A Family Dispute Lands in Court

Posted on August 16, 2009 by lmharnisch
Aug. 16, 1899, College

Aug. 16, 1899: Full particulars on universities, colleges and schools are available at The Times offices, 1st Street and Broadway. This is the building that was bombed in 1910.


Aug. 16, 1899, Potts
I don't expect stories about African Americans in the 19th century to be models of tolerance. Issues of The Times from the 1880s and 1890s are full of references that are abhorrent to today's readers. Even so, this account seems to take an even more condescending tone than the stories from the 1880s. 


Aug. 17, 1899, Samuel Potts

Samuel Potts is sentenced to 35 days in jail. According to ProQuest, The Times used "Br'er" to refer to African Americans from about 1885 to about 1905. In  1908, The Times sometimes referred to William Jennings Bryan as "Br'er Bryan." After that, "Br'er" is used to refer to Uncle Remus stories.

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About lmharnisch

I am retired from the Los Angeles Times
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