The Confessions of Frannie Langton

Content Warning: The source material for this guide discusses scientific racism and eugenics, slavery, violence against women and sex workers, child death, miscarriage, lynching, drug addiction, public execution, torture, and suicide. It also uses racist language in the context of the experience of enslaved people.

Frannie Langton, a young enslaved Black woman, is brought to court at the Old Bailey in London. She is on trial for the murder of George and Marguerite Benham. Frannie had been a servant in the Benham household. Her association with the Benhams began as non-consensual. The crowd watches her eagerly, enticed by the salacious and bloody nature of the crime she has been accused of. Frannie finds the attention distasteful, knowing that all the information published about her has been twisted.

In the prosecutor’s opening statement as he accuses Frannie of the crime, he lays a foundation for his case by saying witnesses heard her threaten the Benhams the night they died, and that she has provided no suitable defense. Frannie sees the evidence laid out against her, which consists of a variety of items from the night of the murder. She is disturbed by the inclusion of an underdeveloped baby in a jar.