Arc of Justice
Arc of Justice
The book Arc of Justice by Kevin Boyle is about race and discrimination in the early and mid 1900’s, it is very depressing. The story begins in 1925 Detroit, an ever growing city so tight with racial tension. Dr. Ossian Sweet and his wife Glady’s and fourteen month old girl Iva have moved to a bungalow on Garland Avenue (a mostly white neighborhood) in Detroit. The Sweet’s left the baby at her grandparent's at first, until they were sure they would be safe. He brought along with him nine friends to help protect if needed, and a bagful of guns in a gunnysack. He brought a shotgun, two rifles, and six pistols, and a bulging brown satchel filled with four hundred rounds of ammunition. ₁ The first night they stayed in their house they were terrified, They stayed up all night with their rifles at their sides. Their new neighbors rioted, throwing rocks at the Sweet’s house, breaking glass and scaring everybody in the house. The hired police officers meant to guard the Sweet’s against danger made no effort to stop the mob. Suddenly, someone inside the house shot out into the street, wounding one white man named Eric Houghberg and killing a man named Leon Breiner, and the 11 black adults, including Sweet's wife were taken to jail immediatley and charged with first-degree murder. Under the racial rules of engagement for 1925 America, what should have happened to the group of black defenders is that they all would be dragged from the house into the streets and immediatley lynched. However, the NAACP hired the iconic lawyer, Clarence Darrow to defend them.
₁ Kevin Boyle, Arc of Justice. A Saga of race, Civil Rights,a nd murder in the Jazz Age, pg 27
The author then goes into farther detail telling us about Ossian’s past life. Ossian was inspired by the black leader W.E.B. DuBois, in particular by his notion of the "Talented Tenth", the well-educated, professional black class W.E.B DuBois claimed would lead the way to racial equality. For Sweet,
The book Arc of Justice by Kevin Boyle is about race and discrimination in the early and mid 1900’s, it is very depressing. The story begins in 1925 Detroit, an ever growing city so tight with racial tension. Dr. Ossian Sweet and his wife Glady’s and fourteen month old girl Iva have moved to a bungalow on Garland Avenue (a mostly white neighborhood) in Detroit. The Sweet’s left the baby at her grandparent's at first, until they were sure they would be safe. He brought along with him nine friends to help protect if needed, and a bagful of guns in a gunnysack. He brought a shotgun, two rifles, and six pistols, and a bulging brown satchel filled with four hundred rounds of ammunition. ₁ The first night they stayed in their house they were terrified, They stayed up all night with their rifles at their sides. Their new neighbors rioted, throwing rocks at the Sweet’s house, breaking glass and scaring everybody in the house. The hired police officers meant to guard the Sweet’s against danger made no effort to stop the mob. Suddenly, someone inside the house shot out into the street, wounding one white man named Eric Houghberg and killing a man named Leon Breiner, and the 11 black adults, including Sweet's wife were taken to jail immediatley and charged with first-degree murder. Under the racial rules of engagement for 1925 America, what should have happened to the group of black defenders is that they all would be dragged from the house into the streets and immediatley lynched. However, the NAACP hired the iconic lawyer, Clarence Darrow to defend them.
₁ Kevin Boyle, Arc of Justice. A Saga of race, Civil Rights,a nd murder in the Jazz Age, pg 27
The author then goes into farther detail telling us about Ossian’s past life. Ossian was inspired by the black leader W.E.B. DuBois, in particular by his notion of the "Talented Tenth", the well-educated, professional black class W.E.B DuBois claimed would lead the way to racial equality. For Sweet,