History 371
Devine
Fall
2013
Kevin
Boyle, Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race,
Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age
We
will discuss Boyle’s book on Tuesday, October 15th and Thursday, October 17th. There will be a twenty question short answer
quiz on the reading. If you did not do
the Option A paper, you will need to do an Option B
paper based on this book.
The
following study questions should help guide your reading of the book. The numbers following the questions
correspond to the respective chapters.
1.
During
the 1920s, why did the native white population in the large Northern cities see
immigrants and blacks as such threats?
Why did African Americans move north during the 1910s and 1920s? (Prologue)
2.
What
factors led to the emergence of racialized ghettos in
large Northern cities? Did racism or
economic fears seems to play a larger part? (Prologue)
3.
How
would you describe the white people who lived on
4.
What
kind of a reception did Ossian Sweet anticipate when he moved into his new home? How do we know this? (1)
5.
How
would you assess the police response on the night of the incident at Sweet’s
bungalow? (1)
Summary
of Chapter Four: “Uplift Me, Pride”
In this chapter Boyle describes how white
Detroiters in the early 20s became increasingly xenophobic—fearful of “foreigners”—which
in this case included both immigrants (largely Jews and Catholics) and
blacks. The population of each group
swelled as the city’s booming auto plants soaked up more and more workers. Local community leaders became increasingly
concerned that these workers were not sufficiently Americanized, which meant
they did not adequately conform to Protestant, Anglo-Saxon traditions or
expectations. Henry Ford, the greatest
auto tycoon of all and a virulent anti-Semite, mass produced millions of copies
of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which
purported to be a Jewish blueprint for a world wide conspiracy to undermine
Christian civilization. The document was
a fraud.
The Great Migration of southern blacks to
northern cities during World War I caused much of the racial stress in
Black Bottom was a horror. The newcomers were packed into run down,
dilapidated housing which, ironically, was more expensive than surrounding
areas. (Because local whites resisted
allowing the newcomers to “invade” their neighborhoods, landlords within Black
Bottom could charge higher rents knowing the migrants had nowhere else to
go.) The area lacked proper sewage,
electricity, and water service. Street
car lines were scarce, crime festered, and police brutality was an everyday
occurrence. Disease was rampant,
particularly the ailments of the poor and overcrowded: tuberculosis, pneumonia,
diarrhea, and malnutrition.
It was unthinkable for a young black doctor
to attempt to open a practice catering to whites, so, in 1921, Ossian Sweet
came to Black Bottom to live and practice medicine. He opened his first office in the back room
of a local pharmacy. And he did
well. Like many educated and ambitious
blacks, the young doctor saw in the flood of southern peasants the chance to
make his fortune. Ossian quickly joined
the right black clubs and social organizations, including the local AME
church. Through his new connections he
secured a lucrative position as a medical examiner for an insurance company and
joined with other doctors in the area to found Dunbar Memorial, a modest
hospital, but the first to serve the population of Black Bottom. Ossian Sweet had certainly become a member of
The 20s also witnessed the emergence of a new
model for black behavior, the so-called “New Negro.” Black leaders challenged their race to be far
more militant. Many blacks had served in
World War I only to return to an
On the other hand, the “talented tenth” often
blamed the newly arrived blacks for holding back the race, demonstrating a
fissure within black society. Some black elites were convinced that
Ossian Sweet, however, had other
concerns. He met Gladys Mitchell in 1922
and fell in love. Gladys, a light skinned black, had grown up in a mixed middle
class
Months later, Ossian and Gladys embarked on
an ambitious trip to
15. What was the stated
purpose of the Waterman Park Improvement Association? What was its real purpose? To what extent was it connected to the Tireman Avenue Improvement Association? (5)
17. In what ways did
banks, real estate agents, and the realities of the housing market conspire
against black (and white working class) homeowners? (5)
18. Why were white
homeowners on
19. Why did the Waterman
Park Improvement Association have such little success convincing white
homeowners to sign restrictive covenants?
(5)
Summary of Chapter Six: “The Letter of Your Law”
A paddy wagon brought the eleven
defendants to police headquarters. As
they waited to be interrogated, Ossian and the others quickly and quietly
agreed on their story. When questioned
by the police, the young doctor claimed, unconvincingly, that he did not know
he had purchased a home in an all white neighborhood. He also stated falsely that he had not
invited the others to join him that night.
He claimed that they had instead come of their own volition, some on
business, others as friends. They had all been waiting to eat dinner when
the disturbance began.
Sweet also asserted, correctly, that
they fired their weapons only after the windows were broken by rocks and bricks
thrown by the crowd outside. He had a
more difficult time explaining why he had brought so many guns with him to his
home. Sweet confessed he had heard some
rumors of trouble that night, but he stuck with his contention that he had no
reason to believe the worst would occur when he moved in. When he was pressed by the police to explain
this inconsistency, Sweet simply claimed it was his house and he had a legal
right to live there, which was true.
