Jeremiah Reeves

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Jeremiah Reeves (August 8, 1935 – March 28, 1958) was an African American jazz drummer who was executed by the state of Alabama by electrocution after being convicted of raping a white woman, Mabel Ann Crowder, in 1952. At the time of the events, Reeves was 16, working as a grocery delivery boy. He maintained his innocence at his trial. Reeves was a classmate of Claudette Colvin, who later attributed her political inclinations to the Reeves case. There was physical evidence that Crowder had actually been raped. Reeves was also suspected in the subsequent rapes and attempted rapes of five other white women, one of whom identified him as her attacker. Crowder also identified Reeves as her attacker after he was taken into custody. Although there were credible allegations that the police had coerced Reeves into confessing, the U.S. Supreme Court rendered this a moot point when it ordered a retrial for Reeves, saying that the jury should have been allowed to learn how it was obtained. After...

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