#blackboysmatter

“Black men loving black men is THE revolutionary act”. -Joseph Beam ✨🤎✊🏽

gotta appreciate seeing the sun and moon out together

🌞+ 🌒

In July 1951, Jeremiah, who was a 16-year-old high school student at the time, and Mabel Ann Crowder, a white woman, were discovered having sex in her home. Ms.Crowder claimed she had been raped by Jeremiah and he was immediately arrested and taken to Kilby Prison for "questioning."

Police strapped the frightened boy into the electric chair and told him that he would be electrocuted unless he admitted to having committed all of the rapes white women had reported that summer.

Under this terrifying pressure, he falsely confessed to the charges in fear. Though he soon recanted and insisted he was innocent. Jeremiah was convicted and sentenced to death after a two-day trial during which the all-white jury deliberated for less than 30 minutes.

The local Black community believed-and in some cases, knew-that Jeremiah Reeves and Mabel Crowder had been involved in an ongoing, consensual affair. Concerned about the injustice of the young man's conviction, the Montgomery NAACP became involved and helped attract the attention of national lawyer Thurgood Marshall. These advocates were able to win reversal of Jeremiah's conviction on December 6, 1954, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the trial judge had been wrong to prevent the jury from hearing evidence of the torture police used to get his confession.

At a second trial in June 1955, Jeremiah was again convicted and sentenced to death. This time, all appeals were denied. Jeremiah had spent much of his time in prison writing poetry, and he willed his final poem to his mother. He remained on death row until 1958, when he reached what was considered the minimum age for execution.

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En julio del año 1951, Jeremiah, quien era un estudiante de secundaria con tan solo dieciséis años de edad y Mabel Ann Crowder fueron descubiertos teniendo relaciones sexuales. La señorita Crowder declaró que Jeremiah le había violado, lo arrestaron y lo llevaron a la Prisión Kilby para ser “interrogado”.

La policía ató al chico asustado a la silla eléctrica y le dijeron que sería electrocutado si no admitía que cometió todas las violaciones que las mujeres blancas habían reportado ese verano.

Bajo esta presión aterradora, por miedo confesó falsamente a los cargos. Aunque pronto se retractó e insistió en que era inocente. Jeremiah fue declarado culpable y sentenciado a muerte después de un juicio de dos días durante el cual el jurado, formado exclusivamente por personas blancas, deliberó durante menos de 30 minutos.

La comunidad negra local creía, y en algunos casos sabía, que Jeremiah Reeves y Mabel Crowder habían estado involucrados en una relación consensual. Preocupada por la injusticia de la condena del joven, la NAACP de Montgomery se involucró y ayudó a atraer la atención del abogado nacional Thurgood Marshall. Estos defensores lograron que se revocara la condena de Jeremiah el 6 de diciembre de 1954, cuando la Corte Suprema de los EE. UU. dictaminó que el juez de primera instancia se había equivocado al evitar que el jurado escuchara las pruebas de tortura que la policía usó para obtener su confesión.