Arc of Justice

Darrow comes to the aid of Ossian and the others in both a self-serving and community-minded way. As a young man growing up in a liberal household and exposed to abolitionist thought, Darrow has a longstanding interest in "colored people." He understands that though he lives in America because he wants to, "the ancestors of negroes" (230) were brought to America against their will and forced into servitude. This knowledge allows Darrow a depth of compassion unknown to most of white America in 1925. However, Darrow is more interested in disrupting the status quo than anything else, particularly as "champion of the embattled working class" (233). He sees society as "organized injustice" and uses the high profile cases he chooses to "attack the status quo and proclaim the modernist creed" (234). Darrow also refuses to go into court with "painstaking preparation," instead preferring to rely on "wit, manipulation, and his incomparable persuasive powers" (256) to win the case.

The Detroit mayoral campaigns of 1925 mirror the city's attitudes toward segregation and the color line. While incumbent Jimmy Smith proclaims solidarity with Detroit's black and immigrant communities, condemning his opponent Charles Bowles' affiliation with