Summer ‘Snow-Storm’ highlights Washington’s racial divide During
the period from 1800 to 1835, what was then called Washington
City underwent significant social change with regard to slavery.
It came to offer more opportunities for free African Americans
than any other place in the country, with the possible exception
of New Orleans. In 1800 when the city was established, enslaved
people outnumbered free blacks by four-to-one. By 1830, free
blacks outnumbered those enslaved. Of course, this was also the
national capital for slaveholders, and slave trafficking was a
thriving enterprise. In 1829, Beverly Snow, a recently freed
slave with extraordinary talents, arrived from Lynchburg,
Virginia. He had exceptional cooking skills and a friendly,
outgoing manner of wit and charm. After several years of hard
work he realized his dream to own and operate his own elegant
restaurant, Snow’s Epicurean Eating House. A keen business sense
and an amazing ability for promotion helped the restaurant to
become an incredibly s