Willie McGee (convict)
Willie McGee | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1916 Pachuta, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Died | May 8, 1951 (aged 35) Laurel, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Known for | Controversial conviction and execution |
| Criminal status | Executed by electrocution |
| Conviction | Rape |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
| Spouse |
Eliza Patton
(m. 1935; div. 1946) |
| Children | 4 |
Willie McGee (c. 1916 – May 8, 1951) was an African American man from Laurel, Mississippi, who was sentenced to death in 1945 and executed on Tuesday, May 8, 1951, after being controversially convicted for the rape of a white woman on November 2, 1945. McGee's legal case became a cause célèbre that attracted worldwide attention, as it was roundly decried as a miscarriage of justice in the Jim Crow south.