Name/Title
Clarence Darrow Reunion, 1992Entry/Object ID
1992.2.1Tags
1990sDescription
Framed collage of Clarence Darrow's Vernon, Ohio School Reunion circ Summer 1936, list of attendees and brief biography.
Top Row: J.P. Karr, Altie Hunter, Alfred Karr, Walker Jewel
Bottom Row: Florence Flowers, Dell Marsh, Clarence Darrow, Lena Reed, Fannie Bacon, Minnie Brown
"Clarence Darrow Defender of Human Rights 1857-1938
Clarence Darrow, born in Kinsman, Ohio in 1857, was a brilliant trial lawyer in the late 19th-early 20th centuries.
Kinsman, at that time, was a small village in what was known as the Connecticut Western Reserve of Ohio. This rural township was mostly made up of farmers, merchants, and small tradesmen. The people were made of strong New England stock, conservative, and taught in the ways of Congregational, Presbyterian, and Methodist fundamentals.
Darrow's regular education ended after he had finished the equivalent of one year at Allegheny College when he was 16 years old. The panic of 1873 forced him back home to work in his father's furniture factory. He also taught school for three years at a country school in Vernon, Ohio, five miles south of Kinsman.
Among his students were my grandfather, John Peter Karr (1858-1939), Uncle Alfred Morris Karr (1860-1944), Aunt Emma A. Karr (1861-1921), and Aunt Mary Florence Karr (1865-1948).
The photo on the right was taken at a class reunion at the Vernon School on a hot summer day in 1936. The picture of Clarence Darrow and nine of his former students. My grandfather, aunt, and uncle are in the picture. Darrow and his students were all in their mid-to late- seventies at the time. My family attended the picnic to meet and hear Kinsman's favorite son. I was six years old at the time and still remember that day. In his autobiography, 'Clarence Darrow, The Story of My Life', he describes his teaching years as follows:
'In this three years, I had fifty scholars ranging from seven years old to a year or two above my age. On the whole, it was a pleasant three years. I am not sure how much I taught the pupils, but I am certain that they taught me. No matter when I go back to my old home, I am sure to meet some of the thinning group whom I tried to make happy even if I could not make them wise.'
Darrow went on to become one of our nation's most famous trial lawyers. Defender of the damned and of human rights. He represented socialist Eugene V. Debs, the Chicago Thrill Killers, Leopold and Loeb, and the bombers of the L.A. Times, to name a few. He debated with former presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan over evolution in the John Scopes 'Monkey Trial'. He was truly an attorney for the defese.
Books Darrow wrote were: 'The Story of My Life', 'Farmington', 'Crime and its Cause and Treatment', 'Resist Not Evil', and 'An Eye for an Eye'.
Darrow died two years after this 1936 reunion picture was taken. It is likely to be one of the last photographs taken of him."
John O. Bode
March 27, 1992Cataloged By
Straub, NicoleAcquisition
Accession
1992.2Source or Donor
Bode, John O.Relationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Karr, J. P., Hunter, Altie, Karr, Alfred, Jewel, Walker, Flowers, Florence, Marsh, Dell, Darrow, Clarence, Reed, Lena, Brown, Minnie, Bacon, FannieCreated By
Straub, NicoleCreate Date
June 23, 2025Updated By
Straub, NicoleUpdate Date
July 7, 2025