Kentucky Governor Pardons 43 Convicted of Helping Enslaved People Escape
(AURN News) — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has pardoned 43 people who were convicted under a state law that made it a crime to help enslaved people escape to freedom. In 1835, Kentucky passed a law known as the Enticement Act. The law carried a prison sentence of up to 20 years for anyone convicted […] The post Kentucky Governor Pardons 43 Convicted of Helping Enslaved People Escape appeared first on American Urban Radio Networks.
Black News 
(AURN News) — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has pardoned 43 people who were convicted under a state law that made it a crime to help enslaved people escape to freedom.
In 1835, Kentucky passed a law known as the Enticement Act. The law carried a prison sentence of up to 20 years for anyone convicted of helping an enslaved person reach freedom.
Forty-three people were convicted under the law, and Beshear pardoned every one of them. Among them was Elijah Anderson, a free Black man who helped an estimated 1,000 people escape through Kentucky. He was arrested in Louisville, imprisoned and died in the Kentucky State Penitentiary — the same building where Beshear signed the pardon order.
Among those pardoned was Gillette Miles, a free Black woman convicted for trying to prevent her children from being sold in New Orleans. She also died in prison.
All 43 were pardoned. Beshear wrote in the order that while their actions were unlawful at the time, they were, in his words, “timeless and noble.”
The pardon order comes just days before Juneteenth, the federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.
Click play to listen to the report from AURN White House Correspondent Ebony McMorris. For more news, follow @E_N_McMorris & @aurnonline.
The post Kentucky Governor Pardons 43 Convicted of Helping Enslaved People Escape appeared first on American Urban Radio Networks.
