39 Facts About Virginia Christian

Virginia Christian was an African American teenager executed by the state of Virginia.

Virginia Christian left school at age 13 to work for Ida Belote.

On March 18,1912, when Virginia Christian was 16, Belote accused Virginia Christian of theft and attacked her.

Virginia Christian was arrested and tried before an entirely white and male jury.

Virginia Christian's case drew backlash from newspapers and civil rights advocates, who considered it unjust to execute an underage girl and believed her sentence was racist.

Ultimately, Mann refused to pardon Virginia Christian; she was killed by electrocution on August 16,1912.

Virginia Christian was the third child and oldest daughter of Henry Christian and Charlotte Christian, who lived in Hampton, Virginia.

Virginia Christian's father earned $1.25 per day working as a fisherman and performing odd jobs.

When Virginia Christian was 13, her mother became paralyzed and unable to work; to help support her family, Virginia Christian dropped out of her classes at the Whittier Training School and began working as a laundress for a white woman named Ida Belote, earning $4 per week.

Some contemporary authors, including Victor Streib, Lynn Sametz, and David V Baker, believe Christian was intellectually disabled.

On March 18,1912, Ida Belote visited the Christian family's house and accused Virginia of stealing a skirt.

Charlotte told Virginia Christian to visit Belote's house and resolve the dispute.

Once Virginia Christian arrived, Belote accused her of stealing a gold locket.

Virginia Christian responded by striking Belote's head with a broomstick, then forced a towel five inches down her throat, suffocating her.

Virginia Christian later stated she and Belote both raced to grab separate broom handles, and that she put the towel in Belote's mouth to stop her from screaming.

Virginia Christian fled with Belote's pocketbook, which contained $4 and a ring.

In 1910, Virginia Christian had passed a law shielding first-time offenders under the age of 17 from prison sentences; instead, underage offenders were to be placed in reformatories.

The state of Virginia Christian did not have a dedicated reformatory for black girls, but sometimes transferred them to a reformatory in Baltimore.

Under Virginia Christian's revised 1902 constitution, only registered voters could be jurors in criminal trials, and first degree murder cases required jury verdicts.

In 1904, Virginia Christian codified an 1880 court decision that defendants had no legal right to a racially diverse jury.

Accordingly, Virginia Christian's jury was made up of exclusively white men.

Virginia Christian's parents borrowed money to pay her legal fees, using their house as collateral.

Virginia Christian was defended by two black lawyers: Joseph Thomas Newsome and George Washington Fields.

The defense conceded that Virginia Christian killed Belote, but argued she acted out of passion, not malice, and therefore lacked the mens rea necessary for first degree murder.

The prosecution argued that Virginia Christian wanted to rob Belote, and that the attack was the result of premeditated burglary, citing the money Virginia Christian took.

The police claimed Virginia Christian had washed her hands in Belote's kitchen after killing her, suggesting she was not overcome with passion.

The state argued that Virginia Christian was actually an adult, leaving the defense to prove she was underage.

Virginia Christian asked to testify in her own defense, but her lawyers refused; Fields considered her "a coarse-mannered, homely girl and extremely ignorant", and he and Newsome worried she might cause a disturbance or alienate the jury.

Virginia Christian presented a petition signed by 300 members of the NACW and asked Mann to commute Christian's death sentence due to her young age.

Virginia Christian allowed Terrell to meet with Christian in jail.

However, Mann stated he believed Virginia Christian had premeditated the crime in order to steal Belote's money.

John Mitchell, editor of the Richmond Planet, called the crime "diabolical", but felt the state should show mercy to Virginia Christian since she was a woman.

The newspaper, which had the largest readership in Chicago, printed the NACW petition in full, called Christian's sentence "an indictment against society", condemned her conviction as racist, criticized the state of Virginia for executing women but not allowing them to vote, and urged readers to write Governor Mann.

The Chicago Defender argued Christian's sentence should be reduced to life in prison, and claimed the state of Virginia was partially culpable for Belote's death, since it had denied Christian a proper education and social support.

Newspapers reported on Virginia Christian's stoicism leading up to her death.

Virginia Christian was electrocuted in the state prison in Richmond at 7:23 am on August 16,1912, five months after Belote's death and one day after her 17th birthday.

Virginia Christian received three electric shocks, although the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported she died after the first.

Virginia Christian was the first woman killed by electrocution in the South and the only underage girl executed in the United States in the 20th century.

Virginia Christian was buried at the First Baptist Church cemetery in Hampton, although some newspapers incorrectly reported that her body went to a state medical school.