| Description |
223 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm |
| Contents |
Girl slays girl. I don't care if I'm hung! ; The great drama ; Mr. and Mrs. Alvin J. Ward ; Price the pistols ; I thought you were a lady ; You told and I did too -- A most shocking crime. Erotomania ; Maiden purity ; Delicate hands, horrible deed ; Attendance even greater than opening day ; Quite a flirt ; Fair Lillie ; The old thread-bare lie -- Lunacy. The hypothetical case ; Vicarious menstruation ; An impossible idea ; Her own best witness -- The last of Alice Mitchell. That story was never printed. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 194-199) and index. |
| Summary |
"In 1892, America was obsessed with a teenage murderess, but it wasn't her crime that shocked the nation--it was her motivation. Nineteen-year-old Alice Mitchell had planned to pass as a man in order to marry her seventeen-year-old fiancée Freda Ward, but when their love letters were discovered, they were forbidden from ever speaking again. Freda adjusted to this fate with an ease that stunned a heartbroken Alice. Her desperation grew with each unanswered letter--and her father's razor soon went missing. On January 25, Alice publicly slashed her ex-fiancée's throat. Her same-sex love was deemed insane by her father that very night, and medical experts agreed. This was a dangerous and incurable perversion. As the courtroom was expanded to accommodate national interest, Alice spent months in jail--including the night that three of her fellow prisoners were lynched (an event which captured the attention of journalist and civil rights activist Ida B. Wells). After a jury of "the finest men in Memphis" declared Alice insane, she was remanded to an asylum, where she died under mysterious circumstances just a few years later. Alice + Freda Forever recounts this tragic, real-life love story with over 100 illustrated love letters, maps, artifacts, historical documents, newspaper articles, courtroom proceedings, and intimate, domestic scenes--painting a vivid picture of a sadly familiar world."--Publisher's website. |
| Subject |
Mitchell, Alice, active 19th century.
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Ward, Freda, -1892.
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Murder -- Tennessee -- Memphis -- History -- 19th century.
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Lesbian couples -- Tennessee -- Memphis -- History -- 19th century.
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Trials (Murder) -- Tennessee -- Memphis -- History -- 19th century.
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Memphis (Tenn.) -- History -- 19th century.
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| Added Author |
Klann, Sally, illustrator.
|
| Added Title |
Alice plus Freda forever |
|
Alice and Freda forever |
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Alice & Freda forever |
| ISBN |
9781936976607 |
|
1936976609 |
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