timeline: the history of PAUADP

January 30, 1997:

• Eight activists from the Philadelphia area gather at Friends Center to discuss the formation of a new statewide anti-death penalty organization. The focus of this new organization will be direct action. The participants form a Convening Committee to develop the new organization. The eight founders are Terry Rumsey, Facilitator, Pat Clark, Bob Smith, Bob Simpson, William Goldsby, Joan Broadfield, Mike Froehlich and Peggy Hasbrouck.
  
  

March 1997:

• The Convening Committee names the new organization Pennsylvania Abolitionists United Against the Death Penalty [PA Abolitionists].
• The New Society Educational Foundation, a non-profit 501-C-3 tax-exempt organization, agrees to serve as the legal/ fiscal sponsor of PA Abolitionists.

May, 1997:

• The Convening Committee hires Terry Rumsey to serve as the Executive Director. Chapters are formed in the city of Philadelphia and Delaware County.

August/ September 1997:

• The Family and Friends of PA Death Row Inmates Chapter is established. The bus trips from Philadelphia to S.C.I. Greene begin.
• The Religious Organizing Chapter is convened.

October 1997:

• PA Abolitionists sponsors its first major action. On October 18th, over 500 people rally against the death penalty at Philadelphia City Hall. Two days later, 23 people are arrested during a nonviolent blockade of Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham's office.

December, 1997:

• The Convening Committee establishes a permanent Steering Committee and then disbands. The Steering Committee is the governing body of the organization. Six founders form the original Steering Committee.

January 1998:

• Terry Rumsey resigns as Executive Director. The Steering Committee hires Jeff Garis as the new Executive Director.

March 1998:

• PA Abolitionists announces an organizing campaign to establish a moratorium on the death penalty in Pennsylvania.

May 1998: PA Abolitionists launches a statewide "Caravan of Conscience" calling for an end to executions. The journey begins on May 26th in front of the Philadelphia's District Attorney's office. More than 100 people join the demonstration. The caravan travels to Harrisburg for an action on the Capitol steps. It concludes with a rally of more than 400 people at the gates of S.C.I. Greene in Western Pennsylvania.

September 1998:

• C.R. Robinson is hired to serve as the staff person for Family and Friends of PA Death Row and as an Abolitionists community organizer. The F&F chapter continues the death row visitation project and works to confront the racist, oppressive prison system in Pennsylvania.

October 1998

• PA Abolitionists stages the second annual "October Actions". On October 17th, a spirited band of Abolitionists march through Philadelphia to join another 300 people for a rally at City Hall. On October 19th, seven Abolitionists are arrested for distributing anti-death penalty literature outside the Philadelphia Criminal Justice Center. The seven activists are jailed for over 24 hours. This blatant violation of free speech and assembly sparks a widespread media and public campaign in support of the "Abolitionists Seven." Eventually, all charges are dropped. Philadelphia enhances its reputation as a police state.

January, 1999

• Eileen Dunn comes to Philadelphia from the Bruderhof Community and fills the job of Administrative Assistant.
• On January 29, 1999 Sr. Helen Prejean speaks at the PA Abolitionists Fund Raising Dinner. Three hundred people come out to support the cause.

February, 1999:

• On February 15th nearly 300 people attend an Interfaith Service at Friends Center. The event, sponsored by the Religious Organizing Committee, mobilizes people of faith against the death penalty.

May, 1999: On May 1, 1999, more than 500 people gather at the State Capital in Harrisburg to call for a Moratorium on the death penalty. After the rally, over 250 people march to Governor Ridge's mansion. Twelve activists chain themselves to the gates of the mansion, blocking all entrances to the Governor's home. The Abolitionists demand that Ridge stop signing death warrants. The twelve activists, plus an onlooker, are arrested. Several weeks later, a bi-partisan group of Five State Senators introduces Senate Bill 952. The legislation, if passed, will result in a two-year moratorium on the PA death penalty. Shortly after, an identical bill is introduced into the PA House of Representatives. PA Abolitionists convenes the statewide Moratorium Committee to facilitate a campaign to win passage of moratorium legislation. Members of groups from throughout Pennsylvania are participating on the committee.

June, 1999:

• The Capitol Area chapter of PA Abolitionists is formed. This is the first PA Abolitionists chapter established outside the Philadelphia area. The chapter organizes monthly vigils outside the Governor's mansion in Harrisburg

. August, 1999:

• Kurt Rosenberg is hired as the Financial Development Coordinator.

