Roosevelt Curry never knew his great-aunt, but her story has haunted him for many years.
Curry is the great-grandnephew of Lena Baker, who in 1945, became the only woman to die in Georgia's electric chair after she was convicted by an all-white jury of killing a white mill operator in southwest Georgia. Baker, whose story was the subject of a film by writer-director Ralph Wilcox, claimed the killing of E.B. Knight, whom she worked for as a nurse and maid, was in self-defense during a struggle when she tried to end years of an abusive relationship.
Baker grew up the daughter of sharecroppers with few options and her life was ended by Jim Crow justice, said Curry, a retired construction supervisor and former gospel singer from Attapulgus, Ga.
"It's hurts me the way she was mistreated," he said. "She didn't have anybody to help her but God."
By some accounts, Baker and Knight had developed a co-dependent relationship. According to a previous article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, she testified Knight had stalked her and threatened her life.
On Wednesday, Curry and Wilcox, will join others at a dedication ceremony for a new headstone for her grave in Cuthbert, Ga.
"What happened to her is historical and we don't want people to forget," said Wilcox. "A lot of people had never heard of Lena Baker."
For many years, her grave sat unmarked and forgotten behind Mt. Vernon Baptist Church. The townspeople didn't talk about her, and some members of the black community and her family were scared to even mention her name, Curry said. Relatives and members of the church, however, later cared for it and placed a small marker there.
"I feel good about [the dedication]," said Curry, who was instrumental in getting the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles grant Baker a posthumous pardon. "You have to tell the truth. Wrong ain't never going to win nothing."
The board didn't absolve Baker of the crime, but said not granting her clemency was a "grievous error as this case called out for mercy."
Curry said his family didn't talk much about Baker and he speaks about the "heavy burden" her three children had to bear after their mother was arrested, tried and executed. He said he still has a letter from one of Knight's relatives, who was renamed in the film, who said he wished he could have done something to help her.
"I'm not angry at the whole world," Curry said. "I'm not even angry at E.B. Knight. Nobody knows what went on between them but them and God."
Another relative, Charles "Youngblood" McElveen, a New Jersey musician and singer, also plans to be there.
"It's time," he said. "Although I don't agree with everything in the movie, it's a good thing that the story is finally being told to people. Me and my uncle have been on a quest to get justice for her. God has really blessed us and it's time to move on to the next step. Clearly, her rights were violated."
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