As their civics activism project, an eighth grade social studies class at the North Andover Middle School in Massachusetts has successfully lobbied the state legislature and governor to overturn the conviction of 22-year old Elizabeth Johnson of Andover who pleaded guilty to witchcraft in 1693 in order to avoid execution.
In what is remembered as the Salem Witch Trials because the trials took place there, 156 people were accused of witchcraft from the Essex County towns of Salem and Andover. Thirty people were convicted and nineteen were executed. Johnson was one of 45 people from Andover, including 20 members of her extended family, who were accused of witchcraft. Although she was sentenced to death, Johnson was issued a reprieve because of her confession.
Elizabeth Johnson, who died in 1747 at the age of 77 without any known descendants, was not included in earlier Massachusetts legislation exonerating people convicted of witchcraft in the notorious trials. She may have been overlooked because of confusion with her mother, who had the same name. Johnson’s mother was also convicted of witchcraft at the Salem trials and she was included in the earlier bills to exonerate its victims.
Social Studies teacher Carrie LaPierre who initiated the three-year long campaign used the project to engage her students in research using primary sources, a letter writing campaign, and to learn about the legislative process in Massachusetts. She described the project as a “great way to do civics education.” State Senator Diana DiZoglio, who added the passage exonerating Johnson as an amendment to a budget bill, described the North Andover students as an “incredible example of the power of advocacy and speaking up for others who don’t have a voice.”
This Massachusetts civics project is a model that can be used in other school districts including in New York City. In 1741, fear of a potential slave uprising led to mass hysteria in New York City and the trial and conviction of over 160 enslaved Africans, half of the male African population in the city, and some suspected white supporters. Thirty five people were publicly executed at what is now New York City’s Foley Square. Eighteen Africans were hanged and thirteen were burned to death. The executed included four whites. Another eighty Africans were deported to Barbados to work and die on its sugar plantations. Unlike in Massachusetts, the victims of the New York Conspiracy trial have never been exonerated.
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