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51-556: The Kissing Case was the arrest, conviction and lengthy sentencing of two prepubescent African-American boys in 1958 in Monroe, North Carolina . A white girl kissed each of them on the cheek and later told her mother, who accused the boys of rape. The boys were then charged by authorities with molestation. Civil rights activists became involved in representing the boys. The boys were arrested in October 1958, separated from their parents for

102-652: A U.S. Senator from North Carolina, switching to the Republican Party as it attracted conservative whites. He mustered support in the South, and played a key role in helping Ronald Reagan to be elected as President of the United States. Through that period, he was also a prominent (and often controversial) national leader of the Religious Right wing of the Republican Party. The Jesse Helms Center

153-456: A 1959 article entitled "Monroe, North Carolina and the 'Kissing Case, ' " said that such attempts to desegregate the pool were "unwise", "naive" and "unrealistic" because of the "crude emotions of a small agricultural community." In Monroe, white parents did not want their children to swim or play with black children. After Sissy Marcus told Bernice Marcus about seeing James and David, her father and neighbors picked up shotguns and went looking for

204-474: A deterrent to future crimes, many juvenile offenders emerged from incarceration far worse than when they were first sentenced. The reforms, which were adopted more readily in some states than others, consisted of a two-pronged approach – a separate juvenile code and juvenile courts for offenders who had not reached the age of majority , and the building of separate institutions for juvenile "delinquents" (the stigmatizing term "criminal" not being used). Since

255-479: A friend from Sissy's earlier childhood. The two had played together when James accompanied his mother to her work as a domestic for the Marcus family. The boys were African American. When Sissy told her mother Bernice Marcus about the encounter, the woman became enraged and washed her daughter's mouth with lye . She called the police and accused the boys of raping her daughter. Local officials unlawfully detained

306-555: A noted black civil rights lawyer from New York, who came to aid in the boys' defense. Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt tried to talk with the North Carolina governor. At first the local and state governments refused to back down in the case. Governor Luther H. Hodges and state attorney general Malcolm B. Seawell , who was appointed by Hodges, traveled to Monroe to prosecute the boys. He rejected Lynn's writ (on behalf of Williams) to review their detention. The mothers of

357-537: A physician and veteran, to be vice-president of the local chapter of the NAACP. They conducted meetings and demonstrations while seeking integration in the city of public facilities legally segregated by the state legislature after it had disenfranchised most blacks in the state at the turn of the century. In the late 1950s, they were still excluded from politics, although there had been some voter registration drives. Williams and Perry specifically called for integration of

408-680: A story about a child involved in a street gang; and in 1846, it was recognised in the Juvenile Offences Act of 1846 that children under 14 should be tried in a special court, not an adult court. Begging and vagrancy were rife, and it was these low-level misdemeanours that caused the magistrates to send children to industrial schools to learn to be industrious, and learn skills that would make then more employable. More serious crimes required an element of punishment in an environment away from older prisoners, followed by education to reform their ways. The power to set up such an establishment

459-551: A trading center for the agricultural areas of the Piedmont region, which cultivated tobacco. Racial segregation established by a white-dominated state legislature after the end of the Reconstruction era persisted for nearly a century into the 1960s. Following World War II , many local blacks and veterans, including Marine veteran Robert F. Williams , began to push to regain their constitutional rights after having served

510-577: A week, beaten and threatened by investigators, then sentenced by a Juvenile Court judge. Leaders and members of the local NAACP , including Robert F Williams , Eleanor Roosevelt , President Eisenhower , and other civil rights organizations, such as the New York-based The Committee to Combat Racial Injustice (CCRI), protested the charges, trial and sentencing. The United States was embarrassed by protests from other governments, demonstrations in major cities, and strong criticism in

