About the Program
Jefferson Morley, Washington correspondent for Salon recounts the first race riot in Washington, D.C. in August 1835. The riots were followed by two criminal trials tried by the City's district attorney, Francis Scott Key, the author of The Star Spangled Banner. Key defended slavery in his prosecution and sought capital punishment, only to be thwarted by the alleged victim, Anna Thornton; whose late husband William Thornton, designed the United States Capitol. Jefferson Morley speaks at Magers & Quinn Booksellers in Minneapolis.