Editing Monroe County, Alabama (section)

===Late 19th century to present===
Physical violence by whites against blacks was part of the oppressive social system. Racial terrorism was perpetrated through [[Lynching in the United States|lynchings]] of African Americans, mostly of men, which took place outside the justice system. They were often conducted as public displays on the courthouse square, spectacles attended by large white mobs in an enactment of their power. Monroe had a total of seventeen lynchings from 1877 to 1950, the second highest number of any county in Alabama.<ref name="supp">[https://eji.org/sites/default/files/lynching-in-america-third-edition-summary.pdf "Supplement: Lynchings by County/ Alabama: Lowndes", 3nd edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171023063004/https://eji.org/sites/default/files/lynching-in-america-third-edition-summary.pdf |date=October 23, 2017 }}, from ''Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror'', 2015 (3rd edition), Montgomery, Alabama: Equal Justice Initiative</ref>

[[File:Old Monroe County Courthouse, Alabama.jpg|thumb|left|Old Monroe County Courthouse in Harper Lee's hometown of Monroeville, the model for the courthouse used in the [[To Kill a Mockingbird (film)|movie]]]]
The county seat, [[Monroeville, Alabama|Monroeville]], is the home of two notable 20th-century authors, [[Truman Capote]] and [[Harper Lee|Nelle Harper Lee]], who were childhood neighbors. The novelist [[Mark Childress]] and journalist [[Cynthia Tucker (journalist)|Cynthia Tucker]] are also Monroe County natives. In 1997 the Alabama Legislature designated Monroeville and Monroe County as the "Literary Capital of Alabama".

The county is near the [[Gulf Coast]] and is affected by storms from the Gulf. It has twice been declared a disaster area by the federal government due to extensive [[hurricane]] damage: in September 1979 due to [[Hurricane Frederic]], and in September 2004 due to [[Hurricane Ivan]].

Attorney [[Bryan Stevenson]] published his memoir, ''[[Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption]]'' in 2014. He has worked since his early 20s in [[Montgomery, Alabama|Montgomery]], establishing the [[Equal Justice Initiative]] and serving as legal counsel for people on death row in Alabama prisons. He has succeeded in gaining freedom for more than 100 men who were [[wrongfully convicted]]. Among the cases he discusses is that of [[Walter McMillian]] of Monroeville, who was wrongfully convicted of murder in 1989. McMillian, an African American man, was sentenced to death by the trial judge, who overrode the lesser sentence reached by the jury. McMillian was kept on death row for 6 years, nearly 2 of which were prior to his trial, in an effort to make him confess. In 1993 the Alabama Appeals Court ruled that McMillian should be freed because of the lack of evidence, his alibi, the unreliability of witnesses, and mishandling of the trial.<ref>[http://bryanstevenson.com/see-the-stories/walter-mcmillian/ See the stories: "Walter McMillian"], Bryan Stevenson website</ref>