After a black barmaid named Hattie Carroll was killed by a drunken white man, Bob Dylan turned her story into a protest song.
The Baltimore Afro - AmericanIn 1963 , 1,600 masses attended Hattie Carroll ’s funeral in Baltimore . Her killer , William Zantzinger , perish the same month Barack Obama was inaugurated in 2009 .
When Bob Dylan ’s mournful folk song “ The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll ” was released in 1964 , it had only been a twelvemonth since the black 51 - yr - old barmaid was killed . The narrative contained some actual error .
Nonetheless , the implicit in the true was channel with powerful rue at the state of racial matter . The incident occurred in Charles County , Baltimore , after all — where segregation was still alive and well .
The Baltimore Afro-AmericanIn 1963, 1,600 people attended Hattie Carroll’s funeral in Baltimore. Her killer, William Zantzinger, died the same month Barack Obama was inaugurated in 2009.
For Dylan , see a hardworking barmaid beaten to dying with a cane by a boozy , white tobacco Fannie Merritt Farmer was presumably bad enough . accord toThe Guardian , it was the subsequent trial that come across the man sentenced to a bare six months in jail that lead him to craft the lament .
The Life And Death Of Hattie Carroll
Carroll was give birth in 1911 , perchance on March 3 , according to agravestonein the Baltimore National Cemetery .
She had 11 small fry ( not 10 like Dylan write ) , lived in the lower - mediate - class black neighborhood of Cherry Hill in Baltimore , and attended the Gillis Memorial Christian Community Church downtown . According toMother Jones , Carroll peach in the over-45 choir and was a member of the congregation ’s Flower Guild , charged with beautifying the church .
On Feb. 8 , 1963 , Carroll crossed paths with one William Zantzinger ( not Zanzinger , as Dylan ’s lyrics interpret ) at the 17 - floor Emerson Hotel in downtown Baltimore . He was a 24 - year - honest-to-god white man with a wife and two young children , raised on a tobacco farm in southerly Maryland , about 65 miles in the south of Baltimore .
The Baltimore SunOnly one publicly available photograph of Hattie Carroll remains, in addition to the Bob Dylan song that cemented her in American history.
The Baltimore SunOnly one publicly available photo of Hattie Carroll remains , in addition to the Bob Dylan song that cemented her in American history .
He was apparently sustain the time of his life at the hotel ’s Spinsters ’ Ball , “ a drunken commonwealth computer mouse in the big city,”wrote theNew Yorker .
His crapulence and disorderliness promptly turned fell , as he yelled racial name at the disgraceful waitstaff . What ’s more , he held onto his cane alternatively of go away it at the coat check — “ I was having muckle of fun with it , tap everybody , ” he allege .
Wikimedia CommonsBob Dylan was 22 years old when he recorded “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll” in 1963. He performed at the March on Washington that year, along with Joan Baez (left). Aug. 28, 1963.
That tap became more like hitting when it came to a few of the hotel ’s servers — include Hattie Carroll .
Zantzinger was so drunk on whisky , he credibly did n’t even call up what he did to Carroll . Fortunately , there were enough clear - eyed witness for us to know what hap .
Hattie Carroll: A Barmaid, Beaten To Death
Reverends Dorothy Johnson and Mildred Jessup both kick the bucket to church with Carroll . They remember the day she was killed quite understandably .
“ I remember that Hattie work to work at the hotel that day , and later on word come back that she ’d been struck with a cane , ” say Johnson . “ And the right way after that we learn that she had die . Everybody in the church service was very upset . It was a awful blow . ”
Wikimedia CommonsBob Dylan was 22 years old when he recorded “ The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll ” in 1963 . He performed at the March on Washington that yr , along with Joan Baez ( left ) . Aug. 28 , 1963 .
The Baltimore SunWilliam Zantzinger was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to six months on Aug. 28, 1963, the same day as the March on Washington.
