In the 1920’s decent housing was short in Detroit, people moved there to find work at the Henry Ford automotive factories. During this industrial time many people wanted to own a home, two thirds of Americans did, but less then one half of Blacks owned homes. In 1917 the U.S Supreme Court struck down a law mandating that segregated housing. By 1925 thousands of Blacks moved to Detroit looking for the American dream of home ownership. Whites were terrified that having Blacks in the neighborhood would devalue their property and homes. So came up with new ideas to segregate, Whites made it their mission to keep Blacks out of “their” neighborhoods, and funneled Blacks to live in the ghettos of Black Bottom. Whites took it one step further; Banks refused mortgages to Blacks, and real estate agents refused to show houses in White neighborhoods. Dr. Ossian Sweet and his family managed to buy a house 7 blocks inside a white neighborhood; he wanted to raise his daughter in good surroundings. Even though he wasn’t looking for trouble it found him. On moving day, he arrived with 9 family members and friends. They also had a shotgun, 2 rifles, 6 pistols, and 400 rounds of ammunition. A few cops were there but the crowd of angry Whites grew to hundreds. They shouted we’ll send the niggers back where they belong; they threw rocks, breaking windows. Finally gunfire erupted from the Sweet house and 2 white men were shot, killing one. All 11 of the Blacks were taken to jail, and tried for the murder of one white man. Attorney Clarence Darrow defended the 11 Blacks; the NAACP was involved, seeing this as a symbol of injustice and strike a legal blow in favor of self-defense against racial violence. Sweet claimed self-defense, Darrow reminded the all-white jury “a man’s home is his castle, which even the king may not enter.” The jury was split and the judge declared a mistrial, the second trial found all 11 not guilty. Over several decades Blacks succeeded in breaking out of inner cities, moving to the suburbs. As for Dr. Sweet he moved back into his house in 1928 alone, his wife and daughter were dead, he lived there for 25 years and when he moved the neighborhood was still largely white.
Questions to ask
1.) Knowing it would cause trouble, why do you think it meant so much for Dr. Sweet to move into a predominantly white neighborhood?
2.) Given the information in the reading, if you lived in this time, would you move to a well-known segregated part of town? Why or Why not?
3.) “Every man’s home is his castle, which even the king may not enter.” What does this statement mean to you?
