Executions of white defendants for killing black victims are rare. Since the reinstatement of capital punishment in the United States in 1976, only 21 white people have been executed solely for killing a black person (less than 1.36% of all executions), whereas 299 black people have been executed solely for killing a white person (nearly 19.4% of all executions). Of the 21 white people executed for killing a black victim, seven were put to death for racially motivated murders. In addition, 13 white people have been executed for murders involving a black victim and one or more victims of another race; four of these cases were racially motivated.
Prior to the 1976 reinstatement of capital punishment in the United States, the last confirmed execution of a white person for the killing of a black person was on April 15, 1944, when Fred L. Brady was executed for the robbery and murder of Joe Williams in Kansas.
List of white defendants executed for killing black victims in the United States since 1976
Date of execution Executed person Age State Method Victim(s) 1 September 6, 1991 58 South Carolina Electrocution Rudolph Tyner 2 January 24, 1995 37 North CarolinaLethal injection Whelette Collins 3 March 20, 1995 32 Oklahoma Hilda Johnson 4 July 1, 1995 43 Oklahoma Lethal injection 9 people (1 black, 1 hispanic, and 5 white males, 2 white females) 5 December 6, 1995 34 Missouri Lethal injection Arthur Dade 6 June 6, 1997 42 Alabama Electrocution Michael Donald 7 December 11, 1997 26 VirginiaLethal injection Marguerite Lowery 8 March 6, 1998 43South CarolinaBetty Gardner 9 July 10, 1998 10 September 25, 1998 40 South CarolinaLethal injection 3 people (1 black and 2 white males) 11 April 28, 1999 26 Virginia Ruth Parham and Sally Fazio (1 black and 1 white female) 12 July 6, 1999 55 PennsylvaniaLethal injection Deborah Dudley and Sandra Lindsay 13 July 8, 1999 45 Oklahoma Larry Donnell Buckley 14 July 21, 1999 33 Virginia Leann Whitlock 15 May 3, 2002 39 South Carolina Bruce Kenneth Smalls 16 September 10, 2003 54 Texas Lethal injection Rosalyn Ann Robinson and Mary Evelyn Hayes (1 black and 1 white female) 17 July 14, 2006 39 South Carolina Lethal injection Keenan O'Mailia 18 July 20, 2006 27 Virginia Electrocution Lisa Yvonne Crider 19 November 9, 2006 33 Lethal injection Earl Shelton Dunning 20 September 12, 2007 45 Tennessee Electrocution 4 people (1 black female, 3 white males) 21 June 6, 2008 48 South CarolinaLethal injection 3 people (1 black female, 2 white males) 22 February 17, 2011 59 Ohio 3 people (2 black and 1 white males) 23 June 16, 2011 32 Texas Lethal injection Donta Green 24 September 21, 2011 44 James Byrd Jr. 25 February 8, 2012 38 Mississippi Eddie Brooks and Everett Curry 26 September 25, 2012 48 Texas Nyanuer Gatluak "Mary" Pal 27 January 16, 2013 42 Virginia Electrocution Aaron Alexander Cooper and Harvey Gray Watson Jr. (1 black and 1 white male) 28 March 6, 2013 48 Ohio Lethal injection Henry Dupree 29 September 25, 2013 61 Ohio Lethal injection John A. Bryant and Dennis Glivar (1 black and 1 white male) 30 January 11, 2017 48 Texas Willie Ladell Freeman and Mike Silva (1 black and 1 hispanic male) 31 July 6, 2017 35 Virginia Derrick McFarland and Eric Sutphin (1 black and 1 white male) 32 August 24, 2017 53 Florida Robert Lee Booker and Robert McDowell (1 black and 1 mixed-race male) 33 April 24, 2019 44 Texas Lethal injection James Byrd Jr. 34 October 14, 2025 72 Florida Lethal injection Denise Roach and Cristy Cowan (1 black and 1 white female)
Demographics Sex Male 34 Female 0 Date of execution 1976–1979 0 1980–1989 0 1990–1999 14 2000–2009 7 2010–2019 12 2020–2029 1 Age 20–29 3 30–39 10 40–49 14 50–59 5 60–69 1 70–79 1 State South Carolina 7 Virginia 7 Texas 6 Ohio 3 Oklahoma 3 Florida 2 Alabama 1 Mississippi 1 Missouri 1 North Carolina 1 Pennsylvania 1 Tennessee 1 Method Lethal injection 29 Electrocution 5 Total 34 100%
List of white defendants executed for crimes against black victims in the United States (pre-1972) At least 55 white people were executed in the US for crimes against black people before 1972. Of those, 52 were executed for murder, one was executed for attempted murder, one was executed for kidnapping, and one was executed for "engaging in the slave trade" under the Piracy Law of 1820. Twenty white people were executed for crimes against slaves, 18 for murder, one for attempted murder, and one for slave trading.
