Ardore Baker was a black girl who experienced a terrible ordeal during her life. Born in a small town in Georgia, Lena lived with her mother and three children. Charged of murdering her workplace Ernest Knight, Lena Baker alleged that he verbally and bodily abused her. Keeping her as a prisoner, Lena yearned for liberty and sought many techniques to obtain that. Ernest Dark night was a white-colored man, a local gristmill owner who was determined to keep Lena not only as an employee, nevertheless also as being a sexual spouse.
Ardore came to improve Knight actually hired by his boy to help with chores when he recovered from a broken leg. Yet , from Knight’s point of view your woman was presently there to take care of every his demands. In this paper you will get the opportunity to walk in Lena’s shoes. Let me attempt to let her know story through magazine articles, books, newspaper articles and also other research. You will see that in the end Lena’s life no matter how terrible it absolutely was, it wasn’t all in vain, and still today she is appreciated for her previous heartfelt words and calm disposition.
Ulysia Gayle
Julie Warner
The english language
December 3, 2012
Justice for Impegno
Lena Baker was a dark woman given birth to with three strikes against her. The first is that she was developed in the to the south. The second is that she was developed black. The 3rd was that she was born poor. She was a black female born in a town in Georgia. Your woman lived with her mom and three children and later moved five miles freebie southwest of Cuthbert Georgia. Ardore was no unfamiliar person to crime nor was she a stranger to hard work. Trying to find work she acquired a job for a neighborhood gristmill owner named Ernest Knight. Knight needed a caregiver as a result of a broken leg. This individual needed help with household chores and meals, and Ardore needed cash. She obtained the job with intentions of your business relationship only. However , Knight had other stuff in mind. Their very own relationship became sexual about many events without Lena’s consent. The creation of verbal and physical misuse soon followed. Threats against her protection as well as her children and mother were used to keep Lena at bay. She complied with Dark night sexually but during this time (1940) relationships of this nature among blacks and whites had been prohibited.
Producing several goes out, Knight could find Ardore, even likely to her house during maximum hours on numerous events to take her and do with her because pleased. Later on during this unacceptable relationship Ernest Knight’s boy as well as the area learned of its which means and teased and taunged Lena for doing it, although Dark night was the aggressor. Lena was eventually assaulted by Knight’s son, defeated so critically that your woman needed the perfect time to recover very little. Shortly later on she was jailed for the similar relationship. Exhausted by the mistreatment, Lena wanted desperately to return home, although Knight begged the differ. Imprisoned your woman knew she was struggling with for her lifestyle, despite the threats she and Knight entered into battle over a gun which will Knight was eventually taken. Panicked and afraid Ardore fled the scene. She eventually flipped herself along with hopes that all would work in her favor. Needless to say even though the town recognized of this marriage, no one said anything in Lena’s security.
No one found Lena’s save. There was simply no justice intended for Lena. A black girl accused of murdering a white man didn’t stand a chance regardless of the circumstances. Lena soon went on trial. The trial organised on August 14, 1944, at the courthouse in Randolph County underneath the jurisdiction of Judge Charles William “Two Gun Worrill, who presided at court with two pistols for the bench. In her accounts, Baker described how Dark night locked her in the work house when he went to a chapel singing. When he returned, this individual brought her something to eat but rejected to let her leave, the lady said. When ever she was adament on going home, the two began to argue, and Knight brandished an flat iron bar that was used to lock the door. Baker stated she terrifying for her life and attempted to push previous Knight to leave. Since she did, Knight was shot through the head. Baker testified that she strolled immediately towards the house of J. A. Cox (the county coroner and a man for which she experienced done fieldwork) and advised him that she experienced killed Ernest Knight, (Lela Phillips, Andrew College, Printed 12/09/2005).
The jury consisted of twelve light men (ofcourse not unusual to get 1944), but many of the jurors were friends who attended the same tiny churches, socialized with every single other’s people at cards parties, and shared morning hours coffee at a local coffee shop. (Justice Rejected, THE MAG FOR THE WRONGLY CHARGED, Issue 29 ” Summer 2005, Site 8). Identified guilty of tough in less than 6th hours, Impegno received the death charges as her sentence, making Lena Baker a place of all time as the first in support of woman being sentenced to death by simply electric chair in the state Georgia, (Netflix, lenabakerthemovie. com 2008). On Drive 5th 1945, after getting held in a prison in Reidsville GA, the lady was executed but not before saying these types of last words and phrases calmly. “What I performed, I did in self- defense, or I would personally have been murdered myself. I am prepared to meet my God.
She was pronounced dead after six minutes and lots of shocks as her family members mourned. (Albany Herald, Seal for The Baker Family, August thirtieth 2012). In 2005 Baker was approved a full and unconditional pardon by the Express of Georgia, 60 years after her setup. The movie “The Lena Baker Story, is about her life. Her nephew, Roosevelt Curry, received the papers pardoning Baker posthumously. The pardon stated the 1945 decision to deny her clemency and execute her was “a grievous error. Baker was buried in the Vernon Missionary Baptist Church cemetery in Coleman in which she is currently resting in peace. Sadly, neither her mother neither her children lived to find out that one day there would be Rights for Ardore. (Albany Herald, Closure for The Baker Family, September 30th 2012).
Work Reported
Phillips, Lela. “The New Atlanta Encyclopedia, History and Archaeology. The Ardore Baker Circumstance. Andrew University, Published 12/09/2005.
Phillips, Lela. “Justice Denied: THE MAGAZINE WITH THE WRONGLY FALSELY ACCUSED. Issue 29- Summer june 2006, Page eight.
Wilcox, Ralph. “Netflix, thelenabakermovie. com. Hope and Redemption. 2008. Phillips, Bond Lela. “The Black Commentator. Execution In A Small Town. Andrew College Cuthbert GA.
The Albany Herald, Seal For The Baker Friends and family. Issue September 30th, 2012
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