561-907: Is in neighboring Wingate, North Carolina . Monroe was home to the Starlite Speedway in the 1960s to 1970s. On May 13, 1966, the 1/2-mile dirt track hosted NASCAR 's 'Independent 250'. Darel Dieringer won the race. Since 1984, Ludwig Drums and timpani have been manufactured in Monroe. As part of the developing Charlotte metropolitan area , in the 21st century, Monroe has attracted new Hispanic residents. North Carolina has encouraged immigration to increase its labor pool. The Malcolm K. Lee House , Monroe City Hall , Monroe Downtown Historic District , Monroe Residential Historic District , Piedmont Buggy Factory , John C. Sikes House , Union County Courthouse , United States Post Office , and Waxhaw-Weddington Roads Historic District are listed on

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612-672: Is located 5 mi (8.0 km) northwest of Monroe. Charlotte Douglas International Airport , the nearest airport with commercial flights is 37 mi (60 km) northwest of Monroe. The Seaboard Air Line Railroad ran multiple passenger trains a day on the Raleigh - Athens - Atlanta route through Monroe, including the Silver Comet (New York-Birmingham). The SAL also operated Charlotte ( SAL station )- Hamlet - Wilmington passenger trains, also making stops in Monroe. This Charlotte-Wilmington service ended in 1958. The last train

663-544: The Great Depression of the 1930s. In 1958 Williams hired Conrad Lynn , a civil rights attorney from New York City, to aid in defending two African-American boys, aged nine and seven. They had been convicted of "molestation" and sentenced to a reformatory until age 21 for kissing a white girl their age on the cheek. This became known as the Kissing Case . The former First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt , talked to

714-638: The National Register of Historic Places . According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 24.9 square miles (64 km ), of which 24.6 square miles (64 km ) is land and 0.3 square miles (0.78 km ) (1.13%) is water. As of the 2020 United States census , there were 34,562 people, 11,482 households, and 8,657 families residing in the city. As of the census of 2010, there were 32,797 people, 9,029 households, and 6,392 families residing in

765-681: The North Carolina governor to urge restraint, and the case became internationally embarrassing for the United States. After three months, the governor pardoned the boys. During the civil rights movement years of the 1960s, there was rising in Ku Klux Klan white violence against the minority black community of Monroe. Williams began to advocate black armed self-defense. Groups known as the Deacons for Defense , were founded by other civil rights leaders in Louisiana and Mississippi. The NAACP and

816-527: The South Carolina border just 14 miles away. Williams was elected as president of the local chapter of the NAACP in 1951. He began to work to integrate public facilities, starting with the library and the city's swimming pool, which both excluded blacks. He noted that not only did blacks pay taxes as citizens that supported operations of such facilities, but they had been built with federal funds during

867-713: The Thompson family said they still remembered "sweep[ing] bullets off [their] front porch" and the "burning crosses" in their yards. In December 1958 the Committee to Combat Racial Injustice (CCRI) was formed in New York City with NAACP's Robert F. Williams as Chairman and civil rights activist George Weissman – pen name George Lavan – as secretary. On behalf of the two boys, they conducted "fund-raising, helping to secure legal counsel, and soliciting public and private moral support." These efforts contributed to

918-405: The United States military during the war. Williams and the burgeoning NAACP chapter would be met with fierce resistance during their push to integrate local public facilities. During a 1957 effort to integrate a local swimming pool, the city had an estimated population of 12,000; the press reported an estimated 7,500 members of the Ku Klux Klan gathering in the city, many of whom arrived from across

969-479: The age of 21. As was happening in other cities and towns across the South, in the postwar period African Americans began to press to regain their civil rights and social justice. Many men had served the United States during World War II and, especially in the South, they resented returning to find out they were expected to submit to being second-class citizens. In Monroe, North Carolina, Marine veteran Robert F. Williams agreed to be president and Dr. Albert E. Perry,

