Browse Items (25 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 evening world (New York, N.Y.), August 6, 1890, (EXTRA 2 O'CLOCK)
Newspaper featuring the first person, William Kemmler, to be executed by the electric chair
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.
San Quentin Gas Chamber
The gas chamber that was located in San Quentin State Prison in San Quentin, California. The chamber was dismantled in 2019 when Governor Gavin Newsom issued a moratorium on capital punishment in California and ordered the execution sites to be…
Ruth Snyder in "Chair"
The woman in the chair is Ruth Snyder, who was found guilty of murdering her husband and was the first woman to be sentenced for execution in the Sing Sing Prison.
Professor Stephen Vladeck
Photograph of Stephen Vladeck sitting in a chair speaking into a microphone
Mugshot of Gee Jon
Mugshot of Gee Jon, taken in Nevada State Prison. Gee Jon was the first person to be executed by lethal gas in the United States.
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.