In 1906, 19-year-old Ed Johnson was falsely accused of raping a white woman. The town of Chattanooga, Tennessee was ready to watch him hang, but his father had other plans – to get him justice.
Johnson’s father contacted two of the best Black lawyers in the state – Noah Parden and Styles Hutchins – but they had an uphill battle. A lynch mob, including law enforcement and jurors, stood outside, ropes at the ready to murder Johnson.
“What can two Negro lawyers do that [white lawyers couldn’t]?” asked the judge they first appealed to. But still they worked tirelessly to get justice.
Eventually, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Johnson’s case, postponing his execution! Was justice finally on the horizon?
No. Against the court’s orders, the sheriff still allowed Johnson to be lynched!
Undeterred, his lawyers continued to seek justice. The sheriff and his deputies were jailed for disobeying the orders of the highest court in the land. But it was too late.
Johnson was murdered, and Parden and Styles had to flee Tennessee because of death threats. But his case changed the justice system forever – by officially making it the responsibility of law enforcement to keep a prisoner SAFE until they have their time in court!
When we fight for justice, it doesn’t just help us – it helps future generations, too.