Lena Baker

The Lena Baker headstone in Mt. Vernon Baptist Church cemetery, in Cuthbert, Georgia Lena Baker (June 8, 1900 – March 5, 1945) was an African American woman in Cuthbert, Georgia, United States, who was convicted of capital murder of Ernest Knight, a white man who had sexually assaulted her. She was executed by the state of Georgia in 1945.

By the 1940s, Baker was the mother of three children and worked as a maid to support her family.

Killing In 1944, Baker started working for Ernest Knight, an older white man who had broken his leg. He owned a gristmill and, upon sexually assaulting Lena multiple times, he would keep her there imprisoned for days at a time in "near slavery." Knight's son and townspeople disliked their "relationship", and tried to end it through threatening Baker.

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. — Baker's last words

In 2003, descendants of Baker's family began to mark the anniversary of her death and Mother's Day at her graveside. That year Baker's grandnephew, Roosevelt Curry, requested an official pardon from the state, aided by the Georgia-based prison advocacy group, Prison and Jail Project.

In 2005, the Parole Board granted Baker a full and unconditional pardon.

Representation in other media In 2001, Lela Bond Phillips, a professor at Andrew College, published a biography titled The Lena Baker Story, which was adapted into a feature film of the same name in 2008. Tichina Arnold played the role of Lena Baker.