Virginia Christian Deserved to Die Too
Virginia Christian was a young black teenager who had been working as a maid in the home of an infirm 91 pound 51 year old white woman, Ida Belote of Hampton Virginia in 1912. They got into a fight because Virginia Christian was stealing from her, and the young girl brained the older woman with a club and then stuffed a rag down her throat to stop her from screaming. Virginia Christian fled, taking more items from the home as Ida Belote died in a pool of blood on her own floor.
women could drive in 1921, but not quite vote yet.
Virginia Christian confessed to the crime and was executed for it, becoming the last woman so far in the State of Virginia to ride the lightning of the electric chair.
Tomorrow my state is due to put another woman to death. And Teresa Lewis’ crimes are just as bad.
How do you know exactly how did things go back in 1912? Was you there? Ida Belote was 72, and she was known for being very aggressive with her employees. Still, if you hate your boss, you don’t kill it, you just quit. As if your employer steals, you don’t abuse him, you just fire him
How old are you? 8?
You get your facts from Wikipedia which has the wrong age of Ida. All other sources put her at the age of 51. And I am citing official sources of what was presented as evidence. So don’t be stupid, of course I wasn’t there, but then again, neither were the jurors who sentenced this young black teenager to death. If anyone needs to growup, it is probably you.
Who can really say what happend 98 yrs ago? The jurors & police couldn’t even do that in 1912…. IF Christian did kill Belote she was wrong for that….but people can snap from being MISTREATED ON A DAILY BASIS. Please keep in mind that this was 1912. Whether she was guilty or not, Virginia Christian (an African “American” maid) DIDN’T STAND A CHANCE. how does anyone know what really happend? People will “alter” a story to put it in their favor….IT’S CALLED HISTORY!!!!! some may feel Christian deserved to die (based on heresy) & some may feel Belote had it coming…….there’s only so much abuse anyone can take…..NOBODY IS COMPLETELY INNOCENT
Beth, thanks for commenting. I’m puzzled why you would think that an American born black girl wouldn’t ‘stand a chance’ in the American justice system in 1912. You weren’t there. You are judging an entire society and calling them racist and incapable of looking at evidence of a heinous crime because the woman was black. So who’s the racist here? You, who wants to discard known facts in a case because you presume that a white woman in 1912 was a racist who beat a maid? Or the jury, who carefully considered the evidence, including a confession, who had to write a wrong, regardless the color of the villain’s skin?
Christian, an African-American maid, was convicted for the murder of her employer Mrs. Ida Virginia Belote, a white woman, aged 72 years, in her home at Hampton on March 18.[4] It is said she confessed shortly after she was arrested.
Belote frequently mistreated Christian, and in mid-March 1912, a violent argument ensued between the two in which Belote accused Christian of stealing a locket and a skirt. Belote hit Christian with a cuspidor—commonly called a “spittoon”—which sent Christian into a violent frenzy. The altercation escalated when Christian and Belote ran for two broom handles Belote used to prop up her bedroom windows. Christian grabbed one of the broom handles and struck Belote on the forehead. In an attempt to stifle Belote’s screams, Christian stuffed a towel down Belote’s throat, and the woman died by suffocation. When Christian left the house, she stole Belote’s purse with some money and a ring. One newspaper reported that police found Belote’s body “laying face down in a pool of blood, and her head was horribly mutilated and a towel was stuffed into her mouth and throat” (Streib & Sametz, 1989, p. 25; see also Moten, 1997). The police soon arrested Christian, and during questioning she admitted to hitting Belote but was shocked that Belote was dead. Christian claimed she had no intent to kill Belote. With a lynch mob looming in the background, an Elizabeth City County Court tried and convicted Christian for murder and the trial judge sentenced her to death in the state’s electric chair. One day after her 17th birthday in August 1912, a short 5 months after the crime, Virginia authorities executed Christian at the state penitentiary in Richmond.[4]
This is racial, just like Correen Sykes in PA
Sorry… Mrs. Ida Virginia Belote was 51 years old.
Shubaby,
You can’t rely on Wikipedia to get the facts correct. Especially about a lynch mob, which is absolutely false. Just as they get the age wrong, they got a lot of the rest of the story incorrect as well.
In 1912 it is well known than an African American person in Virginia would not receive the same treatment as a caucasian person due to segregation laws. This is simply the ways that things were. The employer was wrong to abuse her and she reacted in the wrong way. If it had been the same crime involving two caucasian people or even two african americans then a Life sentance would most likely have been the sentance.
