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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lena's Story Needed to Be Told,
By Jean E. Miller (Indianapolis, Indiana) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Lena Baker Story (Paperback)
The story of Lena Baker, the first and only woman to be executed legally in the state of Georgia, needed to be told.Lena was an impoverished Black woman who lived in Cuthbert, the seat of Randolph County, in southwest Georgia. She lost control of her life because, in addition to her station, of two facts. A prominent white man insisted she be his mistress, and she was dependent on alcohol. When she killed her oppressor in self-defense, she was tried for murder. Did she receive a fair trial? Was her case given an adequate investigation? Was she assigned a competent defense attorney? The exploration of these questions makes Phillips's The Lena Baker Story an absorbing one, but even more engaging are the minute details the reader learns of small-town, Southern life in the 1940s. We are told what is playing at the movies. We know that one Cuthbert resident drove all the way to Eufala, Alabama, to buy her pet bird cherry cokes. We know what most folks had for dinner. This book is highly recommended for its general appeal and to any student of the history of jurisprudence, of the civil rights of Blacks and women, of Americana, or of Georgia history.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rough Justice,
By
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This review is from: The Lena Baker Story (Paperback)
Lela Bond Phillips's recounting of this once forgotten miscarriage of justice is a gripping story well told in its sparse yet lively style covering barely 120 pages. While others would have padded the book with trial transcripts and other ephemera Phillips sticks to the facts of the case painting a warts and all portrait of Lena Baker, the accused murderer and her relationship with Ernest White, the victim. Phillips is unsparing in the depiction of the events leading to the murder as well as well as providing background information on all the major characters as events unfold. Phillips does an outstanding job of explaining how the standards of crime scene investigation and forensic evidence of the era were not as rigorous as they are now and points out the inherent contradictions in the testimony and evidence presented at trial. Phillips studiously avoids making judgments and is careful to point out that readers should not use contemporary standards to judge the characters and their actions. The unflattering and unemotional depiction of an interracial relationship gone wrong in the Jim Crow South has the potential for overwrought prose, but Phillips keeps that in check, largely due to her writing ability (she has an MA in English). In fact her style of writing is well suited for historical writing even though here she is writing out-of-field.
When printed in 1998 this book generated renewed interest in the case and efforts to mark Ms. Baker's grave and obtain a pardon from the Board of Parole and Pardons was undertaken. Those efforts bore fruit on August 15, 2005 when the Board posthumously pardoned Ms. Baker. The pardon is a small consolation as she was electrocuted 60 years ago in Georgia's electric chair; the only woman to be put to death. This book is highly recommended for those interested in exploring the Jim Crow era of the South, Georgia History, and real life crime stories. Phillips's style of writing is very enjoyable and this book is a lively page turner that will give you a better understanding of the times.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lena's Story Needed to Be Told,
By Jean E. Miller (Indianapolis, Indiana) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Lena Baker Story (Paperback)
The story of Lena Baker, the first and only woman to be executed legally in the state of Georgia, needed to be told.Lena was an impoverished Black woman who lived in Cuthbert, the seat of Randolph County, in southwest Georgia. She lost control of her life because, in addition to her station, of two facts. A prominent white man insisted she be his mistress, and she was dependent on alcohol. When she killed her oppressor in self-defense, she was tried for murder. Did she receive a fair trial? Was her case given an adequate investigation? Was she assigned a competent defense attorney? The exploration of these questions makes Phillips's The Lena Baker Story an absorbing one, but even more engaging are the minute details the reader learns of small-town, Southern life in the 1940s. We are told what is playing at the movies. We know that one Cuthbert resident drove all the way to Eufala, Alabama, to buy her pet bird cherry cokes. We know what most folks had for dinner. This book is highly recommended for its general appeal and to any student of the history of jurisprudence, of the civil rights of Blacks and women, of Americana, or of Georgia history.
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