aug 1, 1835 - Snow Riot

Description:

Ariot and lynch mob in Washington, D.C. in August 1835.

An attack on free blacks in the city by whites, the Snow Riot wreaked havoc on anything affiliated with free blacks for days, destroying or damaging many of their establishments. The name of the riot comes from one of the first destinations the mob attacked, the restaurant owned by a free black man, Beverly Snow's Epicurean Eating House.

After attacking the restaurant, the mob destroyed the school Arthur Bowen went to, because he was suspected of being taught the abolition of slavery there. The larger context of the attack on the school was the white working-class men's frustration over free blacks' ability to work, and their resentment of black competition for jobs.

The clear result was the unleashing of white terror against blacks. The riot began on 12 August 1835 and continued for days in the nation's capital, and it was not until President Andrew Jackson intervened that it stopped.

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