Ossian H. Sweet House facts for kids
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Ossian H. Sweet House
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 Location in Michigan
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| Location | 2905 Garland Street Detroit, Michigan |
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| Built | 1919 |
| Architect | Maurice Finkel |
| Architectural style | American Craftsman bungalow |
| NRHP reference No. | 85000696 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | April 04, 1985 |
The Ossian H. Sweet House is a special home in Detroit, Michigan. It's located at 2905 Garland Street. A doctor named Ossian Sweet, who was African American, bought this house in 1925.
Soon after he moved in, a large group of white people gathered outside. They were upset because the Sweet family was moving into a neighborhood that had only been white before. Things became very tense. Rocks were thrown at the house, breaking windows. Then, someone inside the house fired shots. One man in the crowd was killed, and another was hurt.
Dr. Sweet and ten other people from the house were arrested. The NAACP helped them. A famous lawyer named Clarence Darrow joined their defense team. After one trial ended without a decision, a second trial took place. The first person tried was found not guilty. Because of this, the charges against everyone else were dropped. This case was very important for civil rights and for people's right to live where they choose. The house became a Michigan State Historic Site in 1975 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
Contents
Who Was Ossian Sweet?
Ossian Sweet was born in Florida. He studied hard and became a doctor, earning his medical degree from Howard University. He worked as a doctor in Detroit for a short time.
Then, he went to study medicine even more in places like Vienna and Paris. In 1924, he came back to Detroit to work at Dunbar Hospital. Dr. Sweet saved his money to buy a home. By the spring of 1925, he had saved $3,500. He used this money as a down payment for a house on Garland Street. The house cost $18,500.
About the Ossian Sweet House
The house Dr. Sweet bought was built in 1919. It's a brick house with one and a half stories. It looks like many other homes in Detroit's working-class areas.
It's built in a bungalow style and has a full basement. There's an open porch on the first floor and a sun porch on the south side. The top part of the house has brown shingles. The roof is simple, with a small window area called a dormer in the middle. An unpainted silver aluminum fence surrounds the house.
The house is on the corner of Garland and Charlevoix streets. At that time, this neighborhood was only for white people. Dr. Sweet chose to live in a white neighborhood because homes in black neighborhoods were often older and not as good. He wanted a better place for his wife and daughter.
Racial Tensions in the 1920s
In the 1920s, many white people in Detroit wanted their neighborhoods to be only white. They were proud to own their homes. They saw black families moving into their communities as a threat.
African American people moving to Detroit often had to live on the east side. Landlords there sometimes charged very high rents because there were so many people. It was hard for black families to buy homes. Real estate agents often refused to sell to them. Sometimes, there were threats of violence to keep neighborhoods separated. Also, there were legal rules called restrictive covenants that stopped black people from moving into certain areas.
Events of September 1925
The Sweet family bought their home from a couple who were of different races. The Sweets thought this might make their white neighbors less likely to react violently. However, the neighbors thought the previous couple was white because of their lighter skin.
When the neighbors found out an African American family bought the house, they formed a group. They called it "The Waterworks Park Improvement Association." Like other groups, they wanted to keep their neighborhood all white.
The Sweets knew about the tensions. They waited until September to move in. On September 8, 1925, Dr. Ossian Sweet and his wife Gladys moved into their new home. The white neighborhood group had promised to keep black families out. Dr. Sweet knew how angry the neighbors were. He told his brother he was "prepared to die like a man." He arranged for friends and family to stay with him for a few days. He also brought guns and ammunition to protect his family.
The neighborhood was very tense. Groups of people gathered outside Sweet's home. The Detroit Police knew the situation was serious. They sent officers to watch the house day and night.
The next day, September 9, Dr. Sweet and his friends went to work. When they came back, the crowd had grown into a large mob. They started throwing rocks and bottles at the house. A reporter said the mob had "400 and 500" people. He said the stones hit the house "like hail." This went on until about 10 p.m. Then, shots were fired from a second-floor window. One man in the crowd was killed, and another was hurt. The police arrested everyone inside the house. They were accused of a serious crime.
The Trials and Aftermath
The NAACP promised to help with the defense. They brought in Clarence Darrow, a very famous lawyer, to lead the team. Other lawyers, Arthur Garfield Hays and Walter M. Nelson, also helped. Frank Murphy was the judge. The jury was made up of twelve white men.
Even with this jury, Darrow presented a strong case. He argued that the people in the house were acting in self-defense. The first trial ended with the jury unable to agree on a verdict. The prosecution decided to try the people one by one. They started with Ossian's brother, Henry. Henry was found not guilty. After this, the prosecution believed they could not win the other cases. So, they dropped the charges against Ossian Sweet and the remaining people.
After the trials, Ossian Sweet rented his house to a white couple. In 1930, he moved back in. Sadly, his wife and two-year-old daughter, Iva, had both died of tuberculosis in 1926. Sweet married two more times, but both marriages ended in divorce. In 1946, he sold the house. He moved into an apartment above a pharmacy he owned. In 1960, because he was not well, Dr. Sweet ended his own life.
A historical marker from the state of Michigan stands in front of the house at 2905 Garland. This marker tells the story of the Ossian Sweet House. It explains how Dr. Sweet and his family moved in, how the mob gathered, and how the shots were fired. It also mentions that Clarence Darrow argued that people have a right to protect their homes, no matter their race.
Future of the Ossian Sweet House
The trials of Ossian Sweet and his family and friends for defending their home got a lot of attention in the 1920s. The Ossian Sweet case showed the racial problems in Detroit after many African Americans moved north. It became an important part of the fight against segregation in the legal system.
In August 2018, Detroit city officials announced a plan. They would provide $500,000 to buy and fix up the Sweet home and two houses across the street. The Ossian Sweet Historic area is where the serious racial incident happened in 1925.
The city wants to turn the space into something special. The Baxter family currently owns the home. Officials plan to work with them to keep living areas for the family. They also want to create museum displays on the first floor for people to visit.
Right now, there is a historic marker on the lawn that visitors often see. With the new plans, many more people can learn about the importance of the case through planned visits. Mayor Mike Duggan said that preserving the house helps people remember the struggles African American families faced. It also celebrates people like Dr. Sweet who stood up for what was right.
Images for kids
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A State of Michigan historical marker that currently stands in front of the house at 2905 Garland
See also
In Spanish: Casa de Ossian H. Sweet para niños
