Preliminary findings

Black women in particular are severely under-counted in official data that ostensibly serve to demonstrate historical and institutional racism. An abundance of scholarship and documentation exists to support this current effort to collate and further provide evidence the continuing legacy of slavery and the misrepresentation of Black women's lives.

Historical and qualitative research certainly exists, quantitative data that are ready for analyses are limited. The initial published preliminary findings concerning gender and the death penalty can be found in the embedded link. The below categories will be updated from time to time with the most recent noteworthy changes dated.

Race of the executed 7/25

437 of the verified executions so far are black women.

226 as white, 19 of an unknown race, 10 as Native American, 3 as Hispanic, 2 as Spanish, and 1 woman was identified as Hawaiian. Though research is far from complete, I have additional ethnic identifications: Irish (2), Italian (1), Mexican (1), Oneida Tribe (1), and Pequot Tribe (2). These multi-dimensional identities play a direct role in the executions and are therefore needed.

Methods of Execution

456 (65%) women died by hanging, 25 by electrocution, 25 by burning, 16 by injection, 4 by quartering or dismemberment, 7 by asphyxiation/gas, 3 by gibbetting and hanging, and the remaining of unknown means

At the moment, and using Espy File statistics as a comparison, this suggests that only men were executed via firing squad, breaking on the wheel, bludgeoning, and pressing. Hanging was therefore also the primary mode of execution for men with 58%. Notably, the 8,957 does include people whose gender was not recorded .The second highest for men was also electrocution.

Jurisdiction

The vast majority (427 women) were killed under state jurisdiction. The only two women who were executed under Spanish jurisdiction were Maria Francisca and Maria Josefa in 1779, New Mexico. Josefa had been convinced by her daughter to kill her husband. Given the small number of women, I am also including the two federal and the so-called "military" execution.

Race of the victim (as of 10/26)

Reasons for execution (as of 10/30)

32 for witchcraft, 38 for child murder (generally other people's children but also older children), 20 for robbery-murder, 49 for arson, 89 for infanticide, 33 for poisoning, 50 for spousal murder, 49 for arson. At least 50 women were executed for the murder of slave owners and/or families.

The map to the left provides a graphic as to where women were executed for most of American history. whereas total counts are provided below. source data: WEB

"Firsts" and "lasts"

Executions of historical significance

As with WEB data, the Espy papers and his cited resources are used first. The resources below are additional sources of interest that visitors of the website might find of interest. As with all resources, the additions are ongoing.

June (Jane?) Champion The first woman to be executed in what would be become the United States in 1632

See A Manual for the Publick Gaol by Collier C. Harris as part of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library Research Report Series - 1628 at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library, page 43

Alse Young was the first woman to be executed for witchcraft in Connecticut and perhaps in New England overall (1647)

Hall, David. Witch-hunting in Seventeenth Century New England: A documentary history 1638-1693 (Durham: Duke University Press, 1991)

Mary Barnes and Elizabeth Greensmith were the last to be executed for witchcraft in Connecticut

Margaret Jones was the first woman to be executed for witchcraft in MA in 1648

Winthrop, John. History of New England from 1630-1649. Little Brown & Company, 1853
Hale, John. Modest Enquiry Into the Nature of Witchcraft. B. Green, and J. Allen, 1702

Catherine Bevan was (supposedly) the last public execution by burning in 1731

Walker, S. (1998). Popular Justice: A History of American Criminal Justice. Oxford University Press

Eve (owner Peter Montague) was actually the last burning by execution in 1746

(Va. Mag., III, pp. 309-310)

Sarah Bramble was the only white person to be executed in what was New London in 1753 (for neonaticide of an "illegitimate" child).

Bathsheba Spooner was the first woman executed in American colonies by colonial citizens (rather than the British) in 1778. She was also the first woman of the highest social status to be executed. According to Ann Jones (2009) book, her execution might have ended the practice of treating all infanticides as "worse than murder."

Paige Robinson, L. (1883). History of Hardwick, Massachusetts: With a Genealogical Register Houghton, Mifflin, p. 757

Rachel Wall, in 1789, was the last woman to be hanged in Massachusetts.

