"Clarence Darrow Taking on Prejudice, Violence, and Police Complicity in the Jazz Age"

When:	Wednesday, October 10, 2007, 6:45 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Where:	New York City Bar Association, 42 West 44th Street (b/t 5th & 6th Avenues)
What:	Dramatic re-enactment of a murder trial involving race relations in the 1920s. This event is free and open to the media and public.

In 1925, Ossian Sweet, an African–American physician, bought a house in a Caucasian neighborhood. Soon after his arrival, a crowd gathered outside Dr. Sweet's home, which was "guarded" by police. Shots rang out from the Sweet home. A member of the crowd was killed. The police immediately arrested Dr. Sweet and all the other adults inside his home. In the subsequent murder trial, attorney Clarence Darrow argued that the Sweets acted in self–defense. Darrow himself confronted racial prejudice and segregation both inside and outside the courtroom.

Join us for a dramatic re–enactment of parts of this gripping trial. The renowned Clarence Darrow will be played by Henry G. Miller, Esq. of the law firm Clark, Gagliardi & Miller. Henry Miller has previously portrayed Darrow off–Broadway.

The program will feature commentary by Prof. Kevin Boyle of Ohio State University, author of Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age. Prof. Boyle's book about the Sweet trial received the 2004 National Book Award for Non-Fiction. Additionally, Marc K. Battle, Esq., Assistant Counsel to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, will be a guest speaker.

Other participants in this production include:
Hon. Robert Lippmann, Supreme Court, New York County, as Judge Frank Murphy

James J. Glenn, Esq. as prosecutors Robert M. Toms and Lester F. Moll

Lawrence Mentz, Esq., Kaplan, von Ohlen & Massamillo, LLC, as Inspector Norman Schuknecht

Yewande Salau, Vanderbilt College Student, as Gladys Sweet and the other Defendants

Albert Feuer, Esq., Director and Adapter

About the Association
The New York City Bar Association (www.nycbar.org) was founded in 1870, and since then has been dedicated to maintaining the high ethical standards of the profession, promoting reform of the law, and providing service to the profession and the public. The Association continues to work for political, legal and social reform, while implementing innovative means to help the disadvantaged. Protecting the public’s welfare remains one of the Association’s highest priorities.