by Kevin Boyle
First published 2001
Kevin Boyle chronicles the murder trial that shook 1925 Detroit and sparked national civil rights debates. Dr. Ossian Sweet, a Black physician and grandson of enslaved people, had achieved middle-class success and purchased a home in a white neighborhood. When he moved in, hostile crowds gathered outside his house. Shots fired from the Sweet home killed a white man in the mob, leading to Sweet's arrest for murder. The case attracted Clarence Darrow, America's most famous defense attorney, who saw the trial as a pivotal moment for racial justice. Boyle traces Sweet's family history from slavery through the Great Migration, placing the courtroom drama within Detroit's volatile social landscape of the 1920s. The city buzzed with jazz clubs and prohibition-era speakeasies while auto manufacturing drew workers from across the globe. The Ku Klux Klan wielded growing influence as racial tensions escalated. Boyle documents both the police investigation and legal proceedings, showing how Sweet became a symbol in the emerging civil rights movement. The book reveals how one man's pursuit of the American Dream collided with the racial hatred of his time.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, biography-memoir, african-american-historical-fiction, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: based-on-true-events, social-justice
Setting: Detroit, United States
Period: 1920s
415 pages · Paperback · Holt Paperbacks
Content warnings: racism, violence