DePaul University Library Special Collections and Archives TEACHING KIT CONTENTS pg.3 pg.10 INTRODUCTION BIOGRAPHIES pg.4 pg.12 TEACHER'S GUIDE BIBLIOGRAPHY pg.6 pg.16 SUBJECT AREAS: ADDITIONAL RESOURCES ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS, SOCIAL STUDIES, THEATER pg.17 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS pg.9 TIMELINE: 2 E G A P | T I K G N I H C A E T W M D INTRODUCTION Jamie Nelson Head, Special Collections and Archives

Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States was instrumental in bringing widespread attention to the human dimension of the death penalty. First published in 1993, it has been reprinted, translated, and adapted for film, theater, and opera. Universities, high schools, libraries, churches, and theater groups have hosted community-wide reading experiences, panel discussions, performances, and visits from Sr. Helen herself for nearly 25 years.

This teaching kit, including primary sources and curricular materials for teachers, is meant to complement, enhance, deepen, and challenge the experience for those reading, performing, or viewing Dead Man Walking. The digitized primary sources, available at spca.depaul.press/prejean, are but a sampling of the Sr. papers, which provide a unique and intimate perspective on the death penalty and intersecting social justice issues, the development of Sr. Helen’s activism, and the creative and practical processes of writing and publishing books and bringing the story to screen and stage.

3 E G A P | T I K G N I H C A E T W M D DePaul University Library Special Collections and Archives is honored to care for Sr. Helen’s archival collection and to make materials available for teaching, learning, engagement, and reflection. We are grateful to our partners from the DePaul University College of Education, David Bates and John Gieger, who shared their expertise gained from the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources program. TEACHER'S GUIDE

John Gieger and David Bates College of Education, DePaul University

A Note on Teaching Controversial Topics Constructive discussions of controversial topics like the death penalty can build an array of life skills—a respect for civil discourse, an understanding of how laws are made and amended, and the ability to think metacognitively about how opinions and biases are formed. But discussing controversial topics also presents unique challenges for teachers and students alike. Following these five general rules can help your lessons run smoothly and effectively.

1. Scaffold appropriately. Too often, teachers treat controversial topics as though they are “just another unit.” Take time to prepare students for what is to come. If you plan on holding a class debate or town hall simulation, make sure to practice those strategies. If you plan on culminating the unit with a letter-writing campaign to legislators, make sure students understand how state and federal laws are made, and what impact they can expect their letters to have. If you’re concerned about discussions getting heated, create and consistently enforce ground rules throughout the year.

2. Use primary sources whenever possible. Primary sources—firsthand accounts of historical events— are crucial for exploring controversial topics. Primary sources force students to confront the opinions, feelings, and biases of people in the past, as well as the circumstances that gave rise to them. More importantly, a wealth of primary sources exists to support both sides of any given issue. Supplying students with firsthand arguments both for and against the death penalty, for example, destabilizes the idea of a “right answer” and forces them to critically weigh evidence and draw their own conclusions. 4 E G A P | T I K G N I H C A E T W M D 3. Allow students to discuss, debate, and reflect upon their opinions. Make sure that your unit includes space for students to discuss their feelings and opinions with one another, including space for disagreement and debate, and the opportunity for students to change their opinion. Most importantly, students must be given time to reflect on their opinions: What is their conclusion about this issue? How did they arrive at it? What evidence was most important? What are they still unsure about? Answering such questions not only deepens student understanding of the topic at hand; it also forces them to critically examine and re- examine their own beliefs and reinforces the need to justify their conclusions with evidence. DMW TEACHING KIT | PAGE 5 To carry learning forward, culminate your lesson or unit with an forward, culminate your lesson To carry learning relevant. learning 5. Make a way to act on their opinions. A letter-writing campaign action project that provides students with but many legislators are also open to face-to-face meetings is the simplest version of this, might ask representatives of nonprofit and advocacy groups to school groups. Similarly, you show them how to get more involved. Acting on their learning meet with your students and by connecting the abstract to the concrete, and offers students a helps deepen understanding critical thinking and citizenship—skills they can use for a lifetime. chance to hone their skills in Your classroom must be a space in which every student every in which space be a must classroom Your respect. of atmosphere an 4. Create backed by and it is stated respectfully as long as his or her opinion, free to express can feel stake in a personal your students may have that some of keep in mind Above all else, evidence. or have a friend some may of , In the case you’re discussing. the topic themselves; others corrections system with the have experience in prison, or may relative of violence. If students feel comfortable themselves have been, victims may know, or may for having them to do so, validate them with the group, encourage sharing such experiences respect by are treated with sensitivity and share, and make sure their stories the courage to their classmates. SUBJECT: ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS

