GOOD MORNING P.O.U.!
THE SNOW RIOT
Washington, DC
The Snow Riot was a riot and lynch mob in Washington, D.C. in August 1835.[1] An attack on free blacks in the city by whites, the Snow Riot wreaked havoc on anything affiliated with free blacks for days by robbing and destroying all 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.[2]
History
The Snow Riot was a critical event that occurred 25 years before the American Civil War. In 1835, the city of Washington was facing unprecedented tension between abolitionists and slavery defenders. The tension was so high because the largest amount of fatalities caused by a slave uprising had occurred only a few years prior to the Snow Riot, with Nat Turner’s slave rebellion of 1831. Panic and fear had since spread across the States. Because of this, there were abolitionists flooding the city with extremely loud voices and protests for the removal of slaves in the nation’s capital. However, there were also a significant number of whites waiting for their moment to avenge the slave uprising of 1831.
The event that sparked the riots in 1835 was when an inebriated slave, Arthur Bowen, came into his mistress Anna Thorton’s bedroom with an axe.[4] Bowen did not strike or attempt to strike his mistress. However, the sheer fact that a slave had the opportunity to rebel against slave owners and whites infuriated slavery defenders in the city. Bowen was ultimately taken into custody without harm, as this gave proslavery advocates an opportunity to go after the man leading the production and distribution of abolitionist material, Reuben Crandall. District Attorney Francis Scott Key, writer of the United States’ national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner”, was the leading man behind coordinating the arrest of Crandall.
That summer the nation experienced the first labor strike by federal employees, the 1835 Washington Navy Yard labor strike which began on 29 July 1835 when Commandant Commodore Isaac Hull issued an order in response to thefts limiting workers’ lunch privileges.[5] The navy yard strikers wanted a ten-hour day and for Hull to retract his order. The labor strike though immediately exposed longstanding racial discord in the Yard.[6] In a letter to the Secretary of the Navy, Mahlon Dickerson, Commodore Hull stated that 175 white mechanics and workers had joined the strike.[7] This was the first strike by federal ship yard workers.[8]
In an undated diary entry for August 1835, African American diarist Michael Shiner confirmed intimidation by white workers and their demand that the black caulkers stop work [original spelling retained], “Commodore Hull ishsared and evry one of them struck and said they wouldnt work anny moore and at the same time they were collered man from Baltimore by the name of Israel Jones a caulker by Trade he was the forman Caulker of those Colerded Caulkers and they where fifteen or twenty of them here at that time Caulkin on the Columbia and the Carpenters made all of them knock oft two.” On the same page Shiner relates there was “a Rumor flying around about a colered man by the name of Snow about a expression he had made about the Mechanics wifes god kowes wether he said those things or not and at that time snow kept a Restaurant on the Corner of six street and pennsilvanian west in the cellar and at the time all the Mechanics of classes gathered into snows Restaurant and broke him up Root and Branch and they were after snow but he flew for his life and that night after they had broke snow up they threatened to come to the navy yard after commodore Hull.” [9]But they didn’t come that night and the next day Commodore Hull received orders from the navy department from the Hon secretary of the navy Mr levy Woodbury Levi Woodbury to fortify the yard” After breaking up his restaurant, the mechanics drank all Snows stock of whiskey and champagne. Fortunately for Snow the white rioters were unable to locate him and he made his escape. In the capital though mobs of whites still continued to attack all establishments run by free blacks: schools, churches and businesses.[10]
The strike “quickly morphed into a race riot” as striking Washington Navy Yard white mechanics and laborers took out their resentment on the black population.[11] This resulted in a huge mob of whites in the capital attacking all establishments run by free blacks: schools, churches and businesses. The first destination the mob attacked was the Epicurean Eating House,[12] a restaurant owned by Beverly Snow, who was known for serving sophisticated and luxurious food. It was ransacked by the mob, who were in search of Snow because of his status as a free black owner. However, the mob were unable to locate him.
