Helen Prejean inmates on Death Row and witnessed several more executions. She served as National Chairperson of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty from 1993 to 1995. She published "Dead Man Walking" (1993), an account of her relationship with Sonnier and other inmates on death row, and the factors related to her growing opposition to the death penalty. The book was adapted for a 1995 feature film of the same name; she was portrayed by Susan Sarandon. Her book was also adapted as an opera, first produced in 2000; and as a play. For her book, she drew from her
Helen Maria Chesnutt Helen Maria Chesnutt Helen Maria Chesnutt BA MA (December 6, 1880 - August 7, 1969) was an African American teacher of Latin and the author of an influential biography and Latin text book. Helen Maria Chesnutt was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina in 1880. Her parents were the African American author Charles Chesnutt, said to be the first important black American novelist, and Susan Perry. Helen Maria Chesnutt attended Smith College with her sister, Ethel, living off-campus as did Otelia Cromwell, the only other black student attending Smith College at this time. The Chesnutt sisters moved to four different addresses