Talk:Snow Riot

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Snow Riot of 1835 was a riot and lynch mob in Washington, D.C. in 1835. An attack on free blacks in the city by of whites, the Snow Riot wrecked havoc on anything affiliated with free blacks for days by mobbing and destroying all of their establishments. The name of the riot comes from the first destination the mob attacked, the restaurant owned by free black, Mr. Beverly Snow's Epicurean Eating House, located on the corner of 6th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. After attacking Snow's restaurant, the mob went and destroyed the school Arthur Bowen went to. They did this because he was suspected of being taught of the ability of abolishing slavery at this school, and the larger context was the white working-class men's frustration over their status as workers and resentment of black competition for jobs. The clear result was the unleashing of white terror against blacks.

History

The American Civil War started in 1861 [1], so The Snow Riot occurred over 25 years before the war between the North and the Confederate South.At this time period, the city of Washington was facing unprecedented tension between abolitionists and slavery defenders. The tension was so high because the largest amount of fatalities caused by a slave uprising occurred only a few years prior to the Snow Riot, the Nat Turner's Slave Rebellion of 1831[2]. Ever since this rebellion led by Nat Turner, widespread panic and fear spread across the States. Because of this, there were abolitionists flooding the city with extremely loud voices and protests for the removal of slaves in the nation's capital. However, there were also extremely high amounts of whites waiting for their moment to revenge the slave's uprising of 1831. The event that sparked the riots of Mr. Beverly Snow in 1835 was when an inebriated slave, Arthur Bowen, came into his Mistress' bedroom with an ax [3]. Bowen did not strike or attempt to strike his Mistress, but the shear fact that a slave had the opportunity to rebel against slave owners and whites infuriated slavery defenders in the city. Bowen was ultimately taken into custody without harm as this gave Pro-slavery white's an opportunity to go after the man leading the production and distribution of abolitionist material, Reuben Crandall. The man behind the idea of arresting Crandall was District Attorney Francis Scott Key[4], notorious writer of the United States' national anthem, the Star-Spangled Banner[5]. Key was actually a strong supporter of slavery, and he was the leading man behind coordinating the arrest of Crandall. This arrest of Crandall sparked a huge mob of whites in the Capital, attacking all establishments run by free blacks: schools, churches and businesses. The first place the mob attacked was the Epicurean Eating House, a restaurant owned by Mr. Beverley Snow, a free black in the city. His restaurant was notorious in the city for serving very sophisticated and luxurious food, but it was ransacked to ruins by the mob in search of Snow because he was a free black owner. The mob searched for Snow, but were unable to find and capture him.

Beverley Snow's Background

A free black who lived in Washington, D.C. Snow was different than most free blacks, as he was extremely educated, wealthy, successful, and "perhaps even a bit snobbish". Beverly Snow was one of a number of black entrepreneurs who owned businesses in the downtown area. His success was evidence of the strength of Washington's free black population. He was the owner of a restaurant named the Epicurean Eating House in D.C. The Epicurean Eating House was the site of a riot in 1835 popularly known as the Snow Riot. Kjb033 (talk) 01:47, 11 November 2015 (UTC)

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Kjb033.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 14:14, 18 January 2022 (UTC)