Lynched at 18, College Student's Legacy Lives On as Nephew Accepts His Degree 95 Years Later: 'Martyr of Justice'
Almost 100 years later, his nephew, Imam Plemon El-Amin, gratefully accepted his honorary posthumous bachelor's degree
'People are conscious of his life, which means he's still alive," El-Amin said
Nearly a century after an 18-year-old Black college student was lynched at a Georgia playground, his nephew has accepted his honorary posthumous bachelor's degree.
Dennis Hubert, a sophomore divinity school student, received the posthumous degree from Morehouse College, a historically Black college in Atlanta, on Sunday, May 18, CNN and FOX affiliate WAGA reported. His nephew, Imam Plemon El-Amin, whom he never got the chance to meet, gladly accepted Hubert's Bachelor of Arts degree in religion.
During the graduation ceremony, David Thomas, the university's president, described Hubert as a 'son of Morehouse, a martyr of justice, and what history now sees as the Trayvon Martin of the 1930s in Atlanta,' according to CNN. The college and El-Amin did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's requests for comment.
For El-Amin, now 75, the moment was important to his family and resonated with a common sentiment in Islam: a person who dies leaves nothing behind except for their good deeds, knowledge and loved ones who pray for them.
'Many prayers were said in his name,' El-Amin told the outlet about the ceremony. 'Many people remembered him and were informed about his life and his legacy, and so the knowledge was there, as well as the charity of him sacrificing his life so that we would be more conscious of the value of young life and the value of human life, but also the value of justice.'
On June 15, 1930, Hubert had spent the day at his mother's and grandmother's houses before going to the playground of Crogman School, a segregated school for Black children. He was in the area for less than 15 minutes before seven white men came up to the college student and accused him of insulting a white woman, according to the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI). They began attacking him, despite Hubert saying he knew nothing about their allegations.
'What do you want of me? I have done nothing,' a witness recalled the young man saying.
'Without investigation, police involvement, or trial, one of the white men held a gun to the back of Dennis Hubert's head and shot him at point blank range in front of at least two dozen witnesses,' wrote the nonprofit organization, which was founded by lawyer Bryan Stevenson to end mass incarceration and fight against racial injustice.
The fatal attack was part of a wave of racially motivated killings during that era in the United States, especially in the south. There were more than 4,000 lynchings in the south between 1877 and 1950, the EJI reported.
After Hubert's death, which reverberated through the county because his family was so well known, the seven men were arrested — an unusual occurrence at the time. Two days after the men were denied bail, the home of Hubert's father, a beloved pastor, was intentionally burned to the ground, and a Baptist church that was attempting to raise money for the rebuilding and support the men's prosecution was tear-gassed.
'A few days later Dennis's cousin, Rev. Charles R. Hubert, narrowly escaped an attempted murder,' the EJI wrote, adding that the chapel for Morehouse sister college, Spelman College, 'was attacked by night riders who threw stones and shattered the Chapel's lamps.'
Despite the witnesses who saw Dennis's murder, the seven men involved were acquitted and were convicted of lesser offenses.
Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
'One defendant received 12-15 years imprisonment for voluntary manslaughter, while the defendant who confessed to firing the fatal shot received a sentence of just two years,' according to the nonprofit.
Almost a century after the Hubert family was terrorized — and lost a promising son — they are grateful he is finally recognized.
'Ninety-five years later, people are conscious of his life, which means he's still alive,' El-Amin said, according to CNN, 'though not here with us physically or in body, but his life, his will, and he is providing inspiration for those of us left behind.'
Read the original article on People

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

an hour ago
Girls in Afghanistan turn to religious schools
KABUL, Afghanistan -- For six hours every day after school, Nahideh works in a cemetery, collecting water from a nearby shrine to sell to mourners visiting loved ones' graves. She dreams of becoming a doctor — but knows it is a futile dream. When the next school year starts, she will be enrolling in a madrassa, a religious school, to learn about the Quran and Islam — and little else. 'I prefer to go to school, but I can't, so I will go to a madrassa,' she said, dark brown eyes peering out from beneath her tightly wrapped black headscarf. 'If I could go to school then I could learn and become a doctor. But I can't.' At the age of 13, Nahideh is in the last grade of primary school, the limit of education allowed for girls in Afghanistan. The country's Taliban government banned girls from secondary school and university three years ago — the only country in the world to do so. The ban is part of myriad restrictions on women and girls, dictating everything from what they can wear to where they can go and who they can go with. With no option for higher education, many girls and women are turning to madrassas instead. 'Since the schools are closed to girls, they see this as an opportunity,' said Zahid-ur-Rehman Sahibi, director of the Tasnim Nasrat Islamic Sciences Educational Center in Kabul. 'So, they come here to stay engaged in learning and studying religious sciences.' The center's roughly 400 students range in ages from about 3 to 60, and 90% are female. They study the Quran, Islamic jurisprudence, the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, and Arabic, the language of the Quran. Most Afghans, Sahibi noted, are religious. 'Even before the schools were closed, many used to attend madrassas,' he said. 