Lena Baker (the first and only woman executed in Georgia) was an African American maid who was executed for the murder of her employer, Ernest Young in 1945. At her trial she claimed that he had imprisoned, sexually abused, and threatened to shoot her should she attempt to leave. So she took his gun and shot him. Lena was far from an angel. She was a bit of an alcoholic and at first offered her body to Young in exchange for liquor. The entire town knew that and no one in the town liked Young. It didnt matter that Young always carried a pistol with around town and that no one liked him, , a white man had been killed by a black woman, something that was intolerable at this time. Lena Baker was charged with capital murder and stood trial on to an all-white male jury convicted. Within hours she was convicted and sentenced to the electric chair.
This very reviting account of our history will hit the small screen with an independant production next year and Tichina Arnold has signed on to play the lead roll. This will be the first leading movie roll for her.
1 comment
Interesting story. A must see!
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