Kissing Case

The Kissing Case was the arrest, conviction and lengthy sentencing of two prepubescent African-American boys in 1958 in Monroe, North Carolina, United States. 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 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, and other civil rights organizations such as the New York-based 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 the international press.

At the urging of former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, President Dwight D. Eisenhower took action behind the scenes to pressure North Carolina Governor Luther H. Hodges to intervene. 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.

Incident

On October 28, 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 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.