The City of Washington D.C. springs to life in the hands of
author Jefferson Morley’s book “Snow-Storm in August”. Billed as a biography of
one man, Beverly Snow; a free man of color living in D.C. at the time; the book
is so much more. Mr. Snow’s story is merely the vehicle by which the author has
painted a very accurate; and fascinating; portrait of Washington only 3 decades
after it was founded. There were times, while reading this book, in which Mr.
Snow became the furthest thing from my mind.
The book delves into the history behind the decision to
locate the Capital City where it stands today; and not in another Northern
state, such as New York, or Philadelphia, both of which had already been home
to our fledgling national government. The District of Columbia was chosen
because it was acceptable to the Southern states, being surrounded; as it was;
on two sides, by the slave holding states of Maryland to the North, and
Virginia to the South. The district was filled with African- Americans, some
free, and some enslaved.
Mr. Snow was of mixed race; referred to at the time as
“mulatto”; and owned an oyster house on the James River in the town of
Lynchburg, Virginia. He took for a wife a free woman of color named Julia, and
the couple moved in with Beverly’s owner Susannah Norvell. Susannah’s father
had left her Beverly in his will. Sussanah was a forward thinking woman who disliked
the institution of slavery and manumitted Beverly, enabling him and Julia to
open their very prosperous oyster house. Each month some of the profits would
be kept by Beverly and his wife, while the rest went to Sussanah.
Before long, the lure of the Capital City, and the profits
to be made there, called to Beverly. He settled all accounts with his mistress
and her husband, and then he and Julia moved; as free persons of color; to the
District. There, Beverly went to work for Jesse Brown, who owned a fine
restaurant.
The author also introduces us to a Mrs. Anna Thornton, a
Washington widow who owned some property and several slaves. She allowed her
driver, George Plant to live in Georgetown with his wife of color, who was also
a free woman. This was not an unusual arrangement at the time in Washington. So
long as the servant showed up at the master’s home at the appointed time, there
was no trouble.
On the night of August 4th, 1835, one of Mrs.
Thornton’s servants; a young man named Arthur Bowen; who was also the son of
her most trusted maid, tried to kill her. His own mother awoke just in time to
stop her son from killing her mistress. The boy fled and a city erupted in
violence. This was the first race riot in Washington, D.C., a city which was
divided in its customs and viewpoints concerning slavery. Anna Thornton’s
assailant was sentenced to death by hanging, and only her impassioned plea for
clemency; made by Mrs. Thornton out of her fondness for the boy’s mother;
caused President Jackson to pardon the young man.
With a deft style that will keep you turning the pages, the
author rolls back the curtain on a time in our nation’s history when slaves
built our national monuments, while great statesmen spoke of “freedom for all.”
This is one of the most neglected chapters of our history; how a nation; truly
divided, and on the brink of civil war; managed to hold together for so long
before the issue of slavery finally ripped it in half.
The book also explores the career of Francis Scott Key after
he wrote the “Star Spangled Banner”. He was the District Attorney in Washington
at the time of these events. He waged a campaign against vice, mainly the many
brothels which proliferated in Washington at the time. He also wrote erotic
poetry and was tone deaf, and never got to hear his immortal poem sung to
music.
As a matter of fact, the author has packed so much
information into this work, that Beverly Snow’s story gets a bit lost in it. This
book is so wide in its scope that it will take a second reading to truly enjoy
it fully. That’s a compliment.
