Thursday, February 27, 2025 at 10 a.m.
Curtis L. Ivery Downtown Campus, 1001 West Fort St., Detroit
Dr. Vine, a noted author and historian, will discuss her book The Trials of Ossian Sweet.
In 1925, Ossian Sweet, a doctor from the “Talented Tenth” bought a house in a so-called white neighborhood in Detroit, only to be met by an ugly mob that hurled rocks, shattered windows, and terrorized the young family. When the violence ended, one man lay dead, and Sweet and his family were charged with conspiracy to murder.
Vine chronicles Sweet’s journey north during the age of Jim Crow segregation, his professional training at Howard University and the Sorbonne, and recreates the trial, going inside the courtroom and behind the scenes to set the stage for the defense waged by James Weldon Johnson, Walter White, the NAACP and Clarence Darrow.
Vine had a successful 20-year career teaching college history, including at University of Michigan, before undertaking journalism training. She became a full-time writer and editor, with a particular focus on behavioral health.
Discussion Moderated by Daniel Baxter, Founder of the Dr. Ossian H. Sweet Foundation and current owner of Dr. Sweet’s historic home in Detroit.
