GALLERY
The Death of the Death Penalty
"On March 25, 2021, Governor Ralph Northam formally abolished Virginia’s death penalty. This watershed moment revealed a stained Virginian history little spoken about by its current citizens. Throughout this talk, cultural archaeologist Dale Brumfield dives into the death penalty’s forgotten history through a gripping pairing of stories and statistics, exploring how Virginia went from the “rocket docket” to the modern gateway to abolishing the death penalty in the American South.
This talk was given at a TEDx event in November, 2022 using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community, TEDxYouth@RVA.
Virginia State Penitentiary presentation
Virginia Museum of History & Culture, Richmond, VA.
Nov. 9, 2019
Theme Park Babylon launch, Chop Suey Books, Richmond. 2019
Standers launch, Chop Suey Books, Richmond. 2012
With Virginia State Penitentiary historical marker, 2017. Photo by Scott Elmquist, Style Weekly.
Signing books, Virginia Museum of History and Culture.
Discussing death penalty abolition with an attendee at CPAC, Washington Harbor, 2019.
Death penalty abolition panel, Charlottesville, Va, 2019. With (L to R) Shane Claiborne, Michael Stone, Susan Brumfield, Dale Brumfield, former death row prisoner/now paralegal Joe Giarratano.
With death penalty abolitionist Sister Helen Prejean, Hampton Va. 2018
(L) Dale and (R) Rev. Dr. LaKeisha Cook at a death penalty prayer vigil at the former site of the Va State Penitentiary, January, 2021
At the Death penalty abolition bill signing, March 24, 2021, Greensville Correctional Center, Jarratt, Va.