Rainey Bethea (c. 1909 – August 14, 1936) was the last person to be publicly executed in the United States. Bethea, who was a black man, confessed to the rape and murder of a 70-year-old white woman named Lischia Edwards, and after being convicted of her rape, he was publicly hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky. Mistakes in performing the hanging and the surrounding media circus contributed to the end of public executions in the United States.
Read more about Rainey Bethea: Early Life, The Crime and Discovery, Trial, Appeal, and Petition For Habeas Corpus, The Hanging, The End of Public Executions in The United States, See Also