Ellen McBride

From Philosopedia

Ellen McBride (20th Century )

McBride was born in New York City, New York, the daughter of actress and homemaker Mildred Shaw and attorney Leonard I. Schreiber. She and a sister, Laurie Baker, who lives in Marshfield, Massachusetts, were raised in a socialist home by Reformed Jewish parents.

She attended Edgemont High School in Scarsdale, New York, earned her B.A. at Chatham College, her M.A. in Art at New York University, and a J. D. at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

In 1964, she joined the Ethical Culture Society, eventually becoming President of the American Ethical Union (AEU).

On June 2, 2000, the 87th American Ethical Union Assembly and the 59th American Humanist Association Conference, being held jointly at Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, approved identical resolutions supporting moratoriums on carrying out capital verdicts and opposing legislation that would make executions more likely. Both organizations have a history of opposition to capital punishment, and in a resolution noted that more than four score persons have been released from death row after their convictions for capital crimes were shown to have been in error.

The organizations also noted that improper and illegal actions by law enforcement officials have prompted the American Bar Association to say that the administration of the death penalty "is a haphazard maze of unfair practices with no internal consistencies." McBride, then the president of the American Ethical Union, said that the resolution "reflects growing concern that many prisoners are denied the opportunity to have DNA tests performed that might exonerate them, even though in many cases DNA evidence has proved that prisoners have been wrongfully convicted."

McBride was a signer of Humanist Manifesto III. She currently lives in Fairfield, Connecticut, with her husband. They have two grown children and two grandchildren.