16/10/2025
17-year-old Virginia Christian was the first and last female juvenile to be executed in the electric chair in 1912. At a time when Jim Crow legislation and racial purity laws were in effect, Virginia, who was African American, was not granted a fair trial.
Even in this day and age, people of colour are disproportionately sentenced to death and there is an infectious presence of racism in the death penalty with racial disparities plaguing the justice system.
At the age of 13, Virginia dropped out of Hampton Whitter Training School to work as a laundress for Mrs. Ida Virginia Belote, a 51-year-old white woman from Hampton, Virginia.1 She was one of Hampton’s white aristocracy by way of her father’s prominence as the owner of a large grocery.
Ida was known to frequently beat and berate Virginia and on the 18th of March, 1912, she accused her of stealing a locket and skirt. Virginia staunchly denied these claims before Ida threw a clay pot at Virginia, hitting her on the shoulder. When it fell and shattered, Ida threw the broken pieces at Virginia. The next item Ida attempted to retrieve to use as a weapon was a nearby broom. However, Virginia managed to grab it before her and cracked Ida over the head. Ida started to scream and in an attempt to muffle the screams, Virginia shoved a towel in Ida’s mouth, causing her to suffocate.
She readily confessed to the murder and contended that she didn’t want to kill Ida but was so terrified of her screaming. In fact, she didn’t even realise that Ida was dead.
The following morning, The Newport News Daily described Virginia as: “A full-blooded negress, with kinky hair done up in threads, with dark lustreless eyes and with splotches on the skin of her face. Her color is dark brown and her figure is short, dumpy and squashy. She has had some schooling but her speech does not betray it. Her language is the same as the unlettered members of her race.“
Virginia was not allowed to defend herself or explain her actions during her trial. The constant beatings from Ida were not taken into consideration or the evidence of self-defence. Virginia was found guilty on the 9th of April, 1912, and sentenced to die in the electric chair in the state penitentiary in Richmond.