Lena Baker Court Case

Lena Baker was the first African American woman in Georgia to be executed in the electric chair. She was executed in 1945, after she was sentenced for killing a man who had held her captive. At the time of Baker's execution, the Georgia prison system was under investigation for reform. About
Lena Baker was conceived in 1900 in small town of Cotton Hill, around five miles southwest of Cuthbert, the seat of Randolph County. There, she, her brother, and her two sisters, did farm work for a living. Sometime later, Baker and her family moved to Cuthbert, where Baker did maid work cleaning houses and doing laundry to take care of herself and her three children. A local gristmill owner, Ernest B. Knight, hired her take care of him while he recovered from a broken leg. The two ended up being in a relationship, and the local newspaper reported that Knight, who was white, began holding Baker in the gristmill for days at a time.
Baker’s Story
Baker testified at her trial that Knight had kidnapped her from her home on the night of April 29, 1944, and taken her to the gristmill, where he locked her up. Her testimony in the court record shows that the two "tussled" over a gun, which discharged, killing Knight.
Trial
The trial took place on August 14, 1944, …show more content…
Her last words were," "What I done, I did in self-defense, or I would have been killed myself. Where I was I could not overcome it. God has forgiven me. I have nothing against anyone. I picked cotton for Mr. Pritchett, and he has been good to me. I am ready to go. I am one in the number. I am ready to meet my God. I have a very strong conscience." She was announced dead at 11:26 a.m., after six minutes and several shocks. The Cuthbert daily paper reported Baker's death with the title "Baker Burns." Baker was laid to rest in the cemetery next to Mt. Vernon Missionary Baptist Church in Randolph County. In 1998 a group of fellow church members marked her