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The Wilmington Ten were nine young men and a woman who were wrongfully convicted in 1971 in
Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States.
With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is the ...
, of
arson
Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...
and
conspiracy
A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agree ...
. Most were sentenced to 29 years in prison, and all ten served nearly a decade in jail before an appeal won their release. The case became an international ''
cause célèbre
A cause célèbre (,''Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged'', 12th Edition, 2014. S.v. "cause célèbre". Retrieved November 30, 2018 from https://www.thefreedictionary.com/cause+c%c3%a9l%c3%a8bre ,''Random House Kernerman Webs ...
'', in which many critics of the city and state characterized the activists as political prisoners.
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
took up the case in 1976 and provided legal defense counsel to appeal the convictions.
[ In 1978, Governor ]Jim Hunt
James Baxter Hunt Jr. (born May 16, 1937) is an American politician and retired attorney who was the List of governors of North Carolina, 69th and 71st Governor of North Carolina (1977–1985, and 1993–2001). He is the longest-serving governo ...
reduced the sentences of the ten defendants. In ''Chavis v. State of North Carolina'', 637 F.2d 213 (4th Cir., 1980), the convictions were overturned by the federal appeals court on the grounds that the prosecutor and the trial judge had both violated the defendants' constitutional rights. They were not retried. In 2012, the Wilmington Ten, including four who had already died, were pardoned by Governor Bev Perdue
Beverly Eaves Perdue (born Beverly Marlene Moore; January 14, 1947) is an American businesswoman, politician, and member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party who served as the List of governors of North Carolina, 73rd Govern ...
.
Background
In the 1960s and 1970s, black residents of Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States.
With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is the ...
were dissatisfied with the lack of progress in implementing integration and other civil rights reforms achieved by the American Civil Rights Movement
The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the United ...
through congressional passage of civil rights legislation in 1964 and 1965. Many struggled with poverty and lack of opportunity. Despair at the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. increased racial tensions, with a rise in violence, including the arson of several white-owned businesses.
Tension increased further after the 1969 racial integration
Racial integration, or simply integration, includes desegregation (the process of ending systematic racial segregation). In addition to desegregation, integration includes goals such as leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity ...
of Wilmington high schools. The city chose to close the black Williston Industrial High School, a source of community pride. It laid off black teachers, principals, and coaches, transferring students among white-majority schools. Several clashes between white and black students resulted in a number of arrests and expulsions.
In response to tensions, members of a Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
chapter and other white supremacist
White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other Race (human classification), races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any Power (social and polit ...
groups began patrolling the streets. They hung an effigy of the white superintendent of the schools and cut his phone lines. Street violence broke out between them and black men.[
]
Students decided to boycott the high schools in January 1971. In February, the United Church of Christ
The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Calvinist, Lutheran, and Anabaptist traditions, and with approximately 4 ...
sent then-23-year-old Benjamin Chavis
Dr. Benjamin Franklin Chavis Jr. (born January 22, 1948) in Oxford, North Carolina is an African-American civil rights leader and icon, United Church of Christ (UCC) ordained minister, author, journalist, organic chemist, environmentalist, global ...
, from their Commission for Racial Justice, to Wilmington to try to calm the situation and work with the students. Chavis, who had once worked as an assistant to King, preached non-violence and met with students regularly at Gregory Congregational Church to discuss black history, as well as to organize the boycott.
Arson at Mike's Grocery and trial
On February 6, 1971, Mike's Grocery, a white-owned business, was firebombed. Firefighters responding to the fire said they were shot at by snipers
A sniper is a military/paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with high-precision r ...
from the roof of the nearby Gregory Congregational Church. Chavis and several students had been meeting at the church, which also held other people. The neighborhood erupted in rioting that lasted through the next day, in which two people died.
The North Carolina governor called up the North Carolina National Guard
The North Carolina National Guard (NCNG), commonly known as the North Carolina Guard, is a component of the North Carolina Department of Public Safety and the National Guard of the United States. It is composed of Army and Air National Guard unit ...