'But after the closure of schools, the interest has increased significantly, because the doors of the madrassas remain open to them.' No recent official figures are available on the number of girls enrolled in madrassas, but officials say the popularity of religious schools overall has been growing. Last September, Deputy Minister of Education Karamatullah Akhundzada said at least 1 million students had enrolled in madrassas over the past year alone, bringing the total to over 3 million. Sheltered from the heat of an early summer's day in a basement room at the Tasnim Nasrat center, Sahibi's students knelt at small plastic tables on the carpeted floor, their pencils tracing lines of Arabic script in their Qurans. All 10 young women wore black niqabs, the all-encompassing garment that includes a veil, leaving only the eyes visible. 'It is very good for girls and women to study at a madrassa, because … the Quran is the word of Allah, and we are Muslims,' said 25-year-old Faiza, who had enrolled at the center five months earlier. 'Therefore, it is our duty to know what is in the book that Allah has revealed to us, to understand its interpretation and translation.' Given a choice, she would have studied medicine. While she knows that is now impossible, she still harbors hope that if she shows she is a pious student dedicated to her religion, she will be eventually allowed to. The medical profession is one of the very few still open to women in Afghanistan. 'When my family sees that I am learning Quranic sciences and that I am practicing all the teachings of the Quran in my life, and they are assured of this, they will definitely allow me to continue my studies,' she said. Her teacher said he'd prefer if women were not strictly limited to religious studies. 'In my opinion, it is very important for a sister or a woman to learn both religious sciences and other subjects, because modern knowledge is also an important part of society,' Sahibi said. 'Islam also recommends that modern sciences should be learned because they are necessary, and religious sciences are important alongside them. Both should be learned simultaneously.' The female secondary and higher education ban has been controversial in Afghanistan, even within the ranks of the Taliban itself. In a rare sign of open dissent, Deputy Foreign Minister Sher Abbas Stanikzai said in a public speech in January that there was no justification for denying education to girls and women. His remarks were reportedly not well tolerated by the Taliban leadership; Stanikzai is now officially on leave and is believed to have left the country. But they were a clear indication that many in Afghanistan recognize the long-term impact of denying education to girls. 'If this ban persists until 2030, over four million girls will have been deprived of their right to education beyond primary school,' UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement at the start of Afghanistan's new school year in March. 'The consequences for these girls — and for Afghanistan — are catastrophic. The ban negatively impacts the health system, the economy, and the future of the nation.' For some in this deeply conservative society, the teachings of Islam are hard to overstate. 'Learning the Holy Quran is the foundation of all other sciences, whether it's medicine, engineering, or other fields of knowledge,' said Mullah Mohammed Jan Mukhtar, 35, who runs a boys' madrassa north of Kabul. 'If someone first learns the Quran, they will then be able to learn these other sciences much better.' His madrassa first opened five years ago with 35 students. Now it has 160 boys aged 5-21, half of whom are boarders. Beyond religious studies, it offers a limited number of other classes such as English and math. There is also an affiliated girls' madrassa, which currently has 90 students, he said. 'In my opinion, there should be more madrassas for women,' said Mukhtar, who has been a mullah for 14 years. He stressed the importance of religious education for women. 'When they are aware of religious verdicts, they better understand the rights of their husbands, in-laws and other family members.'


Indianapolis Star
an hour ago
- Indianapolis Star
Pam Bondi reportedly told Donald Trump in May that he's named in Epstein files
WASHINGTON − Attorney General Pam Bondi told President Donald Trump in May that he was named multiple times in the government's files on Jeffrey Epstein, according to reports from the Wall Street Journal and CNN. A White House official did not dispute Trump's name is mentioned in the Epstein files, telling USA TODAY that briefing binders Bondi prepared for MAGA influencers in February included the president's name. But the official rejected any suggestion that Trump engaged in wrongdoing in connection with Epstein. Bondi told the president that he and many other figures were named in the documents, according to the reports from the Journal and CNN. The Journal cited "senior administration officials," while CNN cited "sources familiar with the discussion." Being named in such documents doesn't mean the person broke the law. 'The fact is that the President kicked him out of his club for being a creep," said White House Communications Director Steven Cheung, referring to Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. "This is nothing more than a continuation of the fake news stories concocted by the Democrats and the liberal media, just like the Obama Russiagate scandal, which President Trump was right about," Cheung said. The reports offer potential additional context for the Justice Department's decision not to make the Epstein files public. In a memo released July 7, the department said a review of the documents failed to turn up any incriminating list of clients who may have been involved with Epstein in a sex-trafficking ring. The same review found no evidence that Epstein blackmailed prominent people, or that he was murdered while in custody, according to the memo. New York's chief medical examiner ruled in 2019 that Epstein died by suicide, but Trump himself has previously expressed suspicion about that conclusion. "Certainly about the way he (Epstein) died, it would be interesting to find out what happened there because that was a weird situation and the cameras didn't happen to be working, etcetera, etcetera," Trump said on Fox & Friends Weekend on June 3, 2024. The revelations come as the Trump administration has faced an intense backlash over the Justice Department's decision not to disclose the Epstein files. Earlier this year, Bondi made public statements that built up intrigue about the Epstein files. "It's a new day, it's a new administration, and everything's going to come out to the public," Bondi told Fox News host Sean Hannity in a March interview. Amid the scrutiny, Trump has tried to shift attention to other red-meat topics that resonate with his MAGA base, including unsubstantiated allegations that former President Barack Obama committed 'treason' during the 2016 election when intelligence agencies found Russia was attempting to influence the election in Trump's favor. 