Author Biography

Bryan Stevenson is the executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama, and a professor of law at New York University Law School. He has won relief for dozens of condemned prisoners, argued five times before the Supreme Court, and won national acclaim for his work challenging bias against the poor and people of color. He has received numerous awards, including the MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Grant.

Review Quote

"Words such as important and compelling may have lost their force through overuse, but to read this book is to feel that they have been restored, along with one's hopes for humanity." --Tracy Kidder

Excerpt from Book

Chapter One Mockingbird Players The temporary receptionist was an elegant African American woman wearing a dark, expensive business suit--a well-dressed exception to the usual crowd at the Southern Prisoners Defense Committee (SPDC) in Atlanta, where I had returned after graduation to work full time. On her first day, I''d rambled over to her in my regular uniform of jeans and sneakers and offered to answer any questions she might have to help her get acclimated. She looked at me coolly and waved me away after reminding me that she was, in fact, an experienced legal secretary. The next morning, when I arrived at work in another jeans and sneakers ensemble, she seemed startled, as if some strange vagrant had made a wrong turn into the office. She took a beat to compose herself, then summoned me over to confide that she was leaving in a week to work at a "real law office." I wished her luck. An hour later, she called my office to tell me that "Robert E. Lee" was on the phone. I smiled, pleased that I''d misjudged her; she clearly had a sense of humor. "That''s really funny." "I''m not joking. That''s what he said," she said, sounding bored, not playful. "Line two." I picked up the line. "Hello, this is Bryan Stevenson. May I help you?" "Bryan, this is Robert E. Lee Key. Why in the hell would you want to represent someone like Walter McMillian? Do you know he''s reputed to be one of the biggest drug dealers in all of South Alabama? I got your notice entering an appearance, but you don''t want anything to do with this case." "Sir?" "This is Judge Key, and you don''t want to have anything to do with this McMillian case. No one really understands how depraved this situation truly is, including me, but I know it''s ugly. These men might even be Dixie Mafia." The lecturing tone and bewildering phrases from a judge I''d never met left me completely confused. "Dixie Mafia"? I''d met Walter McMillian two weeks earlier, after spending a day on death row to begin work on five capital cases. I hadn''t reviewed the trial transcript yet, but I did remember that the judge''s last name was Key. No one had told me the Robert E. Lee part. I struggled for an image of "Dixie Mafia" that would fit Walter McMillian. " ''Dixie Mafia''?" "Yes, and there''s no telling what else. Now, son, I''m just not going to appoint some out-of-state lawyer who''s not a member of the Alabama bar to take on one of these death penalty cases, so you just go ahead and withdraw." "I''m a member of the Alabama bar." I lived in Atlanta, Georgia, but I had been admitted to the Alabama bar a year earlier after working on some cases in Alabama concerning jail and prison conditions. "Well, I''m now sitting in Mobile. I''m not up in Monroe

Description for Library

After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1988, Stevenson traveled to Alabama, where speeded-up executions were threatening the very concept of justice as many of those condemned were too poor or disempowered to secure legal representation. To help such people, he founded the Equal Justice Initiative. From a MacArthur fellow and TED talker with a million-plus hits.

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