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When Wisconsin ended the death penalty

Winchester Academy hosts UW-Stevens Point historian

Barker

Dr. Brett Barker will present “How Wisconsin Abolished the Death Penalty in the 1850s” at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 5, at the Waupaca Area Public Library.

This is the final program in Winchester Academy’s Summer All-Star Series.

Wisconsin abolished the death penalty in 1853, only five years after becoming a state, and shortly after the gruesome hanging of a man who murdered his wife in Kenosha.

Wisconsin has had no death penalty longer than any other state in the nation.

Barker will elaborate on the social and political forces that resulted in the historic repeal of the death penalty, which at the time was the only sentence available to judges in murder cases.

Barker is associate professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point at Wausau. He has taught there since 2002.

He is the author of “Exploring Civil War Wisconsin: A Survival Guide for Researchers” and a forthcoming book on the northern homefront during the Civil War.

Barker’s program is free and open to the public.

Cookies and coffee are served at 6 p.m., and the program begins at 6:30 p.m.

Winchester Academy expenses are funded through sponsors and tax-deductible donations.

Barker’s program is sponsored by Waupaca Foundry.

For more information about Winchester Academy, visit winchesteracademywaupaca.org, follow the group on Facebook or contact Executive Director Ann Buerger Linden at 715-258-2927 or [email protected].

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