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Henry Sweet is Ossian and Otis Sweet’s younger brother. Although he is nine years younger and was still a young child when Ossian went north for school, Henry grew up idolizing his oldest brother. He attended the same college, Wilberforce University, and in his young adulthood, he cultivates a personal image styled on Ossian, including the same moustache and glasses. Henry, like Ossian, represents the talented tenth ideology, although he became involved with civil rights advocacy earlier than his brother. On the nights of September 8 and 9, 1925, Henry joins Ossian, Gladys, Otis Sweet, John Latting, William Davis, Joe Mack, Norris Murray, Hewitt Watson, Charles Washington, and Leonard Morse to defend the house on Garland Avenue. His natural confidence and sense of dignity make him unafraid to admit to both handling and firing a gun on the night of the shooting in an effort at self-defense, although he stops short of admitting to hitting either Eric Houghberg or Leon Breiner. This admission causes Wayne County Prosecutor Robert Toms to single him out for the first retrial in early 1926. But thanks in part to the able defense provided by Clarence Darrow, the jury acquits Henry. In the aftermath of the trials, Henry becomes a rising star in Detroit’s Black community, becoming president of the NAACP’s Michigan chapter in the late 1930s. But he dies prematurely of tuberculosis soon afterwards.
Henry Sweet Quotes in Arc of Justice
The Arc of Justice quotes below are all either spoken by Henry Sweet or refer to Henry Sweet. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 10
Quotes
“Why deny that the greatest asset that the State has in this case is prejudice and the greatest handicap that we have on this side of the table is prejudice […] I thought this case was fraught with nothing but disastrous things, and apart from the testimony, when I viewed here the sinister figure of prejudice, sitting before you twelve men in a dispensary of justice, but as I sat here this morning, and I saw an attempt made to arouse that prejudice, in order to becloud the issue here, so that you twelve men would not decide this case upon the testimony…I was amazed to think that a public prosecutor should go to the burial place of Leon Breiner and drag his helpless body before you in order that you might send Henry Sweet to jail because Leon Breiner is dead and Henry Sweet is black instead of white.”
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Henry Sweet Quotes in Arc of Justice
The Arc of Justice quotes below are all either spoken by Henry Sweet or refer to Henry Sweet. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 10
Quotes
“Why deny that the greatest asset that the State has in this case is prejudice and the greatest handicap that we have on this side of the table is prejudice […] I thought this case was fraught with nothing but disastrous things, and apart from the testimony, when I viewed here the sinister figure of prejudice, sitting before you twelve men in a dispensary of justice, but as I sat here this morning, and I saw an attempt made to arouse that prejudice, in order to becloud the issue here, so that you twelve men would not decide this case upon the testimony…I was amazed to think that a public prosecutor should go to the burial place of Leon Breiner and drag his helpless body before you in order that you might send Henry Sweet to jail because Leon Breiner is dead and Henry Sweet is black instead of white.”
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Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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