1020-625: The arrests. An international committee was formed in Europe to defend Thompson and Simpson. Huge demonstrations against the US over this case were held in Paris, Rome, Vienna, and Rotterdam; in the latter city, protesters stoned the US Consulate. The US government suffered international embarrassment and shaming. In February 1959, North Carolina officials asked the boys' mothers to sign a waiver to obtain

1071-406: The average family size was 3.27. In the city, the population was spread out, with 26.9% under the age of 18, 11.6% from 18 to 24, 32.6% from 25 to 44, 18.0% from 45 to 64, and 10.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females, there were 102.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.1 males. The median income for a household in the city

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1122-531: The black community in Monroe provided a base for some of the Freedom Riders in 1961, who were trying to integrate interstate bus travel through southern states. They had illegally imposed segregation in such buses in the South, although interstate travel was protected under the federal constitution's provisions regulating interstate commerce. Mobs attacked pickets marching for the Freedom Riders at

1173-412: The boys and their parents. That evening, police arrested Thompson and Simpson on charges of molestation. The young boys were detained for six days without access to their parents or legal counsel. They were handcuffed and beaten in a lower-level cell of the police station. A few days later Juvenile Judge Hampton Price found them guilty, saying "since they just stood silent and didn't say nothin', I knew that

1224-421: The case, as they were working on litigation challenges to law, such as barriers to voter registrations. Following the boys' arrests, their mothers had been fired from their jobs as domestics, and the NAACP relocated them to nearby towns for their safety. Civil rights leader Robert F. Williams , head of the Monroe chapter of the NAACP, raised protests about the arrests and sentencing. Williams called Conrad Lynn ,

1275-513: The city in 1969, while the Monroe Pirates played there in 1971. The local newspaper is The Enquirer-Journal, which is published three days a week (Wednesday, Friday and Sunday). The local radio stations are WIXE 1190 AM radio and WDZD 99.1 FM. U.S. Route 74 runs east-west through Monroe; U.S. Route 601 runs north-south through the city. The Monroe Expressway bypasses the city. Charlotte–Monroe Executive Airport (EQY)

1326-429: The city. The population density was 1,067.5 inhabitants per square mile (412.2/km ). There were 9,621 housing units at an average density of 391.6 per square mile (151.2/km ). The racial makeup of the city was 60.12% White , 27.78% African American , 0.44% Native American , 0.65% Asian , 0.03% Pacific Islander , 9.37% from other races , and 1.60% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 21.39% of

1377-605: The county courthouse. That year, Williams was accused of kidnapping an elderly white couple, when he sheltered them in his house during an explosive situation of high racial tensions. Williams and his wife fled the United States to avoid prosecution for kidnapping. They went into exile for years in Cuba and in the People's Republic of China. In 1969 they finally returned to the United States, after Congress had passed important civil rights legislation in 1964 and 1965. The trial of Williams

1428-616: The early 19th century; whereas in a rural economy young children could gain paid employment doing tasks such as bird scaring and stone gathering, these opportunities were not available in the cities. Children were very visible on the streets. In 1816, Parliament set up a ‘Committee for Investigating the Alarming Increase in Juvenile Crime in the Metropolis’; in 1837, the writer Charles Dickens published Oliver Twist ,

1479-563: The international press. North Carolina Governor Luther H. Hodges finally granted clemency to the boys, releasing them from the reformatory in early 1959 after they had been there for three months. Neither he nor authorities in Monroe ever officially apologized to the boys or their families. In late October 1958, Sissy Marcus, a 7- or 8-year-old white girl (sources vary), told her mother she had kissed 9-year-old James "Hanover" Thompson, and 7-year-old David "Fuzzy" Simpson, on their cheeks. She had seen them with other children and recognized James as

1530-446: The late 19th and early 20th centuries almost invariably found fault with the then-usual practice of treating juvenile offenders essentially the same as adult criminals . It was recognized that the juveniles were often sexually and/or otherwise exploited by the older inmates, and that they were often receiving instruction in more advanced and serious ways of crime by hardened criminals. As a result, rather than their sentences serving as

