Browse Items (6 total)
- Collection: Capital Punishment - Fall 2024 (HIST 27/127)
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The Last Public Execution in the United States: Rainey Bethea's Hanging, 1936
Photograph capturing the public hanging of Rainey Bethea on August 14, 1936, in Owensboro, Kentucky. The photo shows a large crowd gathered as attendants adjust a black hood over Bethea's head moments before his execution. Bethea, a 22-year-old Black…
The Death Penalty: How Do Santa Cruzans Feel?
Newspaper article from the Santa Cruz Sentinel. The article is split between 7 columns and lines the top of the page.
Lynching announcement. John Hartfield will be lynched.
The article is a full page. The article demonstrates the level of mob justice and racial violence and how such culture impacted executions, legal and illegal, at the time.
George Stinney Jr., 1944. Dept. of Corrections,
Central Correctional Institution, Record of Prisoners
Awaiting Execution.
Mug shot of a young black man. George wears a baggy striped prisoner uniform with a placard labeled "260" hanging from his chest.
Execution of Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt
In the 19th century, some U.S. states reduced capital crimes, moved executions out of the public eye, or abolished the death penalty, with Michigan leading the way in 1846. However, many states retained capital punishment, and by the century's end,…
Execution of H H Holmes
An illustration of Moyamensing Prison in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, capturing the execution of H. H. Holmes. The scene depicts Holmes delivering his final address before being hung, sketched on-site by Newmar, an artist for The Times. This artwork…