A significant portion of Sr. Helen’s personal papers that were donated to DePaul University Library's Special Collections and Archives consist of correspondence she has with individuals and organizations. She often relies on the written word to engage with those who support the death penalty and those who oppose it by writing letters, opinion pieces for newspapers, and speeches.

These “raw materials” are the foundation on which Dead Man Walking is built. Understanding how to muster evidence and support one’s claims is critical to not only conveying an experience to others, but also in building a legal argument. Examining these sources individually and collectively reveals that Dead Man Walking is not one narrative, but many interwoven individual narratives.

Several of the primary sources provide a visual representation of Sr. Helen’s descriptions in Dead Man Walking. Two of Pat Sonnier’s letters to Sr. Helen (3/20/82 and 10/26/82) include drawings of the death row cell block and the visiting area, while a series of photos from 1984 chronicles Sr. Helen’s visit to the prison.

Supplementing Dead Man Walking Questions/Discussion Prompts

• Examine chapter two of Dead Man Walking. How do • Compare and contrast the tone and arguments found in Pat Sonnier’s drawings and the photos of Sr. Helen add the “formal” publications like the Stand Up for Life flyer and to the descriptive picture of Angola Prison? What newspaper clipping with those found in “informal” information do they contain that the book alone does sources, like letters. How do they compare to similar not? How do these illustrations change your sources today? understanding of the letters? • Compare the letters between Sr. Helen, Sonnier, and • As students read the documents and/or book, ask Willie to those written to the Governor. Do these them to circle, underline, or otherwise note words or reinforce or refute your understanding of the situation as phrases that seem most vivid or important to them. it is presented in Dead Man Walking?

6 E G A P | T I K G N I H C A E T W M D Allow them time to close their eyes and form a mental picture of the death row block and the visiting area • Sr. Helen writes to many different audiences, (you might even ask them to draw, model, or write including those who oppose her. How does her tone and about this image). style change given these different audiences?

• How do outsiders communicate with inmates today? • Create a diagram showing the arguments made by Sr. How does that impact the nature of the interaction? Helen and/or the inmates to opposing groups and/or the What are the benefits and limitations of physically Governor. How are they similar? How are they different? writing a letter versus a phone call, in-person visit, or text/email (if permitted)? • Closely examine and evaluate Dead Man Walking alongside the primary sources found here, paying • How are Sonnier’s and Willie’s writing styles similar? particular attention to tone, word choice, and the point of How are they different? How do they engage with Sr. view of the author. Do you find Sr. Helen’s arguments Helen via written correspondence? effective and convincing? Why or why not?

SUBJECT: SOCIAL STUDIES

Though Dead Man Walking is often considered a work of literary nonfiction, its implications are perfectly suited for discussion in the social studies classroom. Many students will be familiar with the concept of executions from television and movies, but primary sources can illuminate the legal processes involved in the commission of a death sentence, as well as its effects on others.

In both Dead Man Walking and in a number of her personal papers, Sr. Helen makes emotional appeals against the death penalty. In Dead Man Walking and in her statement before the Board of Pardons (11/19/84), Sr. Helen recalls consoling Pat Sonnier’s weeping family. She noted the “shaken, drawn faces of the victims’ fathers,” and claimed that the execution had a “dehumanizing effect…on the guards and all involved.” Later, Sr. Helen discusses at length her relationship with Vernon and Elizabeth Harvey, and realizes that advocating for the families of victims is as important as advocating for prisoners. In a letter to the Harveys, Sr. Helen thanked them in for “inspir[ing] me…to understand the sufferings and struggles of murder victims’ families” and to begin advocacy work on their behalf.

