A woman who was condemned in the infamous Salem Witch Trials may soon receive a long overdue pardon thanks to the work of a Massachusetts middle school class. Elizabeth Johnson Jr was reportedly among the nearly 175 people who were swept up in the notorious case of mass hysteria which gripped New England in the 1690s. Convicted of practicing witchcraft in 1693, she had been sentenced to death, but managed to avoid execution when then-Massachusetts governor William Phips granted her a reprieve shortly thereafter as cooler heads had prevailed among officials in the state and they realized the injustices that were unfolding in Salem.

Although she subsequently passed away in 1747, Johnson's conviction has remained on the proverbial books ever since her trial. Over two centuries later, in 1957, lawmakers in Massachusetts passed a bill that exonerated numerous people who had been condemned in the monstrous witch trials, but her name was not on that list and she also slipped through the cracks again when a similar piece of legislation was enacted in 2001. With no surviving family to fight to clear her name, Johnson's case remained in limbo until last year when a civics class in the Massachusetts town of North Andover took up her cause.

Spearheaded by teacher Carrie LaPierre, students researched Johnson's story and set about learning how an official pardon could be bestowed upon the falsely accused witch so long ago.The class is now working with their state senator, Diana DiZoglio, to put forward a new piece of legislation that will finally exonerate Johnson. Remarkably, should the bill pass, she would be the last remaining 'witch' convicted during the trials to have their name officially cleared. "We will never be able to change what happened to these victims," DiZoglio said, "but at the very least, we can set the record straight.”