Franklin v. South Carolina
| Franklin v. South Carolina | |
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| Argued April 20, 21, 1910 Decided May 31, 1910 |
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| Full case name | Franklin v. South Carolina |
| Citations | 218 U.S. 161 (more) |
| Holding | |
| Franklin's rights were not violated since election commissioners are only required to select men of good moral character and that competent blacks are equally eligible with others | |
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| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Day, joined by unanimous |
Franklin v. South Carolina, 218 U.S. 161 (1910) was the trial of Pink Franklin for the murder of South Carolina Constable Henry H. Valentine in 1907. Franklin was a sharecropper who wished to leave his employer although his employer had advanced Franklin wages under a contract known as "peonage laws". A warrant was obtained and when Valentine came to the house, a shootout occurred, killing Valentine and injuring Franklin, his wife Patsy, and another constable who was there. The defense included claims that Franklin acted in self-defense and that the peonage laws were unjust. In appeal, the defense claimed that the make-up of the jury, all white based on the requirement that the jury be based on those who were eligible to vote, was based on unconstitutional racism in election laws stemming from the 1895 South Carolina constitution. Franklin's conviction was upheld in all appeals, including the appeal before the United States Supreme Court heard in April 1910.
The case was the second time black South Carolina lawyers had appeared before the Supreme Court, and became famous for the issues involved. After the conviction was upheld, many figures associated both with Booker T. Washington and with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) pressured and petitioned successive governors of South Carolina for clemency. Franklin's death penalty was commuted in 1910, and in 1919 his prison sentence was commuted and he was paroled. The case was one of the first times the nascent NAACP's first became involved in legal proceedings. It also was an example of the power of Washington's political influence.
In 1907, African-American Pink Franklin was working as a contract farm laborer on the farm of Jake Thomas. Thomas had given Franklin some of his wages in advance, but Franklin was unhappy with his contract and left the farm. Thomas asked the local police to intervene, and on July 29, 1907, at 3:00 AM, Constable Henry H. Valentine and Constable Carter came to Franklin's house. A neighbor of Franklin's, Charles Spires, sometimes worked with Thomas and was on hand. Upon the Constables' instruction, Spires asked Franklin to plow his field, possibly through a closed front door. Franklin said that he would not, and that he might later in the day. Valentine broke into the house and was shot and killed by Franklin. Franklin, his wife, Patsy, and Constable Carter were also shot in the melee, all surviving. Franklin's young son was also home.
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