These types of sources can complicate students’ traditional understandings of the death penalty debate by highlighting the centrality of personal experience and emotion. They also show Sr. Helen’s own growth as an advocate, as she realizes the pain her work can cause, and the need to expand her ministry into the realm of victim’s rights. Such a transformation forces students to widen their field of view beyond a simple binary debate by considering who is affected by the death penalty.

Supplementing Dead Man Walking Questions/Discussion Prompts

State of Louisiana Department of Corrections Regulation • What role do anecdotal, personal, and emotional No. 10-25 lays out the regulations governing execution, arguments play in civil debate? while Sr. Helen’s thirteen pages of handwritten notes detail the execution of in 1984, and an • How can we expand our understanding of honorary membership to the so-called “Lifer’s stakeholders in the death penalty debate? How Association,” given to Sr. Helen by death row inmates in does capital punishment affect the family members honor of her custody of Pat’s body, states: “each time of the condemned? Relatives of the victim? there is an execution, a part of us also dies.” Review these Outreach workers like Sr. Helen? Prison guards? three documents alongside chapters 5 and 9 of Dead Man Society at large? Walking and have students consider the following: • What other issues are connected to the debate 7 E G A P | T I K G N I H C A E T W M D • How have your previous beliefs or ideas about execution over capital punishment? Why are these been challenged? Is the process of execution different connections difficult to disentangle? How do they than you thought? complicate our efforts to resolve this issue?

• Do you think the regulations surrounding executions are reasonable? Why or why not?

• What effect does an execution have on those left alive? How does this affect your feeling on the death penalty?

• To what degree was Sr. Helen able to preserve some dignity for Pat Sonnier and Robert Lee Willie and their families? How do these efforts relate to her campaign against the death penalty?

SUBJECT: THEATER

In 1995, Dead Man Walking was developed into a major motion picture starring and and directed by Tim Robbins. In 2003, Tim Robbins adapted his screenplay into a theater version of Dead Man Walking and offered it to schools and colleges throughout the United States for production. Known as “The Dead Man Walking School Theatre Project,” it is managed by the Ministry Against the Death Penalty and has been staged by hundreds of high schools and colleges nationwide.

Like the film adaptation of Dead Man Walking, the stage version focuses on Sr. Helen’s relationship with death row inmate Matt Poncelet (a fictionalized combination of Elmo Patrick Sonnier and Robert Lee Willie) and explores ideas about the justice system, sympathy, forgiveness, and resolution through a variety of perspectives.

In any dramatization or adaptation, the final product has a narrative and perspective that may be only a portion of what “actually happened.” As you examine the primary sources in this set, think about how adapting them to live performance can be both powerful and problematic.

Supplementing Dead Man Walking Questions/Discussion Prompts, continued

• The character of Matt Poncelet is a blend of Elmo • More than a decade elapsed between the Patrick Sonnier and Robert Lee Willie. In what ways publication of Dead Man Walking (1993) and its first do you think synthesizing two (significant) individuals performance as a play (2004). How does this distance into one character changes the overall narrative? between original events, adaptation, and

performance impact the understanding of the topics • Examine the letters and images in the primary contained in the play (both about the individuals and source set. With your understanding of the story and about the topic of the death penalty)? details presented in Dead Man Walking and these primary sources, how does the interpretation of the • Unlike an unfolding dialogue/discussion in a 8 E G A P | T I K G N I H C A E T W M D sources reinforce or differ from your previous classroom, theater invites audiences to view a understanding? performance and reflect along the way. How does

performance create engagement? How can actors Questions/Discussion Prompts work to effect social change?

