Jeremiah Reeves

Jeremiah Reeves (1935 – March 28, 1958) was a 22-year-old African American, a former jazz drummer, who was executed by the state of Alabama by electrocution after being convicted of raping a white woman in 1952.

At the time of the events, Reeves was 16 years old, working as a grocery delivery boy; at his trial, he denied having had sex with the white woman.

Jeremiah Reeves was a 16-year-old respected senior in the segregated Booker T. Washington High School, a talented jazz drummer in a band.

[1][2] He was indicted, then quickly convicted at a two-day trial by an all-white jury that deliberated less than a half-hour; the judge imposed a death sentence.

[6] Reeves had claimed during his trial and appeals that he was forced to sit in the Alabama electric chair, known as Yellow Mama, for a night until he confessed to the crime.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) provided funds to pay for his defense in an effort to protect the youth.

[2][7] On that occasion, King said, "It was the severity of Jeremiah Reeves's penalty that aroused the Negro community, not the question of his guilt or innocence.

If only to save ourselves from bitterness, we need vision to see the ordeals of this generation as the opportunity to transfigure ourselves and American society … Truth may be crucified and justice buried, but one day they will rise again.