From Lena Baker to Breonna Taylor: Justice Denied for Black Women
From Lena Baker to Breonna Taylor: Justice Denied for Black Women By Janice L. Liddell, PhD Both of their executions occurred in March; that and being betrayed by the American justice system are ties that bind two otherwise very different Black women. Lena Mae Baker, a Black mother of three and a domestic in rural Georgia was executed on March 5, 1945, at the age of 45. For killing her oppressive and predatory employer in self-defense, she became the only woman tried and executed in Georgia's electric chair. The 26-year-old Breonna Taylor did nothing but sleep in her apartment wherein the wee hours of March 13, 2020, she was shot to death by gun-happy cops. They were executing a no-knock warrant for the arrest of someone who was nowhere near the apartment and ultimately they sprayed her home with 32 rounds, killing her instantly. Yes, the circumstances of these two women were extremely different and occurred decades apart, but these events, nevertheless, signal that little has c