COLUMBIA, S.C. — Nationally syndicated radio host Tom Joyner is asking South Carolina to posthumously pardon two of his great-uncles — black landowners executed in 1915 after
being convicted of murdering an elderly Confederate Army veteran.
Joyner learned the fate of farmers Thomas and Meeks Griffin during filming of the PBS documentary “African American Lives 2,” which first aired in February 2008 and was based on research by Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr.
The program traces the lineage of 12 people, including Joyner. The host of The Tom Joyner Morning Show” said he was stunned to learn of his South Carolina roots and two great-uncles he didn’t know existed.
“The records will show they did not do what they were executed for, and maybe now they can rest in peace,” Joyner said from his Dallas studio.
Read the full article by Seanna Adcox at the Google/AP website.
