Ossian Sweet's Murder Trial Scrapbook, 1925
Scrapbook and photocopy of the Nov. 1925 murder trial of Ossian Sweet. Dr. Ossian Sweet and eleven others, all African Americans, including his wife, were charged with the murder of a white man, Leon Breiner, who was killed on Sept. 9, 1925 during the course of a neighborhood protest about the Sweets moving into a previously all white neighborhood in Detroit (Mich.). The trial, which was held in the Recording Court of Michigan, was presided over by Judge Frank Murphy, prosecuted by Robert Toms, and defended by Clarence Darrow in one of his last cases, ended in a hung jury. A second trial in 1926 ended in Sweet's acquittal. This was a major trial for Civil Rights in Michigan. For further information see Frank Murphy, the Detroit Years (1975) by Prof. Sidney Fine. For further information on Toms, see his Speeches, made on the occassion of his retirement in 1960, also in the Clarke Historical Library
Archival Material, English, 1925
1925