30 Facts About Ossian Sweet

Ossian Sweet was an African-American physician in Detroit, Michigan.

Ossian Sweet is known for being charged with murder in 1925 after he and his friends used armed self-defense against a hostile white mob protesting after Sweet moved into their neighborhood.

Ossian Sweet earned his medical degree from Howard University, a historically black university.

Ossian Sweet was born in 1895 in Bartow, Florida as the second son of Henry Sweet and Dora Devaughn.

At age five, Ossian Sweet witnessed the lynching of a black male teenager, Fred Rochelle, who was burned to death by a white mob.

Ossian Sweet's parents wanted their son to obtain an education in the North, beyond what had been provided in his segregated Florida schools.

Ossian Sweet was sent to Wilberforce College in Xenia, Ohio, the first college to be owned and operated by African Americans.

Ossian Sweet took work shoveling snow, stoking furnaces, washing dishes, waiting tables, and working as a hotel bellhop to pay the $118 for his tuition and books.

Ossian Sweet earned a Bachelor of Science degree at age 25.

Ossian Sweet became a leader in his family; he paved the way for his younger siblings to work hard and become educated as well.

In July 1919, Ossian Sweet was attending Howard University when he witnessed the Washington, DC race riot.

Ossian Sweet had difficulty finding work at a hospital due to his race, and he worked during the summers at Detroit restaurants.

Ossian Sweet saw a chance to practice medicine and help people.

Ossian Sweet paid a local pharmacy for space for an office.

Ossian Sweet reset the bone, and Riley told neighborhood friends about his practice.

Ossian Sweet gained a position as a medical examiner for Liberty Life Insurance, "an appointment that assured him a steady stream of patients he might not have otherwise have acquired".

In 1923, Ossian Sweet temporarily left his practice for further medical studies in Vienna and Paris; his wife accompanied him.

Ossian Sweet attended lectures by noted physicians and scientists, including Madame Curie.

Ossian Sweet was furious that the American Hospital had "imperiled the health, and perhaps the life of Gladys and Iva".

Ossian Sweet became affiliated with Dunbar Hospital, Detroit's first hospital founded to serve the black community.

Ossian Sweet liked the appearance and size of the house, and what its location represented as a good neighborhood.

The Ossian Sweet family had a difficult time finding a realtor, followed by difficulty finding a family who would sell them a house.

Ossian Sweet was aware that many white residents in the area were prejudiced against blacks.

Many working-class whites who lived in the neighborhood and made less money than Ossian Sweet resented his success.

Ossian Sweet arranged privately for family and friends to help defend his home if needed.

Several of Ossian Sweet's friends were armed with guns and had taken positions upstairs.

Ossian Sweet went to Tucson, Arizona, in order to benefit from the drier climate.

Ossian Sweet eventually operated a few of these small hospitals, but none ever flourished financially.

Ossian Sweet was not able to pay off his land contract until 1950, when he assumed full ownership of the house.

Ossian Sweet faced too much debt after that to keep it.