, whose forces entered the church on February 8 and removed the suspects. The Guard claimed to have found ammunition in the building. The violence resulted in two deaths, six injuries, and more than $500,000 (equivalent to $ million in ) in property damage.[
Chavis and nine others, eight young black men who were high school students, and an older, white, female anti-poverty worker, were arrested on charges of arson related to the grocery fire. Based on testimony of two black men, they were tried and convicted in state court of arson and conspiracy in connection with the firebombing of Mike's Grocery.][
The "Ten" and their sentences:
* Benjamin Chavis (age 24) – 34 years
* Connie Tindall (age 21) – 31 years
* Marvin "Chilly" Patrick (age 19) – 29 years
* Wayne Moore (age 19) – 29 years
* Reginald Epps (age 18) – 28 years
* Jerry Jacobs (age 19) – 29 years
* James "Bun" McKoy (age 19) – 29 years
* Willie Earl Vereen (age 18) – 29 years
* William "Joe" Wright, Jr. (age 19) – 29 years
* Ann Shepard (age 35) – 15 years
]
Trial and sentencing
At the time, the state's case against the Wilmington Ten was seen as controversial both in the state of North Carolina and in the United States. One witness testified that he was given a minibike
A minibike is a two-wheeled, motorized, off-highway recreational vehicle popularized in the 1960s and 1970s, but available continuously from a wide variety of manufacturers since 1959. Their off-highway nature and (in many countries) typically enti ...
in exchange for his testimony against the group. Another witness, Allen Hall, had a history of mental illness
A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...
and had to be removed from the courthouse after recanting on the stand under cross examination.
Each of the ten defendants was convicted of the charges. The men's sentences ranged from 29 years to 34 years for arson, considered severe punishment for a fire in which no one died. Ann Shepard of Auburn, New York
Auburn is a city in Cayuga County, New York, United States. Located at the north end of Owasco Lake, one of the Finger Lakes in Central New York, the city had a population of 26,866 at the 2020 census. It is the largest city of Cayuga County, the ...
, age 35, received 15 years as an accessory before the fact and conspiracy to assault emergency personnel. The youngest of the group, Earl Vereen, was 18 years old at the time of his sentencing. Reverend Chavis was the oldest of the men at age 24.
International response
Several national magazines, including ''Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
,'' ''Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
,'' ''Sepia
Sepia may refer to:
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* Sepia (color), a reddish-brown color
* Sepia tone, a photography technique
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* ''Sepia'', a 2001 album by Coco Mbassi
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* " ...
'' and ''The New York Times Magazine
''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine Supplement (publishing), supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted man ...
,'' published articles in the late 1970s on the trial and its aftermath. When then President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
admonished the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
in 1978 for holding political prisoner
A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention.
There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although n ...
s, the Soviets cited the Wilmington Ten as an example of American political imprisonment.[
]
Appeals
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
took on the Wilmington Ten case in 1976.[ They classified the eight men still in prison as among 11 black men incarcerated in the U.S. who were considered to be political prisoners, under the definition in the 1948 ]Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the Human rights, rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN Drafting of the Universal De ...
.
In 1976 and 1977, three key prosecution witnesses recanted their testimony. In 1977 ''60 Minutes
''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...
'' aired a special about the case, suggesting that the evidence against the Wilmington Ten was fabricated.[ In 1978, the ''New York Times'' reporter Wayne King published an investigatory article; based on testimony of a witness whose anonymity he protected, he said that perhaps the prosecution had framed a guilty man, as his source said that he had committed the crimes at the behest of Chavis.] In 1978 Governor Jim Hunt
James Baxter Hunt Jr. (born May 16, 1937) is an American politician and retired attorney who was the List of governors of North Carolina, 69th and 71st Governor of North Carolina (1977–1985, and 1993–2001). He is the longest-serving governo ...
reduced the sentences of the Ten.
In ''Chavis v. State of North Carolina,'' 637 F.2d 213 (4th Cir. 1980), the federal 4th Circuit Court of Appeals
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (in case citations, 4th Cir.) is a federal court located in Richmond, Virginia, with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:
* District of Maryla ...
overturned the convictions, as it determined that: (1) the prosecutor failed to disclose exculpatory evidence, in violation of the defendants' due process rights (the ''Brady'' disclosure); and (2) the trial judge erred by limiting the cross-examination of key prosecution witnesses about special treatment the witnesses received in connection with their testimony, in violation of the defendants' Sixth Amendment right to confront the witnesses against them.[ It ordered a new trial, but the state chose not to prosecute again. Chavis and the other seven prisoners were released.