• Consider the primary sources collected here. What • How would viewing a performance impact role do actors, producers, and writers play in someone’s understanding of the story of Dead Man communicating information from these sources to the Walking? How would it affect their perspective on audience? the larger topics it explores? How is theater uniquely

suited to provoking these considerations? • Sr. Helen worked with Tim Robbins when he adapted her book for the film Dead Man Walking in 1995. How you think this relationship affected the adaptation of her book into a play?

TIMELINE: DEAD MAN WALKING

Sr. Helen starts corresponding with Elmo Patrick Sonnier who is on death row in Louisiana's Angola State Prison. She becomes his 1982 April 5 - Sonnier is electrocuted spiritual advisor and visits and shortly after midnight with Sr. writes frequently for the next two Helen witnessing his execution. years.

October - Sr. Helen is asked to visit another death row 1984 inmate at Angola, Robert Lee Willie. December 28 – Robert Lee Willie is electrocuted, with Sr. Members of Pilgrimage for Life, Helen witnessing as his spiritual an organization co-founded by advisor. Sr. Helen, walk across the state 1986 of Louisiana as an information campaign against the death penalty. Sr. Helen establishes "Survive," 1988 a victim advocacy group in .

Sr. Helen’s book Dead Man Walking: an Eyewitness Account of 1993 the Death Penalty in the United States is published by Random House.

Dead Man Walking is developed

into a major motion picture 9 E G A P | T I K G N I H C A E T W M D 1995 starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn and directed by Tim Robbins. The San Francisco Opera commissions composer and playwright 1997 Terrence McNally to create a new opera based on Dead Man Walking for the fall opera season The Dead Man Walking School of 2000. Theatre Project is founded. Tim 2003 Robbins adapts the book into a stage production. BIOGRAPHIES Primary sources are created by people – living, breathing people – as a natural process of going about one’s daily life and interacting with the world. Researchers use primary sources to better understand a historical event, public sentiment, and private actions. These brief biographies provide some context to the people – not just names – you will encounter in the archival documents included in this teaching kit.

Sr. Helen Prejean released the book Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States in 1993. Prejean wrote this international bestseller based on her 1984 experiences as a spiritual advisor for death row inmates Patrick Sonnier and Robert Lee Willie. As a spiritual advisor she corresponded and visited with the inmates, advocated for reduced sentences, and ultimately witnessed their executions. Prejean also interacted with the victims’ families, the inmates’ families, prison officials, politicians, religious leaders, and the press. Influenced by these experiences, Prejean’s continuing activism included advocating against the death penalty with the non-profit organization Pilgrimage for Life. She also worked with the families of murder victims, starting the support group Survive. The book Dead Man Walking became the basis for a critically acclaimed film, opera, and school theater project of the same title. Sr. Helen Prejean currently campaigns through her organization Ministry Against the Death Penalty.

Jason Epstein served as the editorial director at Random House for forty years. During his time at Random House, Epstein worked with many notable authors, including Norman Mailer, Vladimir Nabokov, Sr. Helen Prejean, and Gore Vidal. Epstein’s editorial contributions significantly influenced Sr. Helen Prejean’s book Dead Man Walking, resulting in a reader-friendly narrative structure echoing Prejean’s voice and thoughts.

Elmo Patrick Sonnier and his brother Eddie Sonnier were convicted of the November 4, 1977, rape and murder of eighteen-year-old Loretta Ann Bourque and murder of sixteen-

0 1 E G A P | T I K G N I H C A E T W M D year-old David LeBlanc. Patrick received a death sentence, while Eddie received a life sentence. Sr. Helen Prejean wrote letters to Patrick Sonnier on death row at Angola State Prison, visited him in jail, and became his spiritual advisor. Pat Sonnier was executed by the state of Louisiana on April 5, 1984, at Angola State Prison.

