One hundred years ago, Black physician Ossian Sweet and his wife purchased this home at 2905 Garland St. in an all-white neighborhood on Detroit’s east side, where their presence sparked an ugly racist incident and one of the nation’s most famous criminal trials.
On the evening of Sept. 9, 1925 — a day after the Sweets moved into the house at the corner of Garland and Charlevoix with the help of three family members and six friends — an angry white mob intent on driving the Black couple out of the neighborhood threw rocks and bricks at the house while the Sweets and their nine companions, who had stayed the night, took refuge inside. After gunshots from the second floor killed one protester and wounded another, police arrested the Sweets and the nine others and charged them with first-degree murder, even though the second-floor shooter was
never identified.
The NAACP then hired Clarence Darrow, America’s most famous trial lawyer, to defend the charges in front of Recorder’s Court Judge Frank Murphy, a future Detroit mayor, Michigan governor, and U.S. Supreme Court justice.
The month-long trial, covered by papers nationwide, ended in a mistrial when an all-white, all-male jury did not reach a verdict. The defendants were later acquitted in a second trial, thus affirming the right of people, regardless of race, to protect life and property in dangerous situations.
Dr. Sweet returned to his medical practice and later co-founded and directed Detroit’s Good Samaritan Hospital and other small hospitals. He also made two unsuccessful attempts at political office. In 1960, dealing with health issues, Sweet took his own life at age 64.
The Ossian H. Sweet House, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985, received a state of Michigan historical marker in 2004. Reportedly, plans are underway for the privately owned house, now being renovated with grant money, to become a museum. Two empty adjacent lots will be converted into an educational plaza.
This story originally appeared in the September 2025 issue of Hour Detroit magazine. To read more, pick up a copy of Hour Detroit at a local retail outlet. Click here to get our digital edition.
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