A group called the Wilmington Ten Foundation for Social Justice was established to work to improve conditions in the city.
]
Pardon
In May 2012, Benjamin Chavis and six surviving members of the group petitioned North Carolina governor Bev Perdue
Beverly Eaves Perdue (born Beverly Marlene Moore; January 14, 1947) is an American businesswoman, politician, and member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party who served as the List of governors of North Carolina, 73rd Govern ...
for a pardon. The NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...
supported the pardon, as well as arguing for compensation to be paid and their survivors for their years in jail. On December 22, 2012 ''The New York Times'' published an editorial titled, "Pardons for the Wilmington Ten", that urged Governor Perdue to "finally pardon" the group of civil rights activists.
Perdue granted a pardon of innocence for each of the ten on December 31, 2012. The pardon qualified each of the ten to state compensation of $50,000 per year of incarceration.
The claims were approved by the North Carolina Industrial Commission and signed off on by the North Carolina Attorney General
The Attorney General of North Carolina is a statewide elected office in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The attorney general is a constitutional officer responsible for representing state agencies in legal matters, supplying other state offici ...
Roy Cooper
Roy Asberry Cooper III (born June 13, 1957) is an American attorney and politician, serving as the 75th governor of North Carolina since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 49th attorney general of North Carolina from 20 ...
's office in May 2013. Total compensation was $1,113,605: Ben Chavis received $244,470 (), Marvin Patrick received $187,984 (), with most of the remaining rewards being $175,000 each (). As four of the Wilmington Ten were deceased before the December 2012 pardons, their families received no compensation. a case was pending before the NC Industrial Commission, seeking that compensation be awarded to the families of the four deceased: Jerry Jacobs (d. 1989), Joe Wright (d. 1991), Ann Shepard (d. 2011), and Connie Tindall (d. 2012).[
]
Representation in other media
;Films:
*'' Wilmington 10 -- U.S.A. 10,000''
*In 2003, University of North Carolina Wilmington
The University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW or UNC Wilmington) is a public research university in Wilmington, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina System and enrolls 17,499 undergraduate and graduate students eac ...
student Laura Colatuno made the documentary film ''The Wilmington Ten: A Story Retold''
*In 2009, Francine DeCoursey was developing the documentary film ''The Wilmington Ten: Justice Denied … Justice Interrupted …''
*In 2014, the National Newspaper Publishers Association
The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), formerly the National Negro Publishers Association, is an association of African American newspaper publishers from across the United States.
History
The NNPA was founded in 1940 when John ...
and CashWorks HD Productions produced the documentary film ''Pardons of Innocence: The Wilmington Ten''
;Books:
*Dr. Kenneth Janken, ''The Wilmington Ten: Violence, Injustice, and the Rise of Black Politics in the 1970s''
*Larry Reni Thomas, ''Rabbit! Rabbit! Rabbit!: A Fictional Account of the Wilmington Ten Incident of 1971''
References
{{reflist
Further reading
Transcripts in the case ''State of North Carolina v. Benjamin Franklin Chavis, Marvin Patrick, Connie Tyndall, et. al'' (also known as "The Wilmington Ten Case")
John L. Godwin, ''Black Wilmington and the North Carolina Way: Portrait of a Community in the Era of Civil Rights Protest''
University Press of America, 2000
*Wayne Grimsley, ''James B. Hunt: A North Carolina Progressive'', Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, 2003.
*Larry Reni Thomas, ''The True Story Behind the Wilmington Ten'', Hampton, Va.: U.B. & U.S. Communications Systems, 1993.
*Timothy Tyson, ''Blood Done Sign My Name'', New York: Crown, 2004.
*Wayne Moore, ''Triumphant Warrior: Memoir of a Soul Survivor of the Wilmington Ten'', Warrior Press, March 2014
External links
"The Story of The Wilmington 10"
Triumphant Warriors website
American civil rights activists
1971 in North Carolina
Quantified groups of defendants