Abby Connolly
Did you know that there was still one woman convicted during the Salem Witch Trials who had not yet been exonerated?
Thanks to the work of Massachusetts State Senator Diana DiZoglio and civics students at North Andover Middle School, the “last witch” has finally had her name cleared.
In a powerful Senate floor speech made by Senator DiZoglio, she mentions that 11 women were convicted but never executed during the Salem Witch Trials, apart from the 19 that were executed.
Out of those 11 women, 1 had escaped, two were pregnant, and the rest had not yet been executed because they had confessed.
Eventually, they would’ve been executed. But the trials had come to an end before that could happen.
Senator DiZoglio states that beginning in 1702, those remaining women had started working to have their convictions overturned. Nine years later, all of them had been exonerated except for one woman – Elizabeth Johnson Jr.
In her speech, Senator DiZoglio explains that the specific reasons as to why Elizabeth had not been pardoned were unclear.
However, there is speculation that because she was not a wife or mother, the courts and general assembly made no efforts to clear her name.
“Elizabeth’s story and struggle, friends, continue to greatly resonate today,” says Senator DiZoglio in her speech.
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