SNOW-STORM IN AUGUST: WASHINGTON CITY, FRANCIS SCOTT KEY, AND THE FORGOTTEN RACE RIOT OF 1835 by Jefferson Morley
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Snow-Storm in August: Washington City, Francis Scott Key, and the Forgotten Race Riot of 1835 by Jefferson Morley
In 1835, the city of Washington pulsed with change. As newly freed African Americans from the South poured in, free blacks outnumbered slaves for the first time. Radical notions of abolishing slavery circulated on the city's streets, and white residents were forced to confront new ideas of what the nation's future might look like.
On the night of August 4, Arthur Bowen, a nineteen-year-old slave, stumbled into the bedroom where his owner, Anna Thornton, slept. He had an axe in the crook of his arm. An alarm was raised, and he ran away. Word of the incident spread rapidly, and within days Washington's first race riot exploded as whites, fearing a slave rebellion, attacked the property of the free blacks. Residents dubbed the event the "Snow-Storm," in reference to the central role of Beverly Snow, a flamboyant former slave turned successful restauranteur, who became the target of the mob's rage.
In the wake of the riot came two sensational criminal trials that gripped the city. Prosecuting both cases was none other than Francis Scott Key, a politically ambitious attorney famous for writing the lyrics to "The Star-Spangled Banner," who few now remember served as the city's district attorney for eight years. Key defended slavery until the twilight's last gleaming, and he pandered to racial fears by seeking capital punishment for Arthur Bowen. But, in a surprise twist, his prosecution was thwarted by Arthur's ostensible victim Anna Thornton, a respected socialite whose deceased husband had designed the U.S. Capitol and may well have been Arthur's father.
Ranging beyond the familiar confines of the White House and the Capitol, Snow-Storm in August delivers readers into the bustling and treacherous streets of Washington City, with a textured and absorbing account of the racial secrets and contradictions that coursed beneath the freewheeling capital of a rising world power.
Doubleday, Hardcover, 1st Edition, 1st Printing, 2012
This is a BRAND NEW book. There is a "closeout/remainder" mark on the bottom page edges.
In 1835, the city of Washington pulsed with change. As newly freed African Americans from the South poured in, free blacks outnumbered slaves for the first time. Radical notions of abolishing slavery circulated on the city's streets, and white residents were forced to confront new ideas of what the nation's future might look like.
On the night of August 4, Arthur Bowen, a nineteen-year-old slave, stumbled into the bedroom where his owner, Anna Thornton, slept. He had an axe in the crook of his arm. An alarm was raised, and he ran away. Word of the incident spread rapidly, and within days Washington's first race riot exploded as whites, fearing a slave rebellion, attacked the property of the free blacks. Residents dubbed the event the "Snow-Storm," in reference to the central role of Beverly Snow, a flamboyant former slave turned successful restauranteur, who became the target of the mob's rage.
In the wake of the riot came two sensational criminal trials that gripped the city. Prosecuting both cases was none other than Francis Scott Key, a politically ambitious attorney famous for writing the lyrics to "The Star-Spangled Banner," who few now remember served as the city's district attorney for eight years. Key defended slavery until the twilight's last gleaming, and he pandered to racial fears by seeking capital punishment for Arthur Bowen. But, in a surprise twist, his prosecution was thwarted by Arthur's ostensible victim Anna Thornton, a respected socialite whose deceased husband had designed the U.S. Capitol and may well have been Arthur's father.
Ranging beyond the familiar confines of the White House and the Capitol, Snow-Storm in August delivers readers into the bustling and treacherous streets of Washington City, with a textured and absorbing account of the racial secrets and contradictions that coursed beneath the freewheeling capital of a rising world power.
Doubleday, Hardcover, 1st Edition, 1st Printing, 2012
This is a BRAND NEW book. There is a "closeout/remainder" mark on the bottom page edges.
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