Ben Chavis
Biography
Civil-rights organizer (United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice) and leader of the Wilmington Ten, convicted on trumped-up charges of firebombing a white-owned store during 1971 racial unrest in Wilmington, NC. Originally sentenced to 25–29 years. The Black Panther Vol. 18 no.2 (1978); Amnesty International classed the group as political prisoners. The convictions were overturned in 1980 and the group pardoned as innocent in 2012. [Source: The Black Panther (Black Panther Party newspaper), v18 no.2; digitized at marxists.org — https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/black-panther/index.htm]
Benjamin Chavis Jr. was a young minister and a representative of the United Church of Christ’s Commission for Racial Justice who went to Wilmington in early 1971 to support Black students organizing a school boycott amid escalating conflict over desegregation and unequal treatment in the public schools. He became associated with the local protest movement that drew national attention and was later referred to as the Wilmington Ten.
After unrest that included the February 1971 firebombing of Mike's Grocery and accusations of attacks on emergency responders, Chavis and nine others were prosecuted in 1972; a jury convicted them on October 17, 1972, and Chavis received a 34‑year sentence. James B. Hunt Jr. later commuted the group’s sentences, and Chavis was the last to be paroled (December 1979); in December 1980, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit overturned the convictions. Decades later, Beverly Perdue issued pardons of innocence (Dec. 31, 2012), formally clearing the Wilmington Ten.
Born in Oxford, NC. By 1971, at age 23, was UCC Commission for Racial Justice field organizer dispatched to Wilmington to support Black students boycotting segregated schools. Oldest of the Wilmington Ten and de facto leader. Received the longest sentence: 34 years. Imprisoned ~4.5 years, paroled December 1979. Convictions overturned 1980. Later: Executive Director NAACP (1993-94); National Director Million Man March (1995). Pardoned innocent 2012; received state compensation. Continues as journalist (Chavis Chronicles).
