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1943: A black man is accused of raping a young white girl in a climate of fear
The Mercy Seat
What you need to know before your trail
As the sun begins to set over Louisiana one October day in 1943, a young black man faces the final hours of his life: at midnight, eighteen-year-old Willie Jones will be executed by electric chair for raping a white girl – a crime some believe he did not commit.
In a tale taut with tension, events unfold hour by hour from the perspectives of nine people involved. They include Willie himself, who knows what really happened, and his father, desperately trying to reach the town jail to see his son one last time; the prosecuting lawyer, haunted by being forced to seek the death penalty against his convictions, and his wife, who believes Willie to be innocent; the priest who has become a friend to Willie; and a mother whose only son is fighting in the Pacific, bent on befriending her black neighbours in defiance of her husband.
Travel Guide
Race relations in the southern USA – 1943
The injustice and racism in 1940s Louisiana is as vivid and as graphic as you might imagine. The drama is set over the short period of 24 hours but this just illustrates the intensity and passion that must have been common with such crimes at that time.
This is an America of two sides – black and white, rich and poor, those affected by law and those seemingly above it, not to mention those who never seem to get a look in. The legal and justice system of the time is also shown to be of two layers – those who judge from afar and the local sheriffs and staff who have to apply the law and keep the angry mobs at bay.
In Louisiana the great power still are ‘poverty, bigotry and fear”
And as for the condemned man:
‘The south feels more foreign to him than his mission in Madagascar ever did’
There might not be any Jim Crow laws today ( state and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States) but there are plenty of references and situations that are relevant to present day, unfortunately. It is for the reader to decide just how social attitudes have changed, if at all.
“What kind of justice it is mob or legal when the end result is death”
The real setting is various towns in Louisiana and the fate of one black man and the white girl who has been attacked. Social commentary comes alive and the opinions and social attitudes of the time are loud and clear. St Martinville is perhaps the main location and where the story is focused.
Streetview Maps
A) LA - St Martinville - Police station
B) LA - St Martinville - courthouse
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Mercy Seat
Destination: Louisiana Author/Guide: Elizabeth H. Winthrop Departure Time: 1940s
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