Demands of the Dead: Executions, Storytelling, and Activism in the United States

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3 Demands of the Dead executions, storytelling, and activism in the united states edited by katy ryan university of iowa press, iowa city University of Iowa Press, Iowa City 52242 Copyright © 2012 by the University of Iowa Press www.uiowapress.org Printed in the United States of America Design by Richard Hendel No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher. All reasonable steps have been taken to contact copyright holders of material used in this book. The publisher would be pleased to make suitable arrangements with any whom it has not been possible to reach. The University of Iowa Press is a member of Green Press Initiative and is committed to preserving natural resources. Printed on acid-free paper Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Demands of the dead: executions, storytelling, and activism in the United States / edited by Katy Ryan. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-1-60938-088-5 (pbk) ISBN-10: 1-60938-088-6 (pbk) 1. Prisoners’ writings, American. 2. Capital punishment in literature. 3. Executions and executioners in literature. 4. Capital punishment— Moral and ethical aspects—United States. I. Ryan, Katy, 1968– PS508.P7D46 2012 810.8′09206927—dc23 2011042124 for my parents It is the dead, not the living, who make the greatest demands. —Sophocles The Sunday before my mother passed, that Sunday and Saturday, she was out in the neighborhood, canvassing, out at the mall, at the stores, getting petitions signed. Even that Sunday she was at church, getting her petitions signed. She had her petitions in her bag. When she went to the doctor’s office that Monday morning, she had her petitions and she was getting her petitions signed. And someone asked my sister . . . would it be offensive to have petitions signed at the funeral? And my sister said, “That’s what my mother died doing, getting petitions signed. It would be something glorious for my mother for someone to carry on the legacy.” —Kimberly Davis, sister of Troy Anthony Davis who was killed by the state of Georgia on September 21, 2011 ...