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Washington City, Francis Scott Key, and the Forgotten Race Riot of 1835
Nan A. Talese
July 2012
On Sale: July 3, 2012
352 pages
ISBN: 0385533373
EAN: 9780385533379
Kindle: B006V3E254
Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction History
A gripping narrative history of the explosive events that
drew together Francis Scott Key, Andrew Jackson, and an
18-year-old slave on trial for attempted murder. 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 4th, Arthur Bowen, an
eighteen-year-old slave, stumbled into the bedroom where his
owner, Anna Thornton, slept. He had an ax 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
restaurateur, 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 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 who sought the help of
President Andrew Jackson. Ranging beyond the familiar confines of the White House and
the Capitol, Snow-Storm in August delivers readers into an
unknown chapter of American history with a textured and
absorbing account of the racial secrets and contradictions
that coursed beneath the freewheeling capital of a rising
world power.
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