Salon Washington correspondent Jefferson Morley will tell this harrowing tale, based on his new book Snow-Storm in August. The title is a reference to Beverly Snow, a former slave whose successful restaurant at Sixth and Pennsylvania N.W. was ransacked by a white mob driven by fears of a slave rebellion.
By 1835, freed African Americans in Washington outnumbered those still in bondage, and racial tensions were running high. On the night of August 4th, a drunken slave, Arthur Bowen, stumbled into the bedroom of his owner, Anna Thornton, carrying an ax. Although he did not attack or directly threaten her, the ensuing alarm precipitated a charge of attempted murder and ignited a race riot that engulfed the city for three days. In its aftermath, attorney, poet and slave-holder Francis Scott Key conducted a set of prosecutions that may permanently alter your feelings about "The Star-Spangled Banner."
Snow-Storm in August author Jefferson Morley has worked as an editor and reporter at The Washington Post, The Nation, The New Republic and Harper's Magazine, and his account of this forgotten chapter of our history has won high critical praise.
The lecture is scheduled for Tuesday, September 18, at 7:30 p.m. at the Naval Lodge Hall at 330 Pennsylvania Ave. S.E., and the event will conclude with a book signing. As always, admission is free but a reservation is required due to limited seating. Please email OverbeckLecture@CapitolHillHistory.org, giving your name and the number of seats you will need.
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