Elmo Patrick Sonnier illness, at Louisiana State Prison . He is buried in the prison cemetery. Sister Helen Prejean published a book, "Dead Man Walking" (1993), about her relationship with Elmo Sonnier and Robert Lee Willie, another inmate on Death Row whom she counseled. The book was adapted as a 1995 film of the same name directed by Tim Robbins and starring Susan Sarandon as Sister Prejean and Sean Penn as Matthew Poncelett, an amalgam of Sonnier and Willie. Her book was also adapted as an opera of the same name, first produced in 2000 by the San Francisco Opera. Elmo Patrick Sonnier
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