Alice Mitchell

Alice Jessie Mitchell[1]

Illustration of Alice Mitchell
Born November 26, 1872
Memphis, Tennessee
Died March 31, 1898 (25)
Tennessee State Insane Asylum Bolivar, Tennessee
Nationality American
Occupation ~
Known for murdering her lesbian lover

Alice Jessie Mitchell[1] was an American murderer. On February 23, 1892, the 19-year-old Mitchell cut the throat of her lover, 17-year-old Freda Ward.[2] Mitchell was subsequently found insane by means of a jury inquisition and placed in a psychiatric hospital until her death in 1898.[3] The case received unprecedented media coverage and drew discussion of lesbianism into public light.[4] The case was headlined as “A Very Unnatural Crime” across the country.[5] The case influenced the popular literature of the era which began 0to depict lesbians as "murderous" and "masculine".[6] One identity that came to be through lesbians was the “mannish lesbian” creating dialogue of gender expression.[5]

The case history produced by Mitchell's defense describes her as "a regular tomboy".[7] In the courtroom Alice Mitchell was presented as "insane" by her attorneys and here trial was not tried in criminal court but for questioning of lunacy.[5]

This story was featured on Investigation Discovery's Deadly Women.

Mitchell's story is the subject of the book Alice + Freda Forever by Alexis Coe.

References

  1. 1 2 "Alice Jessie Mitchell". FindaGrave.com.
  2. ↑ "Alice Mitchell Insane.; The Murderess of Frieda Ward to be Placed in an Asylum.". New York Times. July 31, 1892. Retrieved 18 August 2009.
  3. ↑ "A Most Shocking Crime; A Memphis Society Girl Cuts a Former Friend's Throat. Alice Mitchell, Daughter of a Wealthy Retired Merchant, Jumps from a Carriage, Seizes Frieda Ward, and Kills Her.". New York Times. January 26, 1892. Retrieved 18 August 2009.
  4. ↑ Abate, Michelle Ann (2008). Tomboys: a literary and cultural history. Temple University Press. pp. 72–74. ISBN 1-59213-722-9. Retrieved 18 August 2009.
  5. 1 2 3 The Trials of Alice Mitchell: Sensationalism, Sexology, and the Lesbian Subject" by Lisa Duggan
  6. ↑ Faderman, Lillian (1993). Odd girls and twilight lovers: a history of lesbian life in twentieth-century America. Columbia University Press. p. 56. ISBN 0-231-07488-3. Retrieved 18 August 2009.
  7. ↑ Robert J. Corber; Stephen M. Valocchi (2003). Queer studies: an interdisciplinary reader. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 73–87. ISBN 0-631-22917-5.
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