September, 1999:

• PA Abolitionists holds its first organizational retreat. Steering Committee members, leaders of chapters, and activists gather at Burlington Friends Meeting on the weekend of September 10-11, 1999 to review and renew the organization.
• The Religious Organizing Chapter conducts a successful Speaker's Training for over 60 activists. The event is held at Friends Center on September 23, 1999. Many young people and new recruits are introduced to the PA Abolitionists through this event.

October, 1999:

• PA Abolitionists continues its campaign of civil disobedience at the offices of the Philadelphia District Attorney. Ten activists are arrested for blockading the doors that lead to the office.
• The National Coalition To Abolish The Death Penalty holds its national meeting at Friends Center in Philadelphia from Oct 1-3. NCADP's choice of Philadelphia as the conference site acknowledges the national import of PA Abolitionists work. PA Abolitionists plays a key role in the NCADP march through Philadelphia. Over 300 people participate.
• PA Abolitionists kicks off an organizing campaign in the Montgomery County district of PA Senator Stewart Greenleaf. The purpose of the campaign is to pressure Senator Greenleaf, Chair of PA Senate Judiciary Committee, to hold public hearings on Senate Bill 952. Over the next several months, PA Abolitionists will conduct organizing meetings, letter-writing campaigns, and coordinate citizen meetings with Senator Greenleaf. The Senator appears to be resistant to voices of his constituents.

December, 1999

• PA Senator Stewart Greenleaf announces that he will hold public hearings on Senate Bill 952. Suddenly, the issue of the death penalty moves onto the radar screen of Pennsylvania politics. PA Abolitionists begins to mobilize forces to transform the Harrisburg hearings into a political showcase for the moratorium movement. The public hearings will be held on February 22, 2000.

January, 2000

• PA Abolitionists Moratorium Committee initiates statewide organizing drive to turn out supporters for the Senate hearings in February.
• S.E. PA Chapter intensifies a campaign to convince Philadelphia City Council to pass a resolution calling for a death penalty moratorium.
• Students from throughout Pennsylvania gather on Jan 28-29 for a PA Abolitionists student organizing retreat. Plans are made to hire a student organizer and organize and link campuses across the state.

February, 2000

• The Family and Friends of PA Death Row Chapter wins an unprecedented victory when the Commissioner of Pennsylvania's Department of Corrections, Martin Horn, agrees to hold regular meetings with family members of death row inmates. The first meeting is held on February 2nd. For the first time in history, family members of death row inmates sit down with the D.O.C. Commissioner and begin to negotiate changes in policy.
• Philadelphia City Council makes national news on February 10 when it passes a death penalty moratorium resolution by a 12-4 vote. Philadelphia is the largest city in the U.S. to pass a moratorium resolution. Months of hard work by S.E. Chapter members pays off big!
• PA Abolitionists help make history for the third time in a month when over 250 anti-death penalty activists pack the PA Senate Hearings on SB 952. It is the largest public turnout for a Senate hearing in recent history. Cardinal Bevelaqua, Professor David Baldus, and other noted academics, lawyers, clerics, and community leaders draw attention to the growing call for a moratorium. The hearings generate widespread media coverage. It is a spectacular day for the movement.

March, 2000

• More than 200 people attend the PA Abolitionists Second Annual Awards Dinner. Bud Welch, father of a young woman murdered in the Oklahoma City bombing, is the keynote speaker. The event is a huge success and generates needed funds for the organization.

April, 2000

• On April 15 over 500 people gather at the State Capitol to demand a death penalty moratorium. After the rally, the crowd marches to the Governor's mansion and surrounds it with bright yellow "crime scene" tape. The action draws attention the criminal acts being committed by Pennsylvania's Governor.
• On April 24 nearly 200 people attended an anti-death penalty interfaith service at St. Martin de Porres Church in North Philadelphia. This event united a broad spectrum of religious faith in a call for justice and human dignity.

October, 2002

• In October of 2002, 2 amazing men who had been wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death toured the state of Pennsylvania, speaking about their experiences and calling for an end to capital punisment. Click here for more information about From Death Row to Freedom: Voices of Innocence.

October 11th, 2003

• The Rally for a Moratorium on Executions draws over 600 people to the steps of the state capitol in Harrisburg to demand an end to executions in PA. The rally features former IL Governor George Ryan, who enacted the first statewide moratorium in Illinois. Click here for more information and press links on the rally.

OVERVIEW:
Since its founding in January, 1997, PA Abolitionists United Against the Death Penalty has established itself as the leading anti-death penalty organization in the state. The group has received national recognition for solid organizing and dramatic action. The staff, program, and budget have realized tremendous growth. Thousands of people have participated in Abolitionist actions. Dozens have been arrested for acts of nonviolent civil disobedience. Historic legislation has been introduced. PA Abolitionists has forced the political system to respond to an issue that many "experts" considered off the map.


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