Mississippi Burning Trail Case

In Scottsboro, Alabama, March 9, 1931 nine African american boys, Olen Montgomery, Clarence Norris, Haywood Patterson, Ozie Powell, Willie Roberson, Charles Weems, Eugene Williams, Andy Wright, and Roy Wright were incriminated of rapeing two white women on the subway. As they were accused of raping Ruby Bates and Victoria Price they were put on trial. This trail was long and unfair.

Apart from the clues given they still had one more mystery to solve and it was who the boy was. Investigators still wanted to continue with the case so they kept the boy in a morgue. Many people from 10 different stated came to look at the boy to see if he was a missing family member. Unfortunately, nobody claimed him. Foot prints and fingerprints of the boy were taken and compared to hospital records but nothing was found. 400,000 flyers of the boy were sent out and even the AMA sent out a description but nothing came through. The fact that there is no proof that the boy even existed led to many theories of who

April 6, 1931, the trials for the Scottsboro boys begin(Uschan 16). The boys were represented by Milo C. Moody and Stephen Roddy who were only given twelve days to prepare for the trials. Stephen was and unpaid, unprepared real estate attorney, and Milo was a forgetful seventy year old local attorney who hadn’t tried a case in a long time (“San Marcos” line 13). The trails were completely unorganized and false information was stated throughout the whole thing. The cross examination of Victoria Price lasted minutes and the defense offered very little information to the judge. Six out of the nine boys ended up denying the rape while 3 admitted to it. Even though the three men didn’t rape the women, because of beatings and threats, they admitted to the gang rape. By the time the trail had ended 8 out of the 9 boys were convicted and sentenced to death. Since one of the Scottsboro boys was only thirteen, he was considered too young to be tried as an adult (“UMKC” par. 6-7).

Mississippi Burning is a film based on the real life murders on three civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1964. The title Mississippi Burning refers to the burning of crosses and buildings. The “Burning” could also be the two agents who create a spark, which sets the city in flames. The movie takes place in a small town in Mississippi. It is in a small community, where everybody knows each other. It is in the Southern states of America in which there was a lot of racial segregation. The main conflict in this movie is that the blacks are suppressed and are treated very badly.

The death of a young African American male in 1955 haunted the south and the African American society. Images of Emmett Till hanging in a tree were plastered on television and in newspapers for Joseph McNeil, Ezell Blair Jr., Franklin McCain, and David Richmond to see while attending North Carolina A & T College in 1960. These four African American men would soon become known as the Greensboro Four after instigating a sit-in at a Woolworth’s store in Greensboro, North Carolina. Their courage and determination ignited a movement to end segregation not only in their state but across the nation. History was being made that day as the young men sat at the counter, customers inside watching as the events unfolded, and the impact of this incident permeating across American’s eyes.

Herman Cash died in 1994 without having been charged. Bobby Frank Cherry, also a former Klansman, was indicted [in 2001] along with Blanton. Judge James Garrett of Jefferson County Circuit Court ruled "that Mr. Cherry's trial would be delayed indefinitely because a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation concluded that he was mentally incompetent.”

Fire in A Canebrake: The Last Mass Lynching in America by Laura Wexler is about the lynching of four African- Americans: Roger Malcom, Dorothy Malcom, George Dorsey, and Mae Murray Dorsey. This occurred in Walton County on July 25, 1946 at the old Moore’s Ford Bridge. The lynching spurred a six month federal investigation in Walton and Oconee County, but eventually led to no convictions or arrest. The FBI had many prime suspects and prime witnesses, but the white community stuck together and the black community was too afraid to speak against their white counter parts. The reason for the lynching at Moore’s Ford Bridge was because the white community of Walton County wanted revenge for Barnette Hester’s stabbing, to keep interracial relationships separate, and to keep whites in control of the political power.

The boys of the Scottsboro trials were never treated fairly from the beginning. The whole journey was filled with misconception. The journey began on the freight train, there was nine African Americans on a train car and with them, was a group of Caucasian men. It all started with one of the white males stepping on the hand of one of the blacks. Not too long after, the white males threatened the nine boys to leave the train car (Doc). After the nine black males refused their threat, a fight broke out between all of them. All of the members of the white group were thrown off the train, all, but one. The one that was left on the train went and reported the fight to the train conductor.

