ST. PAUL, MN (KFGO KDAL) – For the first time in the state’s history, Minnesota has granted a posthumous pardon, clearing the name of a black man convicted of a 1920 rape in Duluth.
The board of pardons, made up of Attorney General Keith Ellison, Gov. Tim Walz, and others, voted unanimously Friday to pardon Max Mason.
The crime in question happened in 1920 after Irene Tusken, a white woman, claimed to be gang-raped by several black men in West Duluth while attending a traveling circus. Those allegations incited a mob of thousands, which led to the lynching of Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson, and Issac McGhie in downtown Duluth. Mason was then tried and convicted in the rape.
According to the pardon application, the doctor who examined Tusken never found any evidence of rape.
The pardon was requested by Duluth legislators Liz Olson and Jennfier Schultz, 11 former members of the Pardon Board, St. Louis County Attorney Mark Rubin and other officials seeking to correct the wrongful action.
A gathering and Day of Remembrance at the Clayton-Jackson-McGhie Memorial in downtown Duluth on Monday has been canceled because of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic but a virtual Day of Remembrance will be held online.
