In the early twentieth century racial tensions were as high as ever. The Great Migration was a time where blacks were leaving the south and moving north to escape Jim Crow Laws. In September 1925, Ossian Sweet and his family moved into their new home four miles outside of downtown Detroit. Sweet was a young, black physician that had broken the white barrier of a middle-class neighborhood. The evening after the Sweets had moved into their bungalow, a white mob had formed outside the house that held Sweet and ten of his closest friends and family members. The mob was throwing rocks and breaking windows of the house. Police officers hired to protect the Sweet family stood by and watched as the mob became more dangerous. Those in the house began defending themselves with guns. Sweet’s younger brother, Henry fired into the crowd, wounding Eric Houghberg and killing Leon Breiner; both white men in the mob. The eleven individuals that were in the house were taken to jail and charged with first degree murder. In Arc of Justice, Kevin Boyle tells the story of a family who participated in the effort to defeat Jim Crow Laws during the time of …show more content…
During the Great Migration, nearly two million blacks were moving to northern cities to escape the oppression in the south. However, blacks found themselves in unexpected prejudice. Boyle shows that racism was the number one issue for blacks during 1925, even in the north. At this time in the book, if a black man were to kill a white man, the black man would immediately be charged with first degree murder. However, if a white man were to kill a black man, it would be considered self-defense. Moreover, if Sweet were a white man, the situation would have been completely different, and would not have ended in a court