Alice + Freda forever
Subtitle: a murder in Memphis
By: Alexis Coe ; with illustrations by Sally Klann
Contributors: Klann, Sally, illustrator
Publisher: Pulp, an imprint of Zest Books
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 223
ISBN-13: 9781936976607
Subjects: Murder; Trials (Murder); Lesbians; Lesbian couples; Biography; History
Other titles: Alice plus Freda forever; Alice and Freda forever; Alice & Freda forever
Description: "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+ Freda Forever recounts this tragic, real-life love story with over 100 illustrated love letters, maps, artifacts, historical documents, newspaper articles, courtroom proceedings, and intimate, domestic scenes--painting a vivid picture of a sadly familiar world."--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 194-199) and index.
Table of contents: title: 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; title: 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; title: Lunacy. The hypothetical case ; Vicarious menstruation ; An impossible idea ; Her own best witness; title: The last of Alice Mitchell. That story was never printed.