In December 2006, 17-year-old Theodore “Theo” Shaw was just a few credits shy of graduating from high school in Jena, Louisiana, when he and five other black teenagers were arrested and charged with attempted murder in the beating of a white classmate. What followed was national outrage over the severity of the charges against the young men, who became known as the Jena Six.
The charges were ultimately reduced, with Shaw and four others pleading no contest to misdemeanor simple battery charges. The sixth teen, Mychal Bell, pleaded guilty to a juvenile charge of second-degree battery in a separate plea deal.
