Just Mercy AP English Language Study Guide Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering major figures, themes, rhetorical strategies, and comparative concepts from Bryan Stevenson's Just Mercy.

Bryan Stevenson

A civil-rights lawyer, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), and the author and narrator of Just Mercy.

Equal Justice Initiative (EJI)

The organization founded by Bryan Stevenson and Eva Ansley to provide legal representation to poor, wrongfully convicted, and marginalized prisoners.

Walter McMillian

A Black man from Monroeville, Alabama, who was wrongfully convicted of the murder of Ronda Morrison and sentenced to death.

Ralph Myers

A key witness in Walter McMillian's trial who provided coerced, inconsistent, and false testimony after being pressured by police and prosecutors.

Sheriff Tom Tate

The law enforcement official involved in prosecuting Walter McMillian who represents institutional prejudice, abuse of authority, and systemic bias.

Tommy Chapman

The district attorney who succeeded in Walter McMillian's case and illustrates the institutional tension between protecting past convictions and seeking true justice.

Ronda Morrison

The young white woman whose murder in Monroeville led to intense public pressure and the wrongful conviction of Walter McMillian.

Eva Ansley

An advocate who helped Bryan Stevenson establish and build the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI).

Herbert Richardson

A traumatized Vietnam War veteran represented by Stevenson who was executed for a bombing, highlighting issues of PTSD, mental illness, and capital punishment.

Charlie

A young boy represented by Stevenson whose imprisonment demonstrates the traumatic effects of placing juveniles in adult prison facilities.

Trina Garnett

A woman sentenced to life imprisonment without parole as a teenager, illustrating the harshness of juvenile life-without-parole sentences.

Antonio Núñez

A juvenile offender featured in Just Mercy whose case highlights adolescent brain development, environmental influence, and the injustice of extreme juvenile sentencing.

Joe Sullivan

A young offender sentenced to life imprisonment without parole whose case was part of major legal challenges against juvenile life sentences.

Ian Manuel

A juvenile offender represented by Stevenson who spent an extraordinary amount of time in solitary confinement.

Jimmy Dill

An incarcerated man with intellectual and communication difficulties whose execution demonstrated how disabled defendants struggle to defend themselves in the legal system.

George Stinney Jr.

A 14-year-old Black child executed in South Carolina in 1944, used by Stevenson to demonstrate America's historical legacy of racial injustice.

Proximity

Stevenson's core philosophy ("Get proximate") that requires getting close to marginalized and suffering individuals to truly understand and address systemic injustice.

Brokenness

The concept in Just Mercy that all human beings are imperfect or traumatized, and that recognizing shared human weakness should compel compassion rather than cruelty.

Ethos (in Just Mercy)

The rhetorical credibility Stevenson builds by sharing his direct, first-hand experiences as an attorney conducting prison visits, court hearings, and investigations.

Pathos (in Just Mercy)

The emotional rhetorical appeals Stevenson constructs through personal stories of vulnerable prisoners, children, and suffering families to inspire empathy for reform.

Logos (in Just Mercy)

The logical rhetorical appeals Stevenson uses, including court records, legal arguments, statistics, and contradictions in witness testimonies to prove systemic flaws.

Anecdote (in Just Mercy)

Stevenson's primary narrative strategy of utilizing individual prisoner case studies to humanize abstract legal and social issues.

Monroeville, Alabama

The real-life setting of Walter McMillian's trial and the hometown of Harper Lee, creating a stark irony between fictional racial justice in To Kill a Mockingbird and actual legal failure.

Basic Context Comparison (To Kill a Mockingbird vs. Just Mercy)

A comparative framework contrasting Harper Lee's fictional depiction of Tom Robinson with Stevenson's narrative nonfiction account of Walter McMillian.

Thematic Comparison (To Kill a Mockingbird vs. Just Mercy)

A comparative framework showing shared themes of racial prejudice, an unfair justice system, and legal advocacy through figures Atticus Finch and Bryan Stevenson.