Scottsboro Trial

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).

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to Abigail Thernson and Henry Fetter when talking about The Scottsboro Trials it states, “Represented by unprepared out of date counsel who had no more than a half an hour consult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.

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 white kids lost the fight and then wanted revenge. To get revenge, they said that the black boys had raped two white girls ("Scottsboro,” Trial). The fight terminated after they had passed the Alabama border, when the white teenagers stepped on the hand of a black boy. As part of this revenge, they went to the station master in Stevenson with the lies that they were attacked by a gang of black teenagers who also raped two white girls. On March 31st, The Scottsboro Boys who were around 12-21 years old, got convicted of rape. “The black boys were taken to a jail in Scottsboro, Alabama, hence the name Scottsboro Boys. The arrest of the nine was the beginning of repeated trials, convictions, appeals, and more trials over the next six years” (“Scottsboro, “Trial). In other words, this means the Scottsboro black boys were guilty and taken to jail. People said they are anti-social, they are bestial, and they are unbelievably stupid.

Both trials for the boys and Tom Robinson were set and in the 1930’s in Alabama. During this time the south was still very segregated and still had Jim Crow laws in affect. The juries on both cases were white and very racist. In both Tom Robinson’s case and The Scottsboro case there was little to none actual solid evidence of rape taking place, instead the juries were bias and because there was an accusation against blacks they were automatically prosecuted unfairly. Also, in both cases some of the public didn’t like the outcome of the trials more so with the Scottsboro trial which caused a national

Back then when if you were black you would be guilty until proven innocent, no matter what. The reason for that was because people were more racist back then than today and black people were the main target. Even if you did nothing and you were black, if someone told on you and accused you of doing something really bad even if there is no proof you would still get in trouble. In Scottsboro Boys there was nine black boys who went to a train men were fighting them because they illegally rode the train. There were also 2 women that falsely accusing them of rape. You can find all this information on the “False Accusations” part of The Scottsboro Boys. They had to go through a lot to prove their innocence. Not that much changed today 5 young black men got accused of raping a woman not to long ago. Then young men had to go to court to prove their innocence, comparable to the time when in To Kill a Mockingbird when Tom Robinson got accused of raping Bob Ewell's daughter, Mayella. She got caught lying a lot in court and Tom Robinson was innocent but it was unfair for black people back then so he was guilty even though he was innocent and went to

After reading and viewing the racism pieces, i conclude that the Scottsboro Boys were only found guilty and convicted because of the racist society that the boys were currently in. Their is lots of evidence to show that the boys did not commit the crimes. One of the accusers later told media that there was no rape, the accusers were prostitutes trying to cross the border and were trying to find a way in, and the boys were even on a different car than the prostitutes. The boys were also tried unfairly. All of them were tried at once, the trial only took one day, and the defense attorney for the boys wasn’t even a real attorney, he was a real estate agent. This is why i believe that the Scottsboro Boys were only found guilty because of racism.

The scottsboro trials were a horrific event in history where a group of black boys where

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

Two girls that were ¨raped¨ wrongly accused nine black men, Ruby Bates and Victoria Price said they were raped when they were prostitutes, they were illegally going across Alabama border to get money, knowing that prostitution that was illegal in Alabama. The Tom Robinson Trial

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

This book teaches many valuable lessons about family, friendship, forgiveness, standing up for what is right -- even if the system is against you, and about the history of the American South, including issues with the Jim Crow Laws and race relations/segregation. This is a time, much like the Holocaust in Europe, that we should never forget and never repeat. This story is based on real life events in the life of Harper Lee, the author. Her father defended several innocent African American men during the infamous "Scottsboro Trials." Feel free to Google this to get more information. Basically, there were a group of teens/young men accused of raping two young women who were Caucasian and possibly also prostitutes. The men were innocent. But, because of a broken and unfair system at the time and the color of their skin, they were initially thrown in jail and wrongfully declared guilty, based only on the lying testimony of the two white women who accused them. It wasn't until the 1970s that the verdict was turned over, with all men involved declared innocent.

The Scottsboro Boys trial was an important piece of history because it was a big part and steeping stone of the Civil Rights movement, it also showed a great example of racial inequality. 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.

In 1931, nine African-American men ranging from 14-21 years of age were accused of raping two white women while aboard a freight train. The nine young men were immediately arrested and became known as the “Scottsboro Boys”. The arrests of the boys and their court trials reflected the social, sectional, political, religious, and racial divisions in the early 1930’s. The social division, as well as sectional and political, were reflected by racist white people who believed “no white women would ever consent to a negro”. The political power that dominated the court rooms made it virtually impossible for a negro to be considered not guilty unless dramatically proven otherwise. The racial divisions during this time were the ultimate problem. White people thought of themselves as superior and African-Americans had very little say when accused of a crime. The events related to the Scottsboro Boys lead to a deterioration of the political and cultural atmosphere. The cultural atmosphere was greatly impacted because racism was already a major problem in the South. With so little evidence, many people started to believe the boys were innocent and that the girls, Bates and Price, had made up the whole story. In fact, when one boy fled to Michigan, they refused Alabama’s request for his return. Politically, money was also a factor. Court officials were tired of the state wasting money on the ongoing trials, especially when Bates came forward and