1581-525: The law were sent to a reformatory. In practice however, older children tended to be sent to reformatories and younger ones to industrial schools, with little regard as to why they had been committed. The over-crowding and insanitary conditions of these schools, combined with poor diets and overwork, caused terrible health problems. Contagious disease was a big problem, particularly measles and eye diseases. The reform school system came to an end on 1887, due to public pressure, and government shifted its focus towards

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1632-418: The population of such institutions to the maximum extent possible, and to leave all but the most incorrigible youths in a home setting. Also, in an attempt to make the situation more socially normal, and in response to the rising number of young female offenders, many such institutions have been made coeducational. The current approach involves minimizing the use of custodial institutions and the maximization of

1683-406: The population. There were 9,029 households, out of which 33.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.0% were married couples living together, 15.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.2% were non-families. 23.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.83 and

1734-601: The pressure for the boys to be freed and their pardon early in 1959. The committee's founders included Dr. Albert E. Perry , v-p of the Monroe NAACP chapter; L. E. Austin, editor of the Carolina Times ; Conrad Lynn, New York attorney active in civil rights cases; and Reverend C. K. Steele of Tallahassee, Florida . Weissman's account of the case was published in The Nation on January 17, 1959. Although he

1785-487: The primary purpose of these institutions was to be rehabilitative rather than punitive , they were styled "reform schools". For the most part, these institutions were custodial. In the United Kingdom, reformatory schools were provided for criminal children, whilst industrial schools were intended to prevent vulnerable children from becoming criminals. There was a perceived rise in juvenile delinquency during

1836-479: The rapidly growing Charlotte metropolitan area . Monroe has a council-manager form of government. Monroe was founded as a planned settlement. In 1843, the first Board of County Commissioners, appointed by the General Assembly, selected an area in the center of the county as the county seat, and Monroe was incorporated that year. It was named for James Monroe , the country's fifth president. It became

1887-479: The release of their children. It would have required the boys to admit to being guilty of the charges, and the mothers refused to sign. Two days later, after the boys had spent three months in detention, the governor pardoned Thompson and Simpson without conditions or explanation. The state and city never apologized to the boys or their families for their treatment. Their lives were overturned. Commenting on it in 2011, Brenda Lee Graham, Thompson's sister, said that he

1938-1007: The state terms it, than for other youths the same age. In the United States , the most well-known facilities meeting the general criteria for being colloquially labelled "reform schools" include the Lincoln Hills School near Merrill, Wisconsin and the Preston School of Industry in Ione, California . The first state-funded funded reform school in the United States was the State Reform School for Boys in Westborough, Massachusetts . It opened in 1848. In Denmark , continuation high schools continue to be used as reform schools as they are much cheaper than government regulated youth detention centers , while

1989-595: The swimming pool at the Monroe Country Club; although located on private grounds, the pool was a public facility, built with federal funds during the Great Depression . It was operated with city funds raised by taxes on all residents. Perry and Williams argued that since all citizens in Monroe were taxed for the pool's operation, all should be able to use it. Following these activities, a "large, heavily-armed" Ku Klux Klan motorcade, led by James W. "Catfish" Cole , had attacked Perry's home. Harry Golden , in

2040-507: The two boys were not allowed to see their children for weeks. It became an international cause célèbre : Joyce Egginton , a journalist with the London Observer (United Kingdom), got permission to visit the boys and took their mothers along. She smuggled in a camera and took a photograph of the mothers hugging their children. Due to the alleged crime, the boys had not been allowed any contact with them for weeks. Egginton's photograph

2091-403: The two young boys, who were arrested in October 1958, and for a week refused to allow them to see their parents or legal counsel. Police beat the boys and threatened them with more injury in an attempt to extract confessions. After being jailed for three months, the boys were charged by Juvenile Judge Hampton Price and convicted of molestation. Price sentenced them to reform school, perhaps until

