MS Free Press: “May 8, 2021, was the 70th anniversary of the electrocution of Willie McGee in Mississippi’s traveling electric chair, a grim milestone in the history of civil rights in Mississippi. All these years later, McGee’s family continues to mourn his life and confront the impact of the tragic and undoubtedly unjust circumstances surrounding his death.
At the time of McGee’s electrocution, news outlets across the United States, Europe and Asia covered what was dubbed a “legal lynching.”…
McGee’s case captured the nation’s attention as he had gone through three trials and three convictions between 1945 and 1951. As famed civil rights reporter John Popham wrote in The New York Times: “The first verdict was reversed by the State Supreme Court and a change of venue was granted because of local public feeling. The second verdict was reversed by the United States Supreme Court on the ground that Negroes had been systematically excluded from Mississippi juries. The third verdict was affirmed by the State Supreme Court. The United States Supreme Court refused to review it.”
Beyond Mississippi’s borders, protesters chained themselves to the columns of the Lincoln Memorial in the hopes of halting McGee’s execution. Ordinary citizens and major public figures commented on the case. William Faulkner, Albert Einstein, Josephine Baker, Jessica Mitford, Norman Mailer, Richard Wright and Frida Kahlo all weighed in on McGee’s plight.
Lorraine Hansberry, the playwright, wrote a poem about McGee, and Tennessee Williams referred to McGee’s case in his play “Orpheus Descending.””