BOSTON — It took greater than three centuries, however the final Salem “witch” who wasn’t has been formally pardoned.
Massachusetts lawmakers on Thursday formally exonerated Elizabeth Johnson Jr., clearing her title 329 years after she was convicted of witchcraft in 1693 and sentenced to dying on the top of the Salem Witch Trials.
Johnson was by no means executed, however neither was she formally pardoned like others wrongly accused of witchcraft.
Lawmakers agreed to rethink her case final 12 months after a curious eighth-grade civics class at North Andover Middle School took up her trigger and researched the legislative steps wanted to clear her title.
Subsequent laws launched by state Sen. Diana DiZoglio, a Democrat from Methuen, was tacked onto a finances invoice and accredited.
“We will never be able to change what happened to victims like Elizabeth but at the very least can set the record straight,” DiZoglio mentioned.
In a press release, North Andover trainer Carrie LaPierre — whose college students championed the laws — praised the children for taking over “the long-overlooked issue of justice for this wrongly convicted woman.”
“Passing this legislation will be incredibly impactful on their understanding of how important it is to stand up for people who cannot advocate for themselves and how strong of a voice they actually have,” she mentioned.
Johnson is the final accused witch to be cleared, in accordance with Witches of Massachusetts Bay, a gaggle dedicated to the historical past and lore of the Seventeenth-century witch hunts.
“For 300 years, Elizabeth Johnson Jr. was without a voice, her story lost to the passages of time,” mentioned state Sen. Joan Lovely, of Salem,
Twenty folks from Salem and neighboring cities had been killed and tons of of others accused throughout a frenzy of Puritan injustice that started in 1692, stoked by superstition, worry of illness and strangers, scapegoating and petty jealousies. Nineteen had been hanged, and one man was crushed to dying by rocks.
Johnson was 22 when she was caught up within the hysteria of the witch trials and sentenced to hold. That by no means occurred: Then-Gov. William Phips threw out her punishment because the magnitude of the gross miscarriages of justice in Salem sank in.
In the greater than three centuries which have ensued, dozens of suspects formally had been cleared, together with Johnson’s personal mom, the daughter of a minister whose conviction ultimately was reversed.
But for some cause, Johnson’s title wasn’t included in numerous legislative makes an attempt to set the document straight. Because she wasn’t amongst these whose convictions had been formally put aside, hers nonetheless technically stood. Unlike others wrongfully accused, Johnson by no means had youngsters and thus had no descendants to behave on her behalf.
“Elizabeth’s story and struggle continue to greatly resonate today,” DiZoglio mentioned. “While we’ve come a long way since the horrors of the witch trials, women today still all too often find their rights challenged and concerns dismissed.”