The other participants largely stuck
to Ossian’s version. As agreed, they all
claimed that they had just happened to be visiting that evening. Although the details were often inconsistent,
the defendants independently affirmed two basic points. The bricks and rocks came first, and nobody
would admit they were upstairs when the shots were fired—nobody except Henry
Sweet, Ossian’s brother. In a notable
break with the others, Henry admitted he fired a shotgun from the upstairs
window, above the heads of the crowd, but he claimed it was only after rocks
had shattered the glass.
The defendants were able to contact
local black attorneys who set about to plan their defense. The
Unfortunately, they were blindsided
by the press which played up the incident as a blatant attack by blacks on
law-abiding whites. The Detroit Free Press interviewed police
inspector Norton Schuknecht who claimed there was no
mob, no crowd surrounding the house, and certainly no stones thrown through
windows. According to Schucknecht, the neighborhood was perfectly peaceful when
the Negroes opened fire. The story went
on to suggest that the Waterworks Park Improvement Association had tried to
persuade the previous owners not to sell the property to a black family, to no avail. The paper reported that the Sweets arrived
fully armed and without any furniture, implying that they intended to initiate
a confrontation. The article suggested
that the deceased, Leon Breiner, had simply been
strolling down the street when he was cut down by bullets from the Sweet’s house.
The afternoon papers, usually fierce
competitors of the Detroit Free Press, confirmed
the story—the police had been in control, there was calm, no crowd had
assembled before the shots were fired.
In addition, it was reported that Henry Sweet had confessed. With pressure mounting, Judge Murphy, the
progressive jurist that the lawyers had assumed was on their side, signed the
warrants and ordered a hearing.
Prosecutor Robert Toms prepared the
case, which he knew was a political necessity, given the inflammatory nature of
the coverage in the press. He
understood, however, that centuries of legal precedent supported the Sweets’
right to protect their property if threatened.
In fact, it had long been held that an actual threat need not be
present; simply the perception of a threat was sufficient to warrant self
defensive action on the part of a property owner. The defendants would have to say only that
they were threatened by a mob.
Therein lay the rub.
Johnny Smith dealt the final blow to
the Sweet’s cause with his comments on this case. The mayor accused the KKK of setting up the
conflict. According to Smith, the Klan
had been trying to induce blacks all summer to move into white districts just
to stir up trouble. But Smith also
blamed blacks for supposedly taking the bait.
Said Smith, “I believe that any colored person who
endangers life and property, simply to gratify his personal pride, is an enemy
of his race as well as an incitant of riot and
murder.” By all measures, the
prospects for Ossian, Gladys and their companions were dimming by the day.
Summary
of Chapter Seven: “Freedmen, Sons of God, Americans”
This chapter begins with a description of the
rise of the remarkable black scholar, journalist, composer, and diplomat James
Weldon Johnson to prominence within the NAACP and chronicles his attempts to
fight urban residential segregation, like that of
To fight such housing discrimination the
NAACP hoped to form a coalition of blacks and white ethnics (Jews and
Catholics) who were also often targeted by the Ku Klux Klan and other nativist groups.
Indeed, a Jew, Leo Frank, was lynched in
This chapter also details the fascinating
story of Walter White, a brilliant NAACP official with decidedly Anglo-Saxon
features—white skin, blue eyes, and blonde hair. Although his black heritage was impossible to
detect, White proudly insisted he was a Negro.
His appearance proved to be of great value to the NAACP in that he could
infiltrate and investigate scenes of racial mayhem—lynchings,
race riots, pogroms (the complete destruction of towns)—without local whites
ever suspecting that he was not one of them.
White was also an elitist, a man who inhabited the most rarified
artistic and intellectual circles of
Of course, the local black lawyers in
Once in charge, White and Johnson decided
that it would be far more advantageous to employ a powerful white lawyer to
defend the eleven blacks in front of what was sure to be an all white
jury. But when they contacted candidates
from the NAACP’s list, they found no takers.
Everyone had an excuse of some sort.
Although some may have been legitimate, in all likelihood the rising
popularity of the Klan convinced many of the lawyers to steer clear of the
case. A huge Klan rally took place in
Just when things looked darkest a letter
landed on Johnson’s desk from a man who served as the legal counsel to the Chicago Defender, one of the nation’s
most prestigious and most widely read black newspapers. The lawyer, N. K. McGill, expressed an
interest in helping out with the case.
He suggested he had access to several prominent attorneys in
For a quarter of a century Darrow had been
the most celebrated defense attorney in the country. Most recently he had defended a school
teacher in
20. What kinds of people
did Clarence Darrow build his reputation defending? What do his cases tell you about his values?
(8)
21. Who and what were the
targets of Darrow’s scorn? How do you
think Darrow would have defined an ideal
22. How accurately did the
Negro Press depict Ossian Sweet and his actions on the night of the
murder? How did this attention affect
Ossian? (8)
23. What group did W. E.
B. Dubois target as the real culprits of urban racial segregation? Did he blame primarily racism or greed? (8)
24. When Clarence Darrow
put together a jury, what types of people was he looking for? How much importance did he place on jury
selection? (9)