Alexander Turner is a Black doctor in Detroit in the 1920s who is a colleague of Edward Carter and Ossian Sweet. When Turner tries to move his family into a new home in an all-white neighborhood, a mob of angry white neighbors terrorizes them, threatening Turner until he relinquishes the deed to his house to them.
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Alexander Turner Character Timeline in Arc of Justice
The timeline below shows where the character Alexander Turner appears in Arc of Justice. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1: Where Death Waits
...Black families who moved into all-white neighborhoods. One of these incidents involved another doctor, Alexander Turner. He barely escaped with his life after opening his door to men pretending to be...
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Ossian heard Dr. Alexander Turner’s story from Alexander himself earlier in the summer. Nevertheless, friends and colleagues encouraged him to...
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Chapter 5: White Houses
Next, Dr. Alexander Turner, an established Black physician who has long lived in an all-white neighborhood on the east...
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Turner, Fletcher, Mathies, and their families all flee. Bristol remains, but he faces daily death threats....
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...Dr. Edward Carter and others of Ossian’s colleagues. On the night of the attack on Turner’s house, Carter suggests to Ossian and other friends that they join its defense, although they...
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...back down and accept their place in society for the sake of peace. While Ossian, Turner, and other members of Detroit’s talented tenth gather to discuss the attacks, Marie Smith calls...
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Chapter 6: The Letter of Your Law
...Black elite. Perry asks Cecil Rowlette, the Black attorney who represented Fleta Mathies and Alexander Turner, to join Ossian’s defense. A neighbor, who happens to be on the board of the...
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Chapter 7: Freedmen, Sons of God, Americans
...communities aren’t paying much more attention. But Johnson pays attention, especially to Detroit, where Alexander Turner, Vollington Bristol, and the Fletcher family have recently faced violent expulsion from their homes. Johnson...
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Chapter 8: The Prodigal Son
...Du Bois, who elevates him as an example for the talented tenth while criticizing Alexander Turner’s failure to stand up. Slowly, Ossian’s memory shifts; his fears and doubts fade to the...
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...night’s events; Perry, Rowlette, and Mahoney explain the context of the Mathies, Bristol, Fletcher, and Turner cases. Arthur Garfield Hays and his legal team plan the defense’s legal strategy, which will...
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