Date of death Inmate Age Sex Method State Crime Victim(s) 1 November 23, 1739 John Cobidge Unknown Male Hanging Virginia Murder Unknown female 2 Charles Quin Unknown male 3 David White 4 May 13, 1747 Thomas Lamb Maryland Nacy (male) 5 July 1752 Pierre Antoine Dochenet 24 Louisiana Attempted murder Unknown (2 black females) 6 October 12, 1770 John Jones Unknown Maryland Murder-Slave stealing Jem and Sarah (black male and female) 7 May 12, 1775 William Pitman Unknown Virginia Murder Unknown male 8 January 31, 1789 Matthew Farley Jr. 42 Unknown male9November 25, 1803Gabriel ReedUnknownJames Butts101806Micajah JohnsonUnknownNorth CarolinaKidnappingUnknown male 11November 10, 1820Mason Scott19MurderCaleb 12July 27, 1821Isaac JonesUnknownMississippiUnknown male 13April 25, 1822Samuel Green 26MassachusettsBilly Williams14October 1, 1823Jeff KingUnknownKentuckyUnknown male 15May 28, 1829George ChapmanNew YorkDaniel Wright16July 2, 1836John Hallock Nell (female) 17May 15, 1840John Hoover58North CarolinaMira (female)18September 19, 1851Aaron Stookey42New YorkZeddy Moore 19July 2, 1852Jean AdamUnknownLouisianaMurder-BurglaryMary 20Anthony Delisle 21January 14, 1853L. A. J. StubbsSouth CarolinaMurderUnknown male 22March 3, 1854William BlackledgeJoe (male) 23Thomas Motley 24June 2, 1854James WilsonTexasBill (male) 25June 8, 1860Benjamin F. NormanKentuckyGeorge Johnson 26 February 21, 1862 Nathaniel Gordon 36 Federal government Piracy Unknown (at least 29 black people) 27 January 23, 1863 Frederick Letz 20 Military Murder Tom 28 October 26, 1866 David Howell Unknown Georgia Henry Gamble 29 November 18, 1870 Ezekiel McAbee 21 South Carolina Simon Latham 30 October 27, 1871 William B. Parker 51 North Carolina Thomas Price 31 August 7, 1872 Eli Chavis 27 South Carolina Adam Jackson 32 January 16, 1874 Joseph Baker 35 North Carolina Newton Wilfong 33 June 19, 1876 William Foster 26 Missouri Unknown male 34 December 7, 1877 Harvey Thorpe 22 New York Howard 35 March 15, 1878 Augustus J. Johnson 24 Georgia Daniel Alford 36 May 14, 1880 Thomas White 28 South Carolina Pete Hawkins 37December 17, 1880Daniel Keith42North CarolinaMurder-RapeAlice Ellis 38February 25, 1881John Von der Heide24KentuckyMurderRebecca Johnson 39June 19, 1885William Morrow34TennesseeDick Overton 40March 19, 1890Mel J. Cheatham40MississippiJim Tilghman41July 10, 1896America "Mary" Snodgrass18FemaleVirginiaUnknown 42January 23, 1899George W. Hite65MaleWilliam Bowers 43June 21, 1910Antonio Fornaro31ElectrocutionNew YorkAgnes Johnson 44November 27, 1911James W. Gatlin26HangingGeorgiaMurder-BurglaryMary Randolph and Mary Randolph Jr. (black females) 45July 26, 1912John Bailey22TennesseeMurder-Robbery3 people (2 black males and 1 black female) 46George Shelton19 47March 21, 1913Arthur Jones28AlabamaJohn Holland 48William Watson 49December 7, 1923John Karayians34ElectrocutionOhioMurderDavid Gamble 50March 20, 1936Erleon Whitehead35KentuckyMurder-BurglaryJohn Allen 51February 18, 1938 Milford Exum40Gas chamberNorth CarolinaJames Williams 52April 25, 1938Edward Rose22ElectrocutionPennsylvaniaMurder-RobberyFloyd Tranon 53Theodore Duminiak20 54John Oreszak 55April 15, 1944Fred L. Brady46HangingKansasMurder-RobberyJoe Williams
Demographics (pre-1972) Sex Male 54 Female 1 Date of execution 1700–1750 4 1750–1800 4 1800–1850 9 1850–1900 25 1900–1950 13 1950–1972 0 Age Unknown 21 10–19 3 20–29 16 30–39 7 40–49 4 50–59 2 60–69 1 State Virginia 8 North Carolina 7 South Carolina 6 New York 5 Kentucky 4 Georgia 3 Louisiana 3 Pennsylvania 3 Tennessee 3 Alabama 2 Maryland 2 Mississippi 2 Federal government 1 Kansas 1 Massachusetts 1 Missouri 1 Ohio 1 Texas 1 US military 1 Method Hanging 48 Electrocution 6 Gas chamber 1 Total 55 100%
See also List of death row inmates in the United States List of United States Supreme Court decisions on capital punishment List of women executed in the United States since 1976 Race and capital punishment in the United States Racism against Black Americans
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