First of all, I never said the word “racist” (it looks like someone is feeling guilty)…If you seriously think that Christian ‘stood a chance’ in 1912 then you are mentally unstable…Liars & racists will tell all sorts of lies to benefit themselves & be able to sleep @ night…If you have an once of common sense you’d know that the law & judicial system was completely different then so please don’t “fancy” the story to make it seem as if the ruling was actually fair…. only 5months after the murder, a 17 yr old was put in the electric chair…But somehow you feel that’s perfectly fine…your ignorance clearly speaks for itself…Belote couldn’t have been too “infirm” if she had the strength to beat on a child everyday & hit her in the head with a spittoon for crying out loud….of course racists were alive & proud 100 yrs ago, WE STILL HAVE THEM TODAY… put all the flowers & ribbons on a lie to justify wrong & IT’S STILL GOING TO BE WRONG…THAT’S HISTORY!
Beth,
You have to cite some sources to claim that Belote “beat on a child everyday.” And you seem to imply that Belote’s murder was justified and you are the one implying that it was racially motivated. None of the facts I have read say any of the sort.
Times were different in that many teenagers worked as domestic labor. And the woman was indeed infirm according to the facts of the case. If the woman was a racist as you imply, don’t you think she would have hired a white person to assist her?
The governor of the State of Virginia Gov. William Hodges Mann called the murder “among the most barbarous and inhuman ever committed in this state.”
This had nothing to do with race, and everything to do with a vicious unwarranted murder of a disabled woman. That is the real history.
I’m a very direct person. Therefore I have no reason to imply anything. You inferred that I meant race was a factor because obviously you’re a racist yourself…It’s funny how you keep saying “facts” when you weren’t there. But as I’ve said before; people will fix things up prettily & lie to benefit themselves…the yr 1912 is self explanatory. It didn’t matter what the REAL story was because the law was in favor of the “good ol all American” REGARDLESS! EVERYBODY (black & white) KNOWS THAT & so do you despite your bs attempts to make people believe this situation was actually fair…..Belote was murdered & so was Christian. They’re both dead & so is this discussion. Feel free to make excuses for racists & bask in your ignorance but I’ll no longer entertain your nonsense
Beth, you said that “Whether she was guilty or not, Virginia Christian (an African “American” maid) DIDN’T STAND A CHANCE.” You meant that she would have been unfairly prosecuted and executed solely on the basis of her skin color, and you know that’s what you meant.
I call them facts because that is what it is. In 1912 they had newspapers and court records, and in those documents are where I got my facts. If you think that “everybody knows” that in 1912 the justice system was in favor of “good ol all american” then you are wrong and you certainly don’t speak for the rest of us.
Christian wasn’t murdered either, Beth. She was executed in accordance with state and federal law. There was nothing at all racist about the crime, nor the execution despite how desperately your liberal values scream in your head that it should have been.
This black girl… was 17 yrs old, and a maid. That is very young to be a maid.
I can’t imagine , jobs for young black women were not many unless you were in a cotton field. Very sad america.
Taylor, surely you can’t be this dumb. You are definitely a liberal because you think blacks are only good for slave labor and any job the government can hand to them.
Fact is lots of young women, black and white, were maids in households from the age 12 and up during this time. This was not a new career for Christian.
Cotton fields were no longer worked by hand. Ever hear of the Cotton Gin?
In 1912, the terror arm of the Democrat Party, called the Ku Klux Klan, prevented many whites from hiring blacks in the south. That a white woman hired a black woman to be a paid servant was actually very progressive of Ida Belote. And Virginia Christian repaid Belote’s kindness and generosity by killing her and stealing from her.
Why do you hate America? Because we give fair trials and punish the guilty?
Pat- I guarantee you lead the Tea Party luncheons in your neighborhood. All republicans aren’t racists but I guarantee all racists are republicans and you are surely both. In 1912 a poor black girl stood no chance against an all white legal system just like they don’t now. Read a book that’s not written by someone of your same race and beliefs to learn something.
Wow, you go around racebaiting the internet for lulz or what Sasha? You are the racist here. If you don’t think black people can get a fair trial in the United States, that makes you racist. Skin color only matters to racists and you seem to view the world in black and white.
You should try to read the history of the trial you simpleton. Virginia Christian was given an extremely fair trial.