Eddie Sonnier and his brother Patrick Sonnier were convicted of the November 4, 1977, rape and murder of eighteen-year-old Loretta Ann Bourque and murder of sixteen-year- old David LeBlanc. Eddie received a life sentence, while Patrick received a death sentence. Eddie eventually claimed that he was the one responsible for shooting the victims. He made this statement in court and in a letter to Louisiana Governor Edwin W. Edwards pleading for his brother’s life. Robert Lee Willie and Joseph J. Vaccaro were convicted of the May 28, 1980, rape and murder of 18 year old Faith Hathaway in Washington Parish, Louisiana. Willie received a death sentence, while Vaccaro received a life sentence. Sr. Helen Prejean began visiting Willie at Angola State Prison in October 1984 and served as his spiritual advisor. Robert Lee Willie was executed by the state of Louisiana on December 28, 1984, at Angola State Prison.

Vernon and Elizabeth Harvey are the stepfather and mother of Faith Hathaway, who was raped and murdered on May 28, 1980. Robert Lee Willie and Joseph J. Vaccaro were convicted of the crimes against their daughter. Sr. Helen Prejean developed a relationship with the Harveys which led her to begin a support group for the families of murder victims.

Edwin W. Edwards was a Louisiana State senator, member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and four-term governor of the state of Louisiana. Thirteen Louisiana death row inmates were executed while Edwards served as the state’s governor. In 1984, Sr. Helen Prejean and others asked Governor Edwards to commute the sentences of Patrick Sonnier and Robert Lee Willie to life in prison. Edwards did not intervene in either case. 1 1 E G A P | T I K G N I H C A E T W M D Photograph of Elmo Patrick Sonnier. c. 1984. Photograph of Elmo Patrick Sonnier. c. 1984. ier- http://spca.depaul.press/prejean/2017/03/20/photograph-pat-sonn 1984/ 83 box papers, Prejean Helen Sr. item: Original Elmo Patrick Sonnier to Sr. Helen Prejean, includes drawing of visiting room Elmo Patrick Sonnier to Sr. Helen August 26, 1982. at Louisiana State Penitentiary. ean- http://spca.depaul.press/prejean/2017/03/20/pat-sonnier-to-prej august-1982/ 7 folder 1, box papers, Prejean Helen Sr. item: Original Phelps, C. Paul. State of Louisiana Department of Corrections Regulation State of Louisiana Department Phelps, C. Paul. 6, 1981. No. 10-25. April http://spca.depaul.press/prejean/2017/03/20/regulation-1981/ 13 folder 29, box papers, Prejean Helen Sr. item: Original Elmo Patrick Sonnier to Governor Edwin Edwards, transcribed by Sr. Helen Elmo Patrick Sonnier to Governor Edwin Edwards, transcribed Prejean. April 1, 1984. rds- http://spca.depaul.press/prejean/2017/03/20/pat-sonnier-to-edwa 1984/ 5 folder 1, box papers, Prejean Helen Sr. item: Original Elmo Patrick Sonnier to Sr. Helen Prejean, includes drawing of death row cell Elmo Patrick Sonnier to Sr. Helen March 20, 1982. block at Louisiana State Penitentiary. ean- http://spca.depaul.press/prejean/2017/03/20/pat-sonnier-to-prej march-1982/ 7 folder 1, box papers, Prejean Helen Sr. item: Original Prejean. August 11, 1983. Elmo Patrick Sonnier to Sr. Helen ean- http://spca.depaul.press/prejean/2017/03/20/pat-sonnier-to-prej august-1983/ 9 folder 1, box papers, Prejean Helen Sr. item: Original

Visit spca.depaul.edu/prejean to view and download. download. and to view spca.depaul.edu/prejean Visit and Archives, DePaul University Library, Chicago, IL. IL. Chicago, Library, University DePaul Archives, and All primary sources are from the Sr. Helen Prejean papers at Special Collections Collections Special at papers Prejean Helen Sr. the from are sources primary All BIBLIOGRAPHY

