In 1892, 17-year-old Freda Ward was walking to the river landing when she was attacked with a razor blade and had her throat slit. The ensuing legal battles brought national attention to Memphis, Tennessee, and challenged her society’s views on gender and love.

Sources:

Abate, Michelle Ann. Tomboys: A Literary and Cultural History. (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2008).

Astor, Vincent. “Alice & Freda: In 1892, Memphis girls’ young love ends tragically, creates national headlines.” Focus LGBT. February, 2018. https://focuslgbt.com/blog/alice-freda-1892-memphis-girls-young-love-ends-tragically-creates-national-headlines/

Coe, Alexis. Alice + Freda Forever: A Murder in Memphis. (Minneapolis: Zest Books, 2014).

“A Very Unnatural Crime.” The Toast. September 6, 2013. https://the-toast.net/2013/09/06/crime-history-alice-mitchell/

 “Girl Slays Girl: An Excerpt From ‘Alice + Freda Forever’.” Jezebel. October 7, 2014. https://jezebel.com/girl-slays-girl-an-excerpt-from-alice-freda-forever-1643363496

“How My Book Infected My Nightmares.” VICE. October 28, 2014. https://www.vice.com/en/article/znw8dj/alice-in-the-asylum-1027

Cortez, Ali. “A Love Gone South in ‘Alice + Freda Forever’.” Deep South Mag. October 3, 2014. https://deepsouthmag.com/2014/10/03/a-love-gone-south-in-alice-freda-forever/

Duggan, Lisa. Sapphic Slashers: Sex, Violence, and American Modernity (Durham: Duke University Press, 2000).

Fowler, Russell. “Evil on the Bench: The Rise and Fall of Judge Julius J. DuBose.” Tennessee Bar Association. February 1, 2020. https://www.tba.org/?pg=Articles&blAction=showEntry&blogEntry=52583

“Jenny Higbee and the Memphis Higbee School.” Historic Memphis. http://www.historic-memphis.com/biographies/higbee/higbee.html

Lindquist, Lisa J. “Images of Alice: Gender, Deviancy, and a Love Murder in Memphis.” Journal of the History of Sexuality. Vol. 6. No. 1. (July, 1995) pp. 30-61.

Newspapers: The Bolivar Bulletin, The San Francisco Call, The New York Times

Music: Credits to David Fesilyan 

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com