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Who was Howard Cooper? 15-year-old among 34 Black lynching victims granted posthumous pardons by Maryland guv

The 34 victims of racial lynching in the state between 1854 and 1933 were pardoned because they were denied due legal process against the allegations they faced
PUBLISHED MAY 11, 2021
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan (Getty Images)
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan (Getty Images)

In a first-of-its-kind pardon by a US governor, Maryland's Larry Hogan posthumously pardoned 34 victims of racial lynching in the state dating between 1854 and 1933 because they were denied due legal process against the allegations they faced.

At an event on Saturday, May 8, 2021, Governor Hogan honoured 15-year-old Howard Cooper, a Black boy who was dragged from his cell and hung from a tree outside the Towson jailhouse by a mob of White men in 1885. 

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Governor Larry Hogan of Maryland addresses media following days of citywide riots April 29, 2015 in Baltimore, Maryland. Freddie Gray, 25, was arrested for possessing a switch blade knife April 12 outside the Gilmor Houses housing project on Baltimore's west side. According to his attorney, Gray died a week later in the hospital from a severe spinal cord injury he received while in police custody. (Getty Images)

Cooper was hanged by the mob in 1885 before his attorneys could file an appeal of a rape conviction that an all-White jury had reached within minutes.

Righting wrongs

Hogan was in the company of other state officials who attended a ceremony in Towson, Maryland, right next to the former jailhouse where Cooper was held. "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 their loved ones," Hogan said.

In a partnership with the Baltimore County Coalition of the Maryland Lynching Memorial Project, the Equal Justice Initiative and Baltimore County, a historic marker was unveiled at the site.

The victims

Before signing the pardons, Hogan read the names of Cooper and the other victims including David Thomas, Jim Wilson, Isaac Moore, Jim Quinn, Thomas Jurick, John Jones, John Henry Scott, John Simms, Michael Green, James Carroll, George Peck, John Diggs, George Briscoe, Townsend Cook, Charles Whitley, Benjamin Hance, John Biggus, Asbury Green, James Taylor, Isaac Kemp, Stephen Williams, Jacob Henson, James Bowens, Sidney Randolph, William Andrews, Garfield King, Wright Smith, Lewis Harris, Henry Davis, William Burns, King Johnson and George Armwood. 

Maryland Govenor Larry Hogan attends The Stronach Group Owner's Chalet at 141st The Preakness at Pimlico Race Course on May 21, 2016 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Getty Images)

House Speaker Adrienne Jones, the state's first Black and first female House speaker, described it as an important day when the governor, Attorney General Brian Frosh and Baltimore County Executive John Olszewski - all White men - came together to "say that this was wrong ... in order to move forward into the next chapter."

"Memorializing the site where Howard Cooper was lynched gives us the opportunity to courageously confront the injustices of our past," Jones said.

An ongoing effort 

Earlier this year, the Maryland Lynching Memorial Project and students at Loch Raven Technical Academy reportedly petitioned Hogan to issue the pardon for Cooper. The ceremony is reportedly a part of an ongoing effort by the Maryland Lynching Memorial Project, a group of 13 county chapters working towards documenting the history of lynching in the state.

Upon receiving the request, the Republican governor reportedly had his chief legal counsel review all of the available documentation of racial lynchings in Maryland. The Equal Justice Initiative has reportedly documented more than 4,400 such killings nationwide, terming them racial terror lynchings as the goal was to "enforce racial subordination and segregation."

What happened 136 years ago?

On Saturday, May 8, 2021, the sign revealed that Cooper's body was left hanging from a sycamore tree "so angry White residents and local train passengers could see his corpse". 

"Later, pieces of the rope were given away as souvenirs," the sign read. "Howard's mother, Henrietta, collected her child's remains and buried him in an unmarked grave in Ruxton. No one was ever held accountable for her son's lynching."

Dismantling white supremacy machine

Will Schwarz, president of the memorial project, described the posthumous pardons as an important step forward, adding that the history of racial terror lynching in America has largely been ignored for so long that most people aren't fully aware of the scale of the problem.

"We have a responsibility to try and dismantle that machine of white supremacy and this is a big piece of it, acknowledging the violation of civil rights and of due process that were a part of these awful lynchings," Schwarz said.

Lynchings in Maryland 

Two years ago, legislation passed by the Maryland General Assembly established the Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which is the first of its kind in the nation, to research lynchings and include its findings in a report. 

According to the latest reports, there have been 40 documented lynching cases in Maryland, Schwarz said.

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