The book Hannah Mary Tabb and the Disembodied Torso is written by a well-known individual named Kali Nicole Gross. The book discloses the beliefs about sex, justice, and race in 1887 in Philadelphia. A Philadelphia woman named Tabb and George Wilson, an eighteen-year-old man, are the main characters in the book. The book is a recapitulation of matters that resonate with today’s world. It highlights racial bias in the police force, unreliable eyewitnesses, and coerced confessions. The writer, Kali Nicole Gross, has written the story in the book with a lot of evidence. She uses the city archive's indictment bills, trial transcripts, and marriage documents to untangle the story of Mary Tabb. Her use of Muckraker’s journalism brought out the truth at a time when much was not known about Mary Tabb.
The story begins when the disembodied torso is found in a package that is wrapped (Gross 7). The incidence forces the investigators to suspect two people: Marry Hannah (a black, espoused working class woman) and George Wilson (Mary's former neighbor and a man implicated by Mary after her arrest).
Gross argues that Wilson is of mixed race. The community believed that whiteness was an indication of purity. Because of Wilson’s mixed race, doubt and hostilities were stirred. Historical Gross focuses on Mary, who is believed to have a violent history. However, because of her brown skin, she was seen to be less threatening compared to Wilson.
This book is very interesting. Gross used a gripping way to write down the story. It has made many (including me) realize that the freedom that many blacks enjoyed during the 18th century led to the intimidation of many whites. However, the same problems that affect other historical nonfictions have also affected this book. For example, there is no enough record used in answering all the queries. In addition, the main actors in this book disappear from the written history, therefore, leaving the reader wondering about their origin and their next move. Gross has written the book basing her evidence on what existed but the book leaves the reader somehow hanging.
The book shows that whites were highly favored compared to the blacks during the 18th century. Through the interview that was conducted by the authorities to Tabb's neighbors, Tabb’s pretext of a demure woman was proved wrong (Gross 23). The woman did not deal with whites the same way she dealt with the blacks. In addition, she was able to get away with black community’s crimes. This is because these individuals were not associated with policing and ethical issues. That is why a woman could make it look like it was Wilson responsible for the death of Wakefield Gaines.
The black community had an understanding that treating a white in a bad manner would lead to very heavy consequences. The guiltiness of Wilson was not doubted by the whites because he was of mixed race. The whites believed that Wilson’s mixed race would make him act the same way the blacks did. This notion was later used by Tabb to make Wilson look like the murderer because she thought she would escape the trial.
The book written by Gross uses the muckraker's journalism. The writer has written what was indeed happening in Philadelphia in 1887. It is a real description of what transpired because as a man was moving, he was able to recognize a package that had been wrapped. The person responsible for putting it there had inscribed the words: ‘handle with care.’ The package was later discovered to have the torso of a person. The society proved that the man was in an affair with Hannah Marry Tabb (Gross 7).
Mary Tabb is indeed guilty according to Gross. Gross, just like other committed writers, took a step of tracing who this woman was. The woman was believed to have a history of violence. The woman knew that if a black treated a white person in a cruel manner, there would be heavy consequences for her. She also knew that the justice system could not protect her even when sexually assaulted by the white boyfriend (Gross 6). This is a true representation of how the authorities at that time used to treat the black people. In the 18th century, the cases filed by the whites were taken care of faster than the cases brought by the blacks. Gross also exposes the authority’s weaknesses by saying that incidences of a man killed and believed to be white raised many questions that could not be raised if it was a black man. The authorities rushed very fast to investigate the death of this man because it was thought he was a white. Had it been a black person, the investigation would not have been taken in the manner it was taken.
In the above book, the story written by Nicole Gross depicts that most of the authorities in the 18th century had a weakness that led to many challenges for people who lived at that time. The black women would be sexually assaulted but filling the cases in the courts of law could not bring any justice. The black men would not be treated the same way the white men were treated, and that is why concerns were raised due to the death of a man who was initially believed to be a white person. The treatment of the black population made them take advantage of the whites by treating them in a cruel way and implicating other black people for their crimes. Tabb killed a white man and made it look like it was a black American man who is responsible for the death. Ironically, because the man had a mixed race, he was found guilty and imprisoned. This, therefore, is an indication that the authorities have the responsibility of treating every citizen of its country equally. If that is adhered to, in the end, the challenges associated with racial discrimination will be eradicated.
Work Cited
Gross, Kali N. Hannah Mary Tabbs and the Disembodied Torso: A Tale of Race, Sex, and Violence in America, 2016. Print.
