Character Analysis
(Avoiding Spoilers)
Grew Up... in small-town Delaware. Bryan reminisces on the dirt road his childhood home was located and the community he grew up with there. He was active in the local church community, where he sang in the choir.
Living… in Montgomery, Alabama. After graduating with his law degree from Harvard University, Bryan moved to Alabama with the goal of challenging racial bias. Bryan’s mother protests this move, warning Bryan of the hostility he will face. But Bryan is insistent, reminding his mother that she “always taught [him] to fight for the people who need help the most.”
Profession… lawyer and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative. Bryan founds his non-profit, the Equal Justice Initiative to provide free legal assistance to those facing the death penalty. Bryan works tirelessly for his clients in Alabama, the only state which does not provide legal services to those on death row. Through the EJI, Bryan advocates for individuals like Walter McMillian, a black man who was arrested for murder without evidence.
Relationship Status… nonexistent. As one of Bryan’s employees jokes, Bryan is “married to his work.”
Challenge… racism. Byran faces great resistance and threats from the community as he fights for the under-represented. Additionally, as a black man, Bryan faces racial bias in his professional life. How long will Bryan be able to continue his efforts when the whole world seems to be against him?
Personality… driven, empathetic, and passionate. Bryan is intelligent, but it doesn’t stop there. As he puts it, “We can’t change the world with only ideas in our minds. We need conviction in our hearts.” Bryan takes the time to get to know his clients personally, grieving and celebrating with them.
Get to Know him in...
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The powerful true story of Harvard-educated lawyer Bryan Stevenson, who goes to Alabama to defend the disenfranchised and wrongly condemned — including Walter McMillian, a man sentenced to death despite evidence proving his innocence. Bryan fights tirelessly for Walter with the system stacked against them.
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#1 New York Times Bestseller | Named one of the Best Books of the Year by The New York Times • The Washington Post • The Boston Globe • The Seattle Times • Esquire • Time Winner of the Carnegie Medal for Nonfiction | Winner of the NAACP Image Award for Nonfiction | Winner of a Books for a Better Life Award | Finalist for the Los Angeles Book Prize | Finalist for the Kirkus Reviews Prize | An American Library Association Notable Book A powerful true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to fix our broken system of justice—from one of the most brilliant and influential lawyers of our time Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever. Just Mercy is at once an unforgettable account of an idealistic, gifted young lawyer’s coming of age, a moving window into the lives of those he has defended, and an inspiring argument for compassion in the pursuit of true justice. Praise for Just Mercy “Every bit as moving as To Kill a Mockingbird, and in some ways more so . . . a searing indictment of American criminal justice and a stirring testament to the salvation that fighting for the vulnerable sometimes yields.”—David Cole, The New York Review of Books “Searing, moving . . . Bryan Stevenson may, indeed, be America’s Mandela.”—Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times “You don’t have to read too long to start cheering for this man. . . . The message of this book . . . is that evil can be overcome, a difference can be made. Just Mercy will make you upset and it will make you hopeful.”—Ted Conover, The New York Times Book Review “Inspiring . . . a work of style, substance and clarity . . . Stevenson is not only a great lawyer, he’s also a gifted writer and storyteller.”—The Washington Post “As deeply moving, poignant and powerful a book as has been, and maybe ever can be, written about the death penalty.”—The Financial Times “Brilliant.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer “Not since Atticus Finch has a fearless and committed lawyer made such a difference in the American South. Though larger than life, Atticus exists only in fiction. Bryan Stevenson, however, is very much alive and doing God’s work fighting for the poor, the oppressed, the voiceless, the vulnerable, the outcast, and those with no hope. Just Mercy is his inspiring and powerful story.”—John Grisham “Bryan Stevenson is one of my personal heroes, perhaps the most inspiring and influential crusader for justice alive today, and Just Mercy is extraordinary. The stories told within these pages hold the potential to transform what we think we mean when we talk about justice.”—Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow
