11/30/2025
Too bad he couldn’t take back those horrible actions.
Are we learning lessons yet?? 🤔
Did you know just one magistrate publicly apologized for his actions after the Salem witch trials?
In 1697, Judge Samuel Sewall stood before his congregation as his minister read his statement of apology. Around the same time, 12 former members of the jury came forward with their own statement acknowledging their grave error.
The other overseers of the trials never publicly commented on their participation in the Salem witch hunt, though it is clear some went to their graves maintaining this had been a necessary, protective measure in a time of unprecedented crisis.
In the words of historian Emerson Baker, Sewall's apology was "a breathtaking act of courage, piety, and humility for one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the colony to take responsibility for his actions and openly admit what some refused to accept and others had only hinted at."
This famous illustration of Sewall's apology is one of a series of murals in the House chamber of the Massachusetts State House.
