Frank J. Webb Publishes 'The Garies and Their Friends'

Philadelphia-born Frank J. Webb published 'The Garies and Their Friends' in London with a preface by Harriet Beecher Stowe — the second novel by a Black American and the first to depict middle-class free Black urban life in the North. Set in Philadelphia, it addressed racial violence, mixed-race families, and property rights. The 1838 Philadelphia race riots were a central event in the novel, making it early Black historical fiction.