The Wrong Walk Home

BONUS EPISODE: Live from River Bluff High School

Bristow Marchant, Michael Burgess and more discuss the Willie Leaphart podcast with the Lexington community at River Bluff High School. ***** Bristow Marchant is the reporter on this podcast. It is a a production of The State and McClatchy, and produced by Loumay Alesali, Jennifer Molina, Kata Stevens, Hrisanthi Pickett and Joshua Boucher. Special thanks to Don Blount.

Episode 6: Can Anybody Help?

What happens in a small Southern town after a lynching? Will Willie’s killers be held accountable? The man accused of leading the lynch mob actually faces charges, but another Lexington trial has a very different focus and a different outcome than Willie Leaphart’s. More than 130 years after Willie Leaphart’s murder, a new legal case will take up the challenge of getting his initial rape conviction overturned. But even today, the challenges that come with correcting the injustice are steep. Can Willie ever get justice? ***** Bristow Marchant is the reporter on this podcast. It is a a production of The State and McClatchy, and produced by Loumay Alesali, Jennifer Molina, Kata Stevens, Hrisanthi Pickett and Joshua Boucher. Special thanks to Don Blount.

Episode 5: 'If You Are Through With Me, Let Me Out'

With Graham’s appeal looking like it might succeed, some people in Lexington are getting very anxious. It culminates in a late-night attack on the Lexington jail where Willie is being held, and the young man meets a violent end at the hands of a lynch mob. This episode features first-hand accounts of the lynching itself. ***** Bristow Marchant is the reporter on this podcast. It is a a production of The State and McClatchy, and produced by Loumay Alesali, Jennifer Molina, Kata Stevens, Hrisanthi Pickett and Joshua Boucher. Special thanks to Don Blount, Jeff Wilkinson, Walter Edgar and Orry Lee.

Episode 4: The Friend of the Common People

A step back to look at the other characters in this story. The Union-sympathizing scalawag congressman who took young Rosa into his home, the pro-Jim Crow friend of a future governor who led the prosecution of Willie, and the secret letters and press speculation that call the story of that night into question, and the scandalous reason it can’t be challenged. ***** Bristow Marchant is the reporter on this podcast. It is a a production of The State and McClatchy, and produced by Loumay Alesali, Jennifer Molina, Kata Stevens, Hrisanthi Pickett and Joshua Boucher. Special thanks to Don Blount, Jeff Wilkinson, Walter Edgar and Orry Lee.

Episode 3: Innocent Blood

After the trial, Graham makes an appeal for clemency to the governor. He presents evidence he was prevented from bringing forward at trial, including witnesses who place Willie at church at the time of the attack. He also has first-hand evidence casting doubt on Rosa’s story. Excerpts from Graham’s own handwritten appeal. ***** Bristow Marchant is the reporter on this podcast. It is a a production of The State and McClatchy, and produced by Loumay Alesali, Jennifer Molina, Kata Stevens, Hrisanthi Pickett and Joshua Boucher. Special thanks to Don Blount, Sarah Ellis and David Travis Bland.