Josephine Seaton, the daughter of the publisher of the National Intelligencer, William Seaton, reflected in a letter on the strike and subsequent riot: “Snow will certainly be torn to pieces by the mechanics if he be caught, and they are in full pursuit of him. Unfortunately, several hundred mechanics of the navy yard are out of employment, who, aided and abetted by their sympathizers, create the mob, — the first I have ever seen, not recollecting those of Sheffield, and it is truly alarming.”[13] [14] The perceptive Seaton was one of the few observers to see the strike revealed the corrosive effects of racism on the navy yard workforce as white workers sought to blame their own precarious economic situation on free and enslaved African Americans. After days of disorder and riot, President Andrew Jackson ordered a company of US Marines to restore order. As a result of a mediation the navy yard labor strike ended on 15 August 1835 when the mechanics return to work. While the strikers were allowed to return to work, they achieved little for the strike and subsequent riot left as part of its legacy a deep and abiding racial mistrust, which would linger. The City’s black community though were the chief sufferers, they received no compensation for the destruction of their houses and church’s. Blacks not only received no sympathy or aide but the District Council quickly passed “a new ordnance aimed at them: (they not their attackers)were forbidden to assemble after sundown.”[15] For next century, the history of the strike and Snow race riot remained an embarrassment to be glossed over and disassociated from the District of Columbia and Washington Navy Yard’s official histories.[16]
Background of Beverly Snow
Beverly Randolph Snow was born of mixed parentage (he is referred to as a mulatto in various newspapers) in Lynchburg Virginia about 1799.[17][18][19] Beverley Randolph Snow was well-know black entrepreneur and restaurateur. Snow was born enslaved in Lynchburg Virginia about 1799 on the estate of Captain William Norvell. By the provisions of William Norvell’s last will, Snow was given to his daughter Susannah Norvell Warwick with the provision Snow be manumitted at the age of 30. The Norvell family allowed Snow to operate a small oyster house on Lynch Street in Lynchburg where he was allowed to keep some of the profits. During this time Snow married a young free woman named Julia. Snow was manumitted in November 1829. He and Julia left Virginia which had harsh restrictions on free blacks and moved into the District of Columbia Washington City.[20] Snow was different than most free blacks, as he was educated, wealthy, successful, and “perhaps even a bit snobbish”. He was one of a number of black entrepreneurs who owned businesses in the downtown area. His success was evidence of the strength of Washington’s free black population.
In Washington D.C. Snow opened a popular oyster restaurant the Epicurean Eating House that was located on the corner of 6th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. This was the site of the infamous Snow Riot in 1835. Beverley Snow’s success made him the subject of white resentment and envy.
Snow’s restaurant placed emphasis on sophisticated and healthy food cleverly advertised with the practical message of “Health Bought Cheap.”[21] In August 1835, large mobs of white mechanic and laborers rampaged through the District seeking to destroy the property and terrorize free blacks. The mob composed of mechanics on strike from the Washington Navy Yard had heard a rumor that Snow had insulted their wives and resented his business success. Large numbers of these rioters entered his restaurant looking for him and proceeded to ” bust up the entire facility. While doing so they drank all the whiskey and champagne. The mob later yelled “Now for Snow’s house!” breaking in they looked for abolitionist literature finding none they destroyed the furniture.[22] Unable to find Beverley and Julia they continued on with their riot attacking black schools and church’s. The Washington DC race riot of August 1835 has subsequently been known to posterity as the “Snow Riot” or “Snow Storm.” The Snow’s fortunately escaped from the rioters. Following his escape from the rioters, Snow and his wife Julia moved to Toronto Canada, where he again opened a successful restaurant. His first venture was a coffee shop at the corner of Church and Colburn Street. He later opened the Epicurean Recess and in 1848 the Phoenix Saloon followed by the Exchange Saloon in 1856. Snow died in Toronto Canada on 21 October 1856. He is buried in the Toronto Necropolis alongside his wife Julia. Snow died in Toronto Canada on 21 October 1856. He is buried in the Toronto Necropolis .[23]