Lena Baker
Lena Baker was a Black woman whose family, including her great-nephew Roosevelt Curry and great-great-nephew Charles McElveen, worked for decades to clear her name. Georgia executed her in the electric chair at Georgia State Prison in Reidsville on March 5, 1945. She maintained that she acted in self-defense, and her family disputed the outcome of her case. In 2005 the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles granted her a full posthumous pardon, calling its refusal of clemency before the execution a grievous error. Her final statement, as reported, was 'God has forgiven me, I have nothing against anyone.'
Cause of death, as reported: Executed by the state. Baker maintained she acted in self-defense against the man she worked for, and the state Board of Pardons and Paroles later granted her a posthumous pardon, calling its refusal of clemency a grievous error.
Reported by: Georgia Department of Corrections (the agency that held her); Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles.
Sources (6)
- From 2004: A lonely wait for final walk - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
- Georgia pardons executed maid after 60 years
- The last woman executed in Georgia was Lena Baker in 1945
- Tipping the scales of justice over 70 years later: Lena Baker’s story still being told
- Executions in Georgia, 1924-2024
- Lena Baker was executed in Ga. and later pardoned. Her legacy carries on with her great-granddaughter, KaMillion