Portrait of George Stinney

Birthday profile

George Stinney

George Stinney Jr., wrongfully convicted African-American inmate; second youngest person in the U.S. to be executed (died 1944)

Born
October 21, 1929
Died
June 16, 1944
Zodiac sign
Libra
Birth year
1929

About George Stinney

George Junius Stinney Jr. (October 21, 1929 – June 16, 1944) was an African American boy who was wrongfully executed at the age of 14 after being convicted, during an unfair trial, for the murders of two white girls – 11-year-old Betty June Binnicker (December 9, 1932 – March 22, 1944) and 8-year-old Mary Emma Thames (March 14, 1936 – March 22, 1944) – in his hometown of Alcolu, South Carolina. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death on a single day in April 1944 and then executed by electric chair on June 16, 1944, after Governor Olin D. Johnston refused to grant him clemency. A re-examination of Stinney's case began in 2004, and several individuals and the Northeastern University School of Law sought a judicial review. Stinney's murder conviction was vacated in 2014, with a South Carolina court ruling that he had not received a fair trial, and was thus wrongfully executed. Stinney is the youngest American with an exact birth date confirmed to be both sentenced to death and executed in the 20th century. == Background == In 1944, George Stinney stood 5 feet 1 inch (154 cm), and weighed 90–95 pounds (40–43 kg). He lived in a small home with a chicken coop in his hometown of Alcolu, South Carolina, with his father, George Junius Stinney, mother Aimé Brown Stinney, brother Charles Stinney, 12, and sisters Katherine Stinney, 10, and Aimé Stinney Ruffner, 7. He also had two older brothers, LeRoy Stinney, 21, and Johnny Stinney, 17 as well as an older sister, Carolina Stinney, 20. Stinney's father worked at the town's sawmill, and the family resided in company housing.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

The world when George Stinney was born

George Stinney was born in 1929. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1929

  • #1 song"Singin' in the Rain"
  • Top movieThe Broadway Melody (first Best Picture winner)
  • Best-selling bookA Farewell to Arms – Ernest Hemingway

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentFirst baseball All-Star Game proposed
  • Top headlineStock market crashes on Black Tuesday
  • Technology milestoneFirst Academy Awards ceremony held
  • Defining fadYo-yos
  • Notable inventionCar radio
  • World population2.10 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderHerbert Hoover
  • Sports championPhiladelphia Athletics (World Series)
  • U.S. population121.8M

1929 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in George Stinney's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19292026
Gas$0.21$3.45/gal
Average home$6,300$435,000
Average income$3,850$67,500
Movie ticket$0.25$11.95
Postage stamp$0.02$0.73
Population121.8M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Library of Congress, ISNI, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.