--- title: 'The Racialized American History Behind Public Executions' description: 'On October 7, 2026, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the execution of Nidal Hasan—a man of Middle Eastern descent sentenced to death for…' canonical: 'https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/the-racialized-american-history-behind-public-executions' section: news date: '2026-10-14T16:43:00-04:00' updated: '2026-10-14T16:51:21-04:00' source: 'Death Penalty Information Center' --- ! *Photograph documenting the 1910 public mob execution of Allen Brooks, a Black man, in Dallas, Texas. Courtesy of the* [*National Museum of African American History and Culture*](https://nmaahc.si.edu/object/nmaahc_2013.41)*.* On October 7, 2026, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth [announced](https://apnews.com/article/fort-hood-shooter-execution-pentagon-818853afc1be5c70fe41c5b781a8d559) that the execution of [Nidal Hasan](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/nidal-hasan-may-be-executed-on-december-3-by-firing-squad-first-military-execution-in-65-years)—a man of Middle Eastern descent sentenced to death for the 2009 mass killing on the Fort Hood military base—would be livestreamed for the public. The announcement echoes an era where executions—particularly for Black men—functioned as public celebratory gatherings. Public executions in the United States, especially in southern states, have a painful and racialized history. The last widely recognized public execution in the United States was the 1936 hanging of [Rainey Bethea](https://www.wkms.org/history/2025-10-15/20-000-people-watched-a-black-man-hang-in-owensboro-90-years-ago-a-new-book-looks-at-why) in Kentucky.[1](#fn-1) In addition to official, state-sponsored executions, the Equal Justice Initiative has [documented](https://eji.org/reports/lynching-in-america/) more than 4,000 Black people killed in racial-terror lynchings between 1877 and 1950. And between 1865 and 1950, at least 16 people of color were lynched in Bell and Coryell counties in Texas, where Fort Hood is located and where Mr. Hasan is scheduled to be executed. [2](#fn-2)Many of these extrajudicial lynchings were treated as “festivals”, drawing thousands of predominately white spectators, including elected officials and prominent citizens. Both legally sanctioned public executions and extrajudicial lynchings drew large crowds of spectators, with the two events appearing almost indistinguishable from one another. ! Photos of the 1893 lynching of Henry Smith in Paris, Texas and the 1936 execution of Rainey Bethea in Owensboro, Kentucky Mr. Bethea, a Black man, was sentenced to death by an all-white, all-male jury for the alleged rape of a white woman in Owensboro, Kentucky. On the morning of his execution, an estimated 20,000 people gathered to witness his execution, which has been described as a [community spectacle](https://apnews.com/article/fort-hood-livestream-history-public-execution-e9b41d2c6425aa75e25e65dddc91ab7b). [Reports](https://capitalpunishmentuk.org/rainey-bethea-the-last-truly-public-hanging-in-the-usa/#google_vignette) described people arriving from six neighboring states and 27 Kentucky counties, filling local hotels and creating a “carnival-like" atmosphere. Attendees held “hanging parties,” and engaged in drunken celebrations. In some cases, pieces of the lynching victim’s body were taken as trophies, postcards commemorated the occasion, and newspapers provided advance notice of the expected lynching time and locations well as detailed accounts afterwards. > “Everybody went...everybody had a wonderful time, and it was over just like that...they came from everywhere, and there \[were\] hawkers. They sold sandwiches and they sold Coca-Colas, and you'd have thought it was a big picnic or something.” > > Bill Shelten reflecting, decades later, on his childhood presence at the execution of Mr. Bethea in a 2013 [interview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyt6QiZ5T0Y) The Pentagon’s decision to revive a practice [reminiscent of a bygone period](https://www.wcvb.com/article/pentagon-hasan-execution-livestream-public-death-penalty/74092346) also recalls the impact public executions inflicted on spectators. Eight decades after Mr. Bethea’s execution, Rachel Abbott [recalled](https://www.wkyufm.org/regional/2016-08-11/eighty-years-after-last-public-hanging-in-america-some-owensboro-residents-still-impacted-by-event) attending the public execution when she was just five years old. > “I remember it well, but I didn’t want to. I tried to get away from it because it was hurting me so bad...I started having nightmares after I was older. It’s like his spirit was just hanging all around me.” Author Sonya Lee, whose grandparents were spectators at Mr. Bethea’s execution and who is a relative of the prosecutor who handled Mr. Bethea’s case, published a book in 2025 titled, [*American Bloodlines: Reckoning with Lynch Culture*](https://www.kentuckypress.com/9781985902855/american-bloodlines/), which examines Mr. Bethea’s execution and how lynch culture is perpetuated in families, communities and institutions. Responding to the announcement that Mr. Hasan’s execution will be public, Ms. Lee said: > “\[Now that we\] have the technology that can make it go wider than the 20,000 people who showed up... to witness in Owensboro, Kentucky, it just makes it even more horrific.” The [media circus](https://www.wkms.org/history/2025-10-15/20-000-people-watched-a-black-man-hang-in-owensboro-90-years-ago-a-new-book-looks-at-why) following the execution led to the state banning public executions 18 months after Mr. Bethea’s execution. Mary Danhauer, who works with Owensboro Community Remembrance Project and the Owensboro NAACP, sounded an alarm in 2025, warning of the reality America now faces with Mr. Hasan’s pending execution. > “I think if we don't address the history, then we're going to repeat it in some other form or fashion...So if we don't address it, it's going to rear its ugly head again.” Mr. Hasan’s execution is scheduled for December 3, 2026. The brother of one of the soldiers killed by Mr. Hasan has spoken out against the impending execution, particularly raising concerns about the proposal to make it public. Kristopher Craig, wrote in an open letter to President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth: ***“We also have a history of moving away from \[public executions\], in part because of what happens when the taking of a human life becomes an event for an audience.”*** Khaleda Rahman, [Exclusive: Brother of Slain Fort Hood Soldier Urges Trump To Stop Livestream Execution](https://www.newsweek.com/exclusive-brother-of-slain-fort-hood-soldier-urges-trump-to-stop-livestream-execution-12550331?fbclid=IwY2xjawU7F65leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBwZG9mAXNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR5Pu9WEIp-nTuXFqjo4S3o9UOIMkKGGqjtd2bZb4kXSkinffGUCLRUkDUFJyw_aem_fONMcwfygFHTUjbgly7MTQ), Newsweek, October 10, 2026; Konstantin Toropin, Eric Tucker and Claudia Lauer, [Pentagon says the firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan will be livestreamed](https://apnews.com/article/fort-hood-shooter-execution-pentagon-818853afc1be5c70fe41c5b781a8d559), Associated Press, October 8, 2026; [Eighty Years After Last Public Hanging in America, Some Owensboro Residents Still Impacted by Event](https://www.wkyufm.org/regional/2016-08-11/eighty-years-after-last-public-hanging-in-america-some-owensboro-residents-still-impacted-by-event), WKU Public Radio, August 11, 2016; Derek Operle, [20,000 people watched a Black man hang in Owensboro 90 years ago. A new book looks at why](https://www.wkms.org/history/2025-10-15/20-000-people-watched-a-black-man-hang-in-owensboro-90-years-ago-a-new-book-looks-at-why)WKMS, October 25, 2025 Footnotes 1. Although not as widely recognized, the official last documented public execution was in Missouri in 1937 with Roscoe “Red” Jackson 2. Data from the Equal Justice Initiative