Within this installment of Stateside: One hundred years ago this week, Dr. Ossian Sweet and his family were attacked in Detroit. They fought back, and were charged with murder. It was a significant case because Sweet was a Black man who had claimed self-defense: He fired into an angry mob of white neighbors trying to drag him from his house. We spoke with historian Kevin Boyle, author of Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age, about Sweet’s story and the history of redlining in Detroit.
Then, we visited Brush the Block, Kalamazoo’s first ever city mural festival. We spoke with artists as they crafted their larger than life paintings. Here’s a map of all the murals we visited.
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GUESTS ON TODAY’S SHOW:
- Kevin Boyle, author and professor of history at Northwestern University
- Heidi Weiss, muralist and instructor of art at Western Michigan University
- Chafe Hensley, muralist and graphic designer
- Patrick Hershberger (aka Bonus Saves), artist and muralist
- Dania Grevengoed, artist and muralist
- Amy O’Donnell Lueth, artist and muralist
