For 75 years, capital punishment was carried out by electrocution in the state of Alabama. From 1927 to 2002, executions took place in Alabama’s one and only electric chair, painted bright yellow. This is the history of that chair, nicknamed “Yellow Mama.”
Public hangings were common in Alabama during the frontier days and most of the 1800s. By 1900, most hangings were conducted in private by the sheriff of each county. In 1923, state legislation abolished hanging and gave the power of excution solely to the state. This legislation also designated electrocution as the new method.
The state penitentiary system of Alabama was well established by 1923 and Kilby Prison was brand new. It was a multimillion dollar facility built a few miles north of Montgomery at Mount Meigs. Kilby was chosen to handle all electrocutions. Thus began the era of Yellow Mama.
Kilby PrisonPhoto byAlabama State Government Archives (fair use)
Yellow Mama was built of solid oak by a convict named Ed Mason. Originally from England, Mason was housed at Kilby while serving a sentence on grand larceny. Knowing that Mason was a master carpenter, he was asked by the warden at Kilby to build a wooden chair suitable for electrocutions. It wasn’t uncommon for prisoners to build a state’s electric chair in that era. As a way of thanking Mason for building the chair, he was given a 30 day pass from the facility. He failed to return. He was found later housed in a prison in New York for an offense similar to the one that had landed him in prison in Alabama.