In the book, Mississippi Trial, 1955, by Chris Crowe, Hiram’s view of Greenwood is changing. As Hiram talks to the people in Greenwood, he discovers that colored people aren’t treated the same way as whites, causing his perspective to change. One example is When Mr. Paul told Hiram what was new in Greenwood, Hiram thinks:

Early in the 1950s education in Mississippi was segregated. The Brown versus Board education decision caused complete panic in Mississippi due to the fact that it challenged everything Mississippi had ever known. Throughout the state opinions and reactions carried, but in Sunflower county the opinion of prominent whites were clear: Blacks would not be welcome in schools with their children. Two months after the Brown vs Board decision was announced the first Indianola County Citizens Council was held. At this first meeting men of power met to discuss how they were going to stop blacks from organizing in their county. “Herman Moore, president of the Indianola Bank, open the convocation; “This meeting should have been held 30 years ago.. when it was noticeable that the Negro was organizing.”(Moye65) this statement set the tone for how a whole

On July 25, 1946, two young black couples- Roger and Dorothy Malcom, George and Mae Murray Dorsey-were killed by a lynch mob at the Moore's Ford Bridge over the Appalachee River connecting Walton and Oconee Counties (Brooks, 1). The four victims were tied up and shot hundreds of times in broad daylight by a mob of unmasked men; murder weapons included rifles, shotguns, pistols, and a machine gun. "Shooting a black person was like shooting a deer," George Dorsey's nephew, George Washington Dorsey said (Suggs C1). It has been over fifty years and this case is still unsolved by police investigators. It is known that there were atleast a dozen men involved in these killings. Included in the four that were

Racism has been a huge social issue for as long as I can remember. Not only does racism exists between whites and African Americans it exists between all different races all over the world. Although racism has changed a lot it still exists in many places all over the world. You would think that after so many years that people would learn that everyone is equal but some races still seem to think that they are superior to other races.

Over time, the Scottsboro boys grew from boys to men and with the progression of their age so to do the attitudes of this country toward racism. Granted, there are still bigots and racist in the United States and in the south especially, but they are not the majority or the accepted---they are the minority and the outcasts. No one would be proud to say things like, “’There shouldn't be any trial for them damn niggers-- thirty cents worth of rope would do the work and it wouldn't cost the county much.’ --Decatur lunchroom proprietor (p. 211)” Those ignorant phrases are not common place in our country now, but we had to grow to get there. This trial brought about some of that growth, for not only was this something wrongfully done against a group of African American teens, it was injustice done to Americans and there were some in the United States who saw that and color lines began to blur. My great grandfather marched in the Scottsboro march on Washington along side blacks and Indians, all fighting for the same cause. The growth all the way to 1976 when Clarence Norris, one of the Scottsboro boys, came back to Alabama for the first time since the trials and was greeted, not by a posse or mob, but by cheers and outstretched hands to shake of all races.

      Michael Schwerner joined forces with SNCC along with his chief aid, James Chaney, a black Mississippi native. They both had hopes that the federal government would be pushed by their numbers to increase FBI and federal protection for the students. The third man on their team was Andrew Goodman. He was a reasonably wealthy, white, 20 year old from Manhattan. Idealistic and eager to work, Andrew had no clue that his first day in Mississippi would also be his last. On the night of June 21st in Neshoba County the three young men disappeared after being stopped on a bogus traffic violation. After discovering their burned out car on the second day of the search, most everyone knew the three had been murdered. The press followed the search and brought the case to the nation’s attention. Many bodies of murdered civil rights workers and black citizens were recovered from the backwaters and swamps as federal agents and Navy seamen scoured Neshoba County. The killers in Neshoba County had made a very grave mistake. They hadn’t just murdered three local “colored boys” this time. The parents of Schwerner and Goodman had money; they had ties. So much so, that they were given an audience with

In 1964 Mississippi was faced with the civil rights movement. The movement showed great signs of hope and progress from racial segregation and discrimination of african americans, three civil right workers go missing. Mississippi Burning illustrates the civil rights battle that the nation was facing at this time. Mississippi Burning is a mystery/thriller film loosely based off the Mississippi Burning murders on June 21 1964. Mississippi Burning explores racism and hatred of a group of white supremacists and how they have been oppressing the African Americans community. This movie was directed by Alan Parker, produced by Frederick Zollo and Robert F. Colesberry.