Activist to Be Pardoned in 1963 Misdemeanor
An African American woman arrested while trying to integrate a public swimming pool in 1963 will be the first person pardoned by Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco.
Blanco said in Baton Rouge that she would grant the pardon for Betty Claiborne, 62, on Monday as part of ceremonies honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Claiborne was convicted of simple battery, a misdemeanor, for her part in the incident.
“I thought that it would speak to the way Louisiana has changed, and it also speaks to certain injustices of the past,” Blanco said.
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