Her body had been dumped in an unmarked pauper's grave at the overgrown edge of the cemetery at the Mt. Vernon Baptist Church. Though she had sung in the choir there, there were no prayers whispered over her grave. No psalms were recited. No songs were sung. Her family, fearing possible retribution, had scattered soon after her arrest. Knight's family also left town and over time, most of the people in Cuthbert forgot about Lena Baker. Even her grave was lost for a time.

But little by little, interest in the case began to be rekindled, in part through Phillips' book. Vodicka too saw the story as an indictment of a judicial system that he believes has yet to free itself completely from Jim Crow. His interest in the case prompted Cuthbert's residents to take the initial steps toward memorializing the troubled woman who had once sung hymns in the church choir. Her grave was identified and a $250 concrete headstone was erected, said Martin Embry, a church deacon who was a child when Lena Baker was executed.

Lena Baker's Death Certificate

Family members say they are hoping to petition the Georgia Department of Pardon and Paroles to clear Baker's name. But Heather Hedrick, director of public information for the department, holds out little hope. "I think they're probably looking to wipe the record clean and we cannot do that," says Hedrick. Even the Georgia's governor does not have the authority to reverse a conviction, she says. "That can only be done by the courts."

The family has not yet decided whether to pursue its case in court, says Roosevelt Curry, Baker's grand-nephew. But they have taken at least one step to correct what they see as one horrible injustice that was suffered by Lena Baker. On Mother's Day, May 11, 2003, a few dozen surviving family members, led by Curry, gathered at Lena Baker's graveside.

"We are trying to give her the funeral that she never had, the moment that her family was cheated out of," Curry said. "There are a lot of things we want to do for this funeral, she still was a human being. She was a mother. She was somebody's daughter and also she was a child of God. I wish I could get a million women up in there because this is a woman's fight. This is a woman's fight because the lady's rights was violated."

Perhaps some day, Curry says, Lena Baker will become a symbol. But on Mother's Day, he and the rest of his family were content to simply mourn a loss that happened a very long time ago and hold the simple funeral long overdue. And so, they said a few prayers, and they sang at Lena Baker's graveside.

Among the songs they sang was "Missing Mamma."