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Alice + Freda forever a murder in Memphis

"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, th...

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Main Author: Coe, Alexis (Author)
Other Authors: Klann, Sally (Illustrator)
Format: Books Print Book
Language:English
Published: San Francisco, CA : Pulp, an imprint of Zest Books, [2014]
Subjects:
Mitchell, Alice, > active 19th century.
Ward, Freda, > -1892.
Murder > Tennessee > Memphis > History > 19th century.
Lesbian couples > Tennessee > Memphis > History > 19th century.
Trials (Murder) > Tennessee > Memphis > History > 19th century.
Memphis (Tenn.) > History > 19th century.
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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+ Freda Forever recounts this tragic, real-life love story with over 100 illustrated love letters, maps, artifacts, historical documents, newspaper articles, courtroom proceedings, and intimate, domestic scenes--painting a vivid picture of a sadly familiar world."--Publisher's website.
Physical Description:223 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references (pages 194-199) and index.
ISBN:9781936976607
1936976609
Author Notes:Alexis Coe is a historian and New York Times Bestselling Author of You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George of Washington and Alice+Freda Forever: A Murder in Memphis (soon to be a major motion picture). She was a producer on the History Channel's Washington" series, and has contributed to The New Yorker, The New York Times ' opinion section, The New York TimesMagazine, The Paris Review, Elle, and many others. She is based in Brooklyn, New York. Sally Klann is a painter and paper artist in Ocean Beach, San Diego, California. She grew up in Fairfield, Connecticut, and graduated with a BA in art from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, where she concentrated on acrylic painting and book arts. You can view her work at www.sallyklann.com ."

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