Press Release From the Office of Govenror Larry Hogan
Governor Larry Hogan today issued a full posthumous pardon for 34 victims of racial lynching in Maryland between 1854 and 1933, on the basis that these extrajudicial killings violated fundamental rights to due process and equal protection of law. It is the first time in history that a governor has issued a blanket pardon for the victims of racial lynchings.
“The State of Maryland has long been on the forefront of civil rights, dating back to Justice Thurgood Marshall’s legal battle to integrate schools and throughout our national reckoning on race,” said Governor Hogan. “Today, we are once again leading the way as we continue the work to build a more perfect union. My hope is that this action will at least in some way help to right these horrific wrongs and perhaps bring a measure of peace to the memories of these individuals, and to their descendants and loved ones.”
The governor made his announcement today at an event in Towson in honor of Howard Cooper, a 15-year old boy who was dragged from the Baltimore County Jail and hanged from a sycamore tree. In addition, Governor Hogan sent a letter to President Biden today encouraging him to establish a U.S. Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation Commission. In 2019, the governor enacted into law a measure to establish the Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconcilation Commission, the first of its kind in the United States. “A national commission would further this important work by examining racial healing through a larger lens,” the governor wrote. Read the letter to President Biden.
Earlier this year, the Maryland Lynching Memorial Project and Michelle St. Pierre’s students at Loch Raven Technical Academy in Towson petitioned the governor to issue a posthumous pardon for Howard Cooper. After receiving the request, the governor directed his chief legal counsel to review all of the available documentation and newspaper accounts of racial lynching in Maryland. Read the pardon request.
By his authority under Article II, Section 20, of the Constitution of Maryland, and having thought proper the extension of clemency, Governor Hogan has absolved these persons from the guilt of their criminal offenses, and any pains and penalties imposed upon them
Editor’s Note — Cecil County Lynching Victim Pardons
“Frederick,” a 13-year-old hung from a tree in or near Cecilton on or about September 1861, a PARDON as to the allegations of attempted rape for which he was arrested;
John Jones, who was traveling by carriage, waylaid by a group of men in the woods, and hung in or near Elkton on or about July 29, 1872, a PARDON as to the allegations of arson for which he was arraigned and remanded to jail;
In addition to the Cecil County Lynching Victims, the Governor pardoned 30 more men. For the complete list of pardons see the Governor’s Press Release
For more on the Cecil County victims, see Cecil County Lynchings — A Dark Chapter in the Past