates Jr., focusing on African American genealogical research. The family histories of prominent people of African American descent are explored using tradit ...

'', by Harvard scholar

Henry Louis Gates Jr. Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. (born September 16, 1950) is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker, who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African A ...

, which also traced 11 other relatives. Their case was dramatized in the 2021 supernatural horror film, '' Blackstock Boneyard''. In said film, they return from the grave one hundred years later to take revenge on the descendants of the people responsible for their deaths.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Griffin Thomas African-American farmers 19th-century American farmers American people convicted of murder Executed African-American people People convicted of murder by South Carolina People executed by South Carolina by electric chair American people executed for murder People who have received posthumous pardons Recipients of American gubernatorial pardons 20th-century executions by South Carolina 20th-century executions of American people Wrongful executions Farmers from South Carolina People from Chester County, South Carolina 20th-century African-American people 20th-century American farmers

See also

References