Scottsboro Boys 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.

There are many similarities between the Scottsboro trial and the trial of Tom Robinson in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. “No crime in American history—let alone a crime that never occurred—produced as many trials, convictions, reversals, and retrials as did an alleged gang rape of two white girls by nine black teenagers on a Southern railroad freight run on March 25, 1931” (Linder 1). The author of To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee, was a young girl during the Scottsboro trial and based the trial of Tom Robinson in her novel off of the Scottsboro trial of 1931. The three main similarities between the Scottsboro trial and the trial of Tom Robinson are the geographic settings, the portrayal of racism, and the specifics of the court

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).

The Scottsboro trials happened in the 1931 and dragged on for years. These cases were solely based on the prejudice surrounding blacks and gender. The cases presented in the Scottsboro Film represented the fight for justice. Nine boys were wrongfully arrested and imprisoned for years while society used these young black mens oppression to further its own agenda.These cases ruined the life of nine young men but they also helped make dramatic, vital changes in the criminal justice system and the constitution. The misfortune of the nine men tried and convicted during this time opened the eyes of so many blind to the injustice that african americans suffer from still to this day. The Scottsboro trials greatly defined the future of the criminal

Scottsboro case was at first led on March 25, 1931, in Scottsboro Alabama. The case included dark young people who later ended up noticeably celebrated as Scottsboro Boys. Young men included Clarence Norris, Olen Montgomery, Andy Wright, Willie Robertson, Ozie Powell, Eugene Williams, Charlie Weems, Roy Wright and Haywood Patterson. The named dark young people were dishonestly charged to have posse assaulted two white ladies. This case wound up plainly a standout amongst the most disputable and confounded cases in the historical backdrop of United States of America.

According to American history, prejudice is shown through the courtroom’s jury when making decisions to send the alleged African Americans to jail. On March 24, 1931, nine African American lives were jeopardized with the false accusations of rape that further scrutinizes the nation’s controversial look upon justice. Referring to Abigail Thernson and Henry Fetter when talking about The Scottsboro Trials it states, “Represented by unprepared out of date counsel who had no more than a half an hour consult

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.

Compare and contrast the infamous events and trials relating to Leo Frank (in 1913), the Scottsboro Nine (in 1931), and Emmett Till (in 1955).

During the early nineteen hundreds many people especially in the south were often convicted of crimes for no other reason than their skin color and contrary to many ideas about our court system, we have not always been the most honest and unbiased people. One prime example of this is the case of the Scottsboro Boys and how they were accused of rape and had to go to court numerous times, almost everytime ending in the death sentence. The evidence in the case clearly points towards the innocence of the Scottsboro boys, evidence such as unclear stories from the girls, lack of bruises and marks indicating assault as well as a previous history of prostitution from both of the girls. This evidence helps to prove that Charles Weems and the Scottsboro boys were innocent and wrongly accused and convicted.

The Scottsboro Trial and the trial of Tom Robinson are almost identical in the forms of bias shown and the accusers that were persecuted. The bias is obvious and is shown throughout both cases, which took place in the same time period. Common parallels are seen through the time period that both trials have taken place in and those who were persecuted and why they were persecuted in the first place. The thought of "All blacks were liars, and all blacks are wrongdoers," was a major part of all of these trails. A white person's word was automatically the truth when it was held up to the credibility of someone whom was black. Both trials were perfect examples of how the people of Alabama were above the law and could do whatever they

The Scottsboro Boys were a group of nine boys who were wrongfully sentenced from 1931-1937 and not proven innocent until 1977 to a tedious life of trials and prison, tribulations and death. Everything started when the nine boys set off on a southern railroads train heading towards Memphis from Chattanooga, looking for honest work. They started a little scuffle with the white teenagers in the train until eventually a white boy called the conductor, who in turn called the police. Despite the whites having just as much to do with the fight as the blacks. The police arrested every black teenager they could find, and not a single white was bothered. The nine boys they found were deemed the name: The Scottsboro Boys. After they were hauled off to prison, two girls Ruby Bates and Victoria Price, falsely accused the boys of raping them. This is what started the trials, and highlights how prejudiced people were at the time.

The Scottsboro trial impacted America as a whole. The nine men being convicted of rape did not have a fair trial. During the 1930s, America was in a time of very serious segregation. If a black man supposedly slept with a “Southern white women” they would be lynched. A specific example of this would be when the Scottsboro boys were going to jail, a crowd of over 100 people tried to lynch them (Douglas O. Linder). In the time period, America had many race riots, so this incident would not be surprising. The Black men were trailed in separate cases (Linder). They were found guilty, an obvious verdict because of their ethnicity. The southerners believed that Blacks were criminals and should be sentenced to death if they were accused of committing

the prisoners were lucky enough to escape the being lynched when they were moved into Scottsboro. In this trial, nine young, black boys were charged with the rape of two white girls while on a train. This case was a major source of controversy in the 1930’s. “Despite testimony by doctors who had examined the women that no rape had occurred, the all- white jury convicted the nine, and all but the youngest, who was 12 years old were sentenced to death” (“Scottsboro”). The boys’ lawyer, Samuel Leibowitz, did not even get assigned to the case until the first day of the trial. “If he could show a jury that these nine boys were innocent, as the record indicated, the jury would surely free them. To Leibowitz, that was simple!” (Chalmers 35). However, it was not that simple. Many white citizens would not change their minds about

In the year 1931, all nine of the Scottsboro boys Haywood Patterson, Charles Weems, Clarence Norris, Andy Wright, Ozzie Powell, Olen Montgomery, Eugene Williams, Willie Roberson, and Roy Wright are arrested and tried on charges of assault from fighting white boys on a train. Along with accusations made by Victoria Price and Ruby Bates that the boys raped them. Their trial begins April 6, 1931. All of the boys except for Roy Wright are tired and convicted, with the result of the death sentence, Roy Wright’s trial ends in a mistrial. Later the NAACP and International Labor Defense, fight to represent the boys. Even though there was no proof that the boys committed these crimes they

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.