It was a busy night at the ball , and Carroll feel hasten . When Zantzinger pressed her to make the drink he ’d ordered , she replied , “ I ’m hurrying as fast as I can . ”
“ I do n’t have to take that sort of poop off a nigra , ” he hissed back , and slapped her with his plaything cane .
So distressed by his comment , Carroll collapsed hour subsequently from a solidus .
Larry Morris/The Washington Post/Getty ImagesWilliam Zantzinger leaves court in cuffs after being sentenced to 18 months in jail and fined $50,000 for “unfair and deceptive trade practices” in his real estate business. Jan. 3, 1992 at the Charles County Courthouse in Maryland.
“ I wonder what kind of respect did that man have for masses ? What form of respect did he have for lady ? ” Reverend Jessup wondered year afterward . “ He was n’t thinking about people at all . He was act under the striver learning ability . ”
The Baltimore SunWilliam Zantzinger was convicted of manslaughter and condemn to six months on Aug. 28 , 1963 , the same day as the March on Washington .
Zantzinger had already been charged with disorderly conduct and violation ( after slapping a few other hotel employees with his cane ) , but when word came that Carroll had died , authorities tacked on a murder boot .
The Cane-Twirling Killer: William Zantzinger
After Hattie Carroll died , the aesculapian inspector reported that she had season arteries and an hypertrophied spirit , and that the cane did n’t even go forth a mark on her . Zantzinger ’s cane did n’t directly stamp out her — rather , it was his hateful words that bring on her stroke .
The reputation led a judicature of Maryland judges to lessen Zantzinger ’s homicide charge to manslaughter , and Zantzinger end up serve six months in a county jail .
The jurist were suspicious of imposing a longer sentence , as that would have required Zantzinger to serve time in a state prison . They fear he would be a prime target area for the prison house ’s largely dim population . What ’s more , they delayed his judgment of conviction by a dyad of weeks so he could collect his baccy crops .
Larry Morris / The Washington Post / Getty ImagesWilliam Zantzinger leave motor hotel in cuffs after being sentenced to 18 month in jailhouse and fined $ 50,000 for “ unfair and deceptive trade practices ” in his real estate business . Jan. 3 , 1992 at the Charles County Courthouse in Maryland .
agree toThe New Yorker , Zantzinger believed the Bob Dylan song that perpetually demonized him was “ a damned lie . ” For one matter , he arrogate he did n’t have any “ high office relation back in the politics of Maryland ” to get him out of trouble , as the song crooned .
at last , Zantzinger died on Jan. 3 , 2009 , with a semblance of ego - cognisance .
“ I know that I caused that woman ’s expiry , ” he said . “ I ’m creditworthy . Me talking does nothing for that woman or her family . Just put this in your article : I admire and respect the Carroll kinfolk for their decision not to talk publically . Like them , I think the best affair to do is let it reside . ”
The Lonesome Death And Legacy Of Hattie Carroll
Bob Dylan was 22 when he wrote “ Hattie Carroll . ” He recorded it on Oct. 23 , 1963 , just two month after Zantzinger ’s sentencing . His sentencing , as it turned out , fall on on the dot the same sidereal day as theMarch on WashingtonandMartin Luther King , Jr. ’s “ I Have a Dream ” address .
fortuitously , because of Dylan , Carroll ’s legacy live on long after her 1,600 - person funeral . According toThe Maryland Independent , the Charles County Board of Commissioners honor her and the household with a monument and portrait in 2017 . One pavement was named “ Hattie Carroll Way . ” For her descendants , the ceremonial was priceless .
“ It makes me feel proud and honor to see what a beautiful person my grandmother was , ” said great - granddaughter Bridget Carroll . “ She ’s not forget . ”
After see about Hattie Carroll and the true level behind the Bob Dylan song that take over her name , take a looking at at33 photo of sequestration that show a country divided by wash . Then , learn aboutfour distaff civil right hand leadership who should n’t be forgotten .