'It's time to go after people,' Trump said on July 22. Trump on July 15 alleged that his political enemies 'made up' the Epstein files when a reporter asked whether Bondi told the president that his name is in the files. "No no," Trump said. "She's given us just a very quick briefing. And in terms of the credibility of the different things that they've seen, I would say that these files were made up by Comey, Obama, they were made up by the Biden ‒ and we went through years of that with the 'Russia, Russia, Russia' hoax." Trump has said Bondi should release all 'credible' information from the Epstein files. Last week, Trump said he directed Bondi to ask a federal court to produce 'all pertinent Grand Jury testimony' from federal cases brought against Epstein and his associate, convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. A federal judge in Florida rejected one of the administration's requests July 23. Two other requests are still pending in a Manhattan federal court. The Epstein files contain large volumes of images of Epstein and victims who were minors or appeared to be minors, the Justice Department and FBI said, as well as more than 10,000 videos and images of illegal child sex abuse material and other pornography. The agencies' July 7 memo said federal authorities found "no basis to revisit the disclosure of those materials and will not permit the release of child pornography." The Justice Department didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.


Indianapolis Star
an hour ago
- Indianapolis Star
Pam Bondi reportedly told Donald Trump in May that he's named in Epstein files
WASHINGTON − Attorney General Pam Bondi told President Donald Trump in May that he was named multiple times in the government's files on Jeffrey Epstein, according to reports from the Wall Street Journal and CNN. A White House official did not dispute Trump's name is mentioned in the Epstein files, telling USA TODAY that briefing binders Bondi prepared for MAGA influencers in February included the president's name. But the official rejected any suggestion that Trump engaged in wrongdoing in connection with Epstein. Bondi told the president that he and many other figures were named in the documents, according to the reports from the Journal and CNN. The Journal cited "senior administration officials," while CNN cited "sources familiar with the discussion." Being named in such documents doesn't mean the person broke the law. 'The fact is that the President kicked him out of his club for being a creep," said White House Communications Director Steven Cheung, referring to Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. "This is nothing more than a continuation of the fake news stories concocted by the Democrats and the liberal media, just like the Obama Russiagate scandal, which President Trump was right about," Cheung said. The reports offer potential additional context for the Justice Department's decision not to make the Epstein files public. In a memo released July 7, the department said a review of the documents failed to turn up any incriminating list of clients who may have been involved with Epstein in a sex-trafficking ring. The same review found no evidence that Epstein blackmailed prominent people, or that he was murdered while in custody, according to the memo. New York's chief medical examiner ruled in 2019 that Epstein died by suicide, but Trump himself has previously expressed suspicion about that conclusion. "Certainly about the way he (Epstein) died, it would be interesting to find out what happened there because that was a weird situation and the cameras didn't happen to be working, etcetera, etcetera," Trump said on Fox & Friends Weekend on June 3, 2024. The revelations come as the Trump administration has faced an intense backlash over the Justice Department's decision not to disclose the Epstein files. Earlier this year, Bondi made public statements that built up intrigue about the Epstein files. "It's a new day, it's a new administration, and everything's going to come out to the public," Bondi told Fox News host Sean Hannity in a March interview. Amid the scrutiny, Trump has tried to shift attention to other red-meat topics that resonate with his MAGA base, including unsubstantiated allegations that former President Barack Obama committed 'treason' during the 2016 election when intelligence agencies found Russia was attempting to influence the election in Trump's favor. 'It's time to go after people,' Trump said on July 22. Trump on July 15 alleged that his political enemies 'made up' the Epstein files when a reporter asked whether Bondi told the president that his name is in the files. "No no," Trump said. "She's given us just a very quick briefing. And in terms of the credibility of the different things that they've seen, I would say that these files were made up by Comey, Obama, they were made up by the Biden ‒ and we went through years of that with the 'Russia, Russia, Russia' hoax." Trump has said Bondi should release all 'credible' information from the Epstein files. Last week, Trump said he directed Bondi to ask a federal court to produce 'all pertinent Grand Jury testimony' from federal cases brought against Epstein and his associate, convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. A federal judge in Florida rejected one of the administration's requests July 23. Two other requests are still pending in a Manhattan federal court. The Epstein files contain large volumes of images of Epstein and victims who were minors or appeared to be minors, the Justice Department and FBI said, as well as more than 10,000 videos and images of illegal child sex abuse material and other pornography. The agencies' July 7 memo said federal authorities found "no basis to revisit the disclosure of those materials and will not permit the release of child pornography." The Justice Department didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.