Listen to today’s Subversive Historian

The Salem Witch Trials by Subversive Historian Gabriel San Roman

Three-hundred and sixteen years ago on this day in people’s history, five people were executed as part of the Salem Witch Trials. On August 19th, 1692, a clergyman, a woman and three other men were put to death in Salem, Massachusetts after being found guilty of “witchcraft.” As a result of the religious fanatic witch hunts, 19 people in all – 14 of them women – were hanged. Legal procedures used during the trials included spectral evidence and touch tests. Under touch tests, a blindfolded person accused of witchcraft would lay their hands upon an alleged victim and the victim’s illness somehow ceased, then the accused could be found guilty. Historian Richard Hofstadte would later connect the fear-based fanaticism of the Salem Witch Trials with the McCarthyism of his days.

But back to Salem; the witch trials must be one of those classic examples of religious tolerance exhibited by Colonial America, right?

For Uprising, this is your truth professa saying it’s no mystery why they conceal our history!