DMW TEACHING KIT | PAGE 12 DMW TEACHING KIT | PAGE 13 Glenda Ann to Sr. Helen Prejean. April 7, 1984. Sr. Helen Prejean. April 7, 1984. Glenda Ann to 984/ http://spca.depaul.press/prejean/2017/03/20/glenda-to-prejean-1 3 folder 2, box papers, Prejean Helen Sr. item: Original r clipping, Anonymous. Annotated photocopy of letter to the editor newspape h's leaders,” "Reader's antipathy isn't for but some of churc sent to Sr. Helen Prejean. c. April 1984. on-1984/ http://spca.depaul.press/prejean/2017/03/20/letters-of-oppositi 4 folder 2, box papers, Prejean Helen Sr. item: Original Louisiana State Penitentiary Lifers' Association to Sr. Helen Prejean, letter Louisiana State Penitentiary and certificate. April 12, 1984. to-prejean- http://spca.depaul.press/prejean/2017/03/20/lifers-association- 1984/ 5 folder 2, box papers, Prejean Helen Sr. item: Original of Sr. Helen Prejean, Death Row A-B Tier, Rideau, Wilburt. Photographs c. 1984. Louisiana State Penitentiary. - http://spca.depaul.press/prejean/2017/03/20/photographs-prejean louisiana-state-penitentiary-1984/ 83 box papers, Prejean Helen Sr. item: Original Pearly Broussard to Sr. Helen Prejean, c. April 1984. Pearly Broussard to Sr. Helen Prejean, c. April 1984. on-1984/ http://spca.depaul.press/prejean/2017/03/20/letters-of-oppositi 4 folder 2, box papers, Prejean Helen Sr. item: Original Eddie J. Sonnier to Governor Edwin Edwards. March 31, 1984. 31, 1984. Edwards. March Edwin Sonnier to Governor Eddie J. wards- http://spca.depaul.press/prejean/2017/03/20/eddie-sonnier-to-ed 1984/ 11 folder 28, box papers, Prejean Helen Sr. item: Original nd Kim Garrett Diego, Zavla, Kathleen Pitman, C.S.J., Helen Prejean, C.S.J., a 24, 1987. to Louisiana citizens with Stand Up For Life event flyer. May -citizens- http://spca.depaul.press/prejean/2017/03/20/letter-to-louisiana 1987/ 4 folder 17, box papers, Prejean Helen Sr. item: Original Prejean, Sr. Helen. Notes describing Robert Lee Willie's execution. c. Prejean, Sr. Helen. Notes describing December 1984. / http://spca.depaul.press/prejean/2017/03/20/prejeans-notes-1984 10 folder 3, box papers, Prejean Helen Sr. item: Original Hunter, Gary. Photograph of Sr. Helen Prejean and Robert Lee Willie taken of Sr. Helen Prejean Hunter, Gary. Photograph 19, 1984. newspaper. November for the Times-Picayune and- http://spca.depaul.press/prejean/2017/03/20/photograph-prejean- willie-1984/ 83 box papers, Prejean Helen Sr. item: Original Scott, Art. Photograph of death penalty supporters including Vernon Harvey Scott, Art. Photograph of death penalty supporters including Louisiana) confronting Pilgrimage for Life March (a 283 mile trek across participant Sr. Helen Prejean. March 1986. 86/ http://spca.depaul.press/prejean/2017/03/20/photograph-march-19 84 box papers, Prejean Helen Sr. item: Original Robert Lee Willie to Sr. Helen Prejean, December 15, 1984 with attachment Robert Lee Willie to Sr. Helen and Frank C. Blackburn, August 6, 1984. Robert Lee Willie to C. Paul Phelps 984/ http://spca.depaul.press/prejean/2017/03/20/willie-to-prejean-1 8 folder 3, box papers, Prejean Helen Sr. item: Original efore the efore Willie b Lee of Robert behalf on Statement Helen. Sr. Prejean, 19, 1984. Pardons. November Board of 984/ http://spca.depaul.press/prejean/2017/03/20/prejean-statement-1 11 folder 3, box papers, Prejean Helen Sr. item: Original

DMW TEACHING KIT | PAGE 14 Sr. Helen Prejean to Vernon and Elizabeth Harvey. January 20, 1988. http://spca.depaul.press/prejean/2017/03/20/prejean-to-harveys-1988/

Original item: Sr. Helen Prejean papers, box 3, folder 20

Prejean, Sr. Helen, "Witnesses for the Execution," Times-Picayune, New Orleans, Louisiana, February 11, 1988. http://spca.depaul.press/prejean/2017/03/20/prejean-to-harveys-1988/

