In 1945, Lena Baker was awaiting execution. Baker was a house cleaner convicted of murdering her white employer, Ernest Knight. He was a terrible man, often locking her in his gristmill for days. But one night, it got even worse.
During her one-day trial, Baker testified that on April 29, 1944, Knight had locked her in the gristmill, but this time, the two “tussled” over a pistol that went off, killing Knight. Baker maintained her innocence, claiming self-defense, but the odds were against her.
The American legal system wasn’t built to protect and serve people like Lena Baker. The all-white male jury that convicted Baker of murder and sentenced her to death proves this. But Baker stood firm until the very end.
Baker was executed in the electric chair on March 5, 1945, making her the first and only woman to be executed this way in Georgia. Her powerful last words show that she knew morally she was in the right. “God has forgiven me…I am one in the number. I am ready to meet my God. I have a very strong conscience.”
Lena Baker was innocent, but the legal system didn’t care. Her story is our reminder that we can never trust our safety to the whims of a white supremacist legal system.