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2142-673: The use of foster homes. In the 1950s and 1960s, many of the same problems that had occurred with the former system of incarcerating juveniles along with adults began to be noticed in reform school — older juveniles exploiting the younger ones, sexually and otherwise, and the younger ones taking the more hardened, usually older offenders as role models and mentors. Also, the term "reform school" itself, originally intended as destigmatizing , had developed its own stigma. Today, no state openly or officially refers to its juvenile correctional institutions as "reform schools", although such institutions still exist. The attempt has also been made to reduce

2193-440: The use of less-restrictive settings which allow the youths to remain in their own homes, usually while attending during the daytime an alternative school , a term which may be viewed with pejorative bias, although these as defined are considered broad and diverse in scope. There may be court-monitored probation or other restrictions, such as a strict curfew applied to the clientele of the "Department of Youth Services" or whatever

2244-457: Was "embarrassed by the international press coverage to eventually pardon the children, Governor Hodges "refused to apologize for [the State of North Carolina's] harsh treatment" of the children. Monroe, North Carolina Monroe is a city in and the county seat of Union County, North Carolina , United States. The population increased from 32,797 in 2010 to 34,551 in 2020 . It is within

2295-526: Was $ 40,457, and the median income for a family was $ 44,953. Males had a median income of $ 30,265 versus $ 22,889 for females. The per capita income for the city was $ 17,970. About 11.7% of families and 17.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 28.7% of those under age 18 and 12.8% of those age 65 or over. Two minor league baseball teams in the Western Carolinas League were based in Monroe. The Monroe Indians played in

2346-492: Was a confession of guilt." Price sentenced the boys to indefinite terms in reform school . The boys, still denied legal counsel, were told they might get out when they were 21 years old. The boys were imprisoned in the North Carolina state reformatory in Hoffmann in October 1958. The North Carolina chapter of the NAACP raised funds to hire an experienced lawyer and appeal their case. The national office had not wanted to enter

2397-679: Was given in the 1854 Youthful Offenders Act (the Reformatory Schools Act) . This provided financial assistance and support for reformatory schools as an alternative to prison. Industrial schools were regularised three years later by the 1857 Industrial schools act . In Australia, reform schools were established by the Neglected and Criminal Children Act 1864 , which provided for children who came under state guardianship. In theory, children who were considered 'neglected' were sent to an industrial school, while those who had broken

2448-449: Was never the same after these events. During this time, no judge from North Carolina would overrule Price. Members of the local Ku Klux Klan burned crosses in front of the boys' families' houses, and some people shot at the houses. The Monroe KKK chapter was strong and an estimated 7,000 Klan members attended a Klan meeting near Monroe, a city with total population of only 12,000. In a National Public Radio interview in 2011, members of

2499-434: Was published, "showing the boys had been severely beaten and abused by the arresting police." Her story of the case and the related photo were printed throughout Europe and Asia; the London Observer ran a photograph of the children's reunion with their mothers under the headline, "WHY?" The United States Information Agency reported receiving more than 12,000 letters regarding the case, with most people expressing outrage at

2550-427: Was scheduled in 1975, but North Carolina finally reviewed its case and dropped the charges against him. The Jesse Helms family was prominent among the white community during these years. Jesse Helms Sr. served as Police and Fire Chief of Monroe for many years. Jesse Helms , Jr. was born and grew up in the town, where whites were Democrats in his youth. He became a politician and was elected to five terms (1973–2003) as

2601-738: Was the Silver Comet, ending service in October 1969. Trains used to stop at the Seaboard Air Line Railroad depot . Reform school Both in the United Kingdom and the United States, they came out of social concerns about cities, poverty, immigration and vagrancy following industrialization , as well as from a shift in society's attitude from retribution (punishing the miscreant) to reforming . They were distinct from borstals (UK; 1902–1982), which were enclosed juvenile prisons. Social reformers in America during

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