Bryan Stevenson is the book’s narrator and central figure. Over the course of Just Mercy, Stevenson progresses from a timid, unexperienced intern to an accomplished, dedicated lawyer, educator, and activist. Stevenson grows up in a rural, black family in Southern Delaware. Despite the technical dissolving of Jim Crow and legal segregation, Stevenson’s larger black community is “strong and determined but marginalized and excluded” (13). His family values education and the women of the family, in particular, urge Stevenson to look outside his own experiences. His mother is quick to correct him when he laughs at a boy with a speech impediment. His grandmother, the daughter of slaves and the family matriarch, tells him that “‘You can’t understand most of the important things from a distance, Bryan. You have to get close’” (14).

Stevenson grew up in a rural black community, and this connects him to many of his clients and their families. While his adult life was marked by an elite education and professional degrees, this does not erase his race or his childhood class status. He was raised by people who lived through the heyday of KKK, Jim Crow, and the Civil Rights Movement. He feels a strong connection to others who had similar experiences.