NMHS Unlimited Productions and the Mississippi Humanities Council present the documentary film “Mississippi Justice,” a film based on actual events that occurred in Pike County, Mississippi in 1951. This event is free and open to the public.
Based on documented records, the film centers around a 20-year-old black female, Hattie Lee Barnes, with only a fourth-grade education, who shot and killed a young blue-eyed, six-foot-tall white male from a local prominent family. At the time the newest and youngest attorney in Pike County, Joe Pigott, was appointed as her public defender. In 20 days, Hattie Lee Barnes was served an indictment, entered a not guilty plea, and was on trial for murder.
After the film is shown, a panel will discuss the judicial and social environment during that period in Mississippi history and how it relates to the issues of today. Panel members will include City of Jackson Municipal Judge June Hardwick; Attorney Brad Pigott, son of the late Justice Joe Pigott; Judge Patricia Wise, retired Hinds County Chancery Court Judge; and Dr. Wilma Mosley Clopton, filmmaker.