Original item: Sr. Helen Prejean papers, box 13, folder 5

Prejean, Sr. Helen. Interview with former Governor Edwin W. Edwards. November 14, 1990. http://spca.depaul.press/prejean/2017/03/20/prejean-interview-edwards- 1990/ Original item: Sr. Helen Prejean papers, box 29, folder 16

Sr. Helen Prejean to Jason Epstein. March 23, 1992. http://spca.depaul.press/prejean/2017/03/20/prejean-to-epstein-1992/

Original item: Sr. Helen Prejean papers, box 39, folder 6 5 1 E G A P | T I K G N I H C A E T W M D

About the death penalty: death About the ePaul University Library Special donated to DePaul University for Sr. Helen Prejean’s archives, Collection guide Archives in 2010. Collections and http://libguides.depaul.edu/ld.php?content_id=10135845 Penalty Death the Against Ministry Prejean’s Helen Sr. Words: and Deeds In in April 2013. and Archives digital exhibit created Library Special Collections DePaul University http://dpuspecialcollections.omeka.net/exhibits/show/prejean Penalty Death the Against Ministry by The Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in support Non-profit organization founded against the death penalty. of Sr. Helen Prejean’s ministry http://www.sisterhelen.org/ Sr. Helen Prejean papers at DePaul University DePaul at papers Prejean Helen Sr. About Sr. Helen: Sr. About Death Penalty Information Center Information Penalty Death National non-profit organization providing information, resources, and analysis regarding the National non-profit organization death penalty. http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/ Penalty information Center for teachers and students. Resources compiled by the Death alty http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/educational-curricula-death-pen http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/student-resource-center ProCon.org researched pro and con Non-profit non-partisan organization providing professionally penalty. information regarding controversial issues including the death http://deathpenalty.procon.org/ Rights Human for Commissioner High the of Office Nations United human rights internationally, United Nations office in charge of protecting and promoting including the abolition of the death penalty. http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/DeathPenalty/Pages/DPIndex.aspx 1996 Act of Penalty Death Effective and Antiterrorism ng the scope of the death penalty. Legislation, signed into law by President Bill Clinton, expandi https://www.congress.gov/bill/104th-congress/senate-bill/735 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES ADDITIONAL URLs active as of April 2017 April of as active URLs

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he teaching kit are from for the teaching documents selected and letters, photographs, The original by was completed primary sources of the papers. The digitization Prejean the Sr. Helen by Kevin Department with supervision in DePaul Library's Digital Services staff members Sullivan, was created by Wendall site, spca.depaul.press/prejean Endres. The WordPress created by content and organization was Librarian. The teaching kit’s Digital Initiatives Instruction Librarian, Derek Potts, Hodgetts, Special Collections Morgen MacIntosh Head of Special Collections and Archives, Assistant, Jamie Nelson, Archives Processing Tech Sources Program, and John Gieger, of Teaching with Primary David Bates, Director of Education, April 2017. DePaul University’s College Consultant for ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I HAVE NO DOUBT THAT WE WILL ONE DAY ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY IN AMERICA. IT WILL COME SOONER IF PEOPLE LIKE ME WHO KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT EXECUTIONS DO OUR WORK WELL AND EDUCATE THE PUBLIC. IT WILL COME SLOWLY IF WE DO NOT. BECAUSE, FINALLY, I KNOW THAT IT IS NOT A QUESTION OF MALICE OR ILL WILL OR MEANNESS OF SPIRIT THAT PROMPTS OUR CITIZENS TO SUPPORT EXECUTIONS. IT IS, QUITE SIMPLY, THAT PEOPLE DO NOT KNOW THE TRUTH OF WHAT IS GOING ON.

HELEN PREJEAN, C.S.J.

DePaul University Library Special Collections and Archives 2350 N. Kenmore Ave. Suite 314 Chicago, IL 60614 773-325-7864 [email protected] spca.depaul.press/prejean