"Unnamed" though the first person to be hanged in Christian County in 1812 was a young black girl, potentially innocent, of neonaticide, she is unnamed.

Catherine Cashier, along with James Johnson, were the last New York public executions in May 7, 1829

Mary Andrews was the first and maybe ONLY *white* woman to be executed in Missouri in 1834

Young, W. (1910). Young’s history of Lafayette County, Missouri (Vol. 1). B.F. Bowen. This edition was digitized by the Missouri State Library and is available through the Missouri Digital Heritage Collection

Jane (owner Elkins), a slave, becomes the first woman to be legally executed in the State of Texas where she was hanged on Friday, May 27, 1853 next to the Dallas county court house.

Sources: State of Texas vs. Jane, a Slave, Case #188; Terry Baker. Hangings and Lynchings in Dallas County, Texas: 1853 to 1920 (Fort Worth, Texas: Eakin Press, 2016): 1; See also the Human Rights Dallas: https://www.humanrightsdallasmaps.com/files/show/6

Chipita Rodriguez was the last woman (and first Hispanic woman) to be legally hanged in Texas and the last until 1998

Susan Eberhard, last white woman to be executed in the state of Georgia in April 11, 1873 until 2015 with Kelly Gissendaner (note, black women were, however, executed)

Silena Gilmore in 1930 was the first (black) woman electrocuted in Alabama in 1930. (Earle Dennison (Crime does not pay) was the first white woman electrocuted in Alabama in 1953--a fact that tends to receive more attention)

Anna Marie Hahn, first woman in Ohio to die in the electric chair in 1937

Toni Jo Henry-only woman to be executed in Louisiana's electric chair in 1942

Rhoda Bell Martin was the last pre-Furman execution in Alabama in 1957 (electrocuted)

Karla Faye Tucker was the first woman executed in Texas (1998) since the Civil War Karla Faye Tucker: From Pickaxe Killer to Death Row Conversion in Texas | Texas Happens

Lisa Montgomery was in 2008 the first woman executed in Indiana

Amber McLaughlin was the first openly/known transgender woman executed in the United States Missouri Set to Execute Amber McLaughlin on January 3 in First U.S. Execution of a Transgender Person | Death Penalty Information Center

A selection of findings from the Baker and DPIC additions and modifications to the Espy file

Baker (2016) identified 702 women up until 2015. With the additional 2 executions since, the racial breakdown is as follows: 442 Black women, 226 white women, 19 "unknown," 11 Native American, 5 Hispanic, and, one Hawaiian woman.

Even using the most conservative estimate using Baker's (2016) identification of 46 cases as "unverified," the 576 is an under-count.

In my searches, I found that the Supreme Court justices continue to rely on the Espy file. The Supreme Court has very recently relied on a flawed database (e.g., https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/URLs_Cited/OT2020/20-287/20-287-2.pdf).

Moreover, I've verified Baker's (2016) identification of a number of children who were hanged including Judah (slave of John Bayne), age 14, in 1835. See also the historical marker database: https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=117030.

So far, Baker (2016) identified one more thirteen-year-old, 1 fourteen-year-old, 5 fifteen-year-olds, and 5 sixteen-year-olds who were missing from the Espy file. All were Black girls. Both Espy and Baker identified 12-year-old Hannah Ocuish, a Pequot Native American girl, widely believed as being the youngest person executed in the U.S. However, there are three more girls whose age at their execution is unclear: Bett (Philip Van Rensselaer) in 1794, Rebecca (Coalter) in 1825, and Susan (Eliza) in 1868.

Data illustrations created from WEB to represent proportions of women to men executed with important dates in U.S. history.

For more information on important capital punishment-related dates and significant eras, see: The History of the Death Penalty: A Timeline | Death Penalty Information Center

A total of 173 counties are of yet unknown. As the names of these counties are updated, the graph will change. For a link to the data, please click on this link.

The "unnamed" (separate page forthcoming)

Out of 88 currently unnamed women, only 8 were identified as white. At least one was incorrectly coded but I have yet to provide documentation (so far, a one woman show). Seven women had their race coded as "unknown." Of the remaining 73, 3 are Native American and 70 are Black. In other words, approximately 80% of the unnamed executed women are Black.

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