Scottsboro Boys Although the Great Depression of the 1930’s diminished the American economy, it did not alter the racist tendencies deeply ingrained within the South. One of the most notorious examples of such discrimination is the Scottsboro case; a case were nine black teenage boys were falsely arrested, imprisoned, and sentenced to death for the gang rape of two white women. On March 25th 1931, four black Chattanooga teenagers on a search for new government jobs and five other miscellaneous black teenagers from different locations in Georgia hopped upon the Southern Railroad freight train headed for Memphis, Tennessee. (Linder) After coming up victorious in a rock throwing altercation in the train with a gang out white teenagers, the nine “Scottsboro Boys” were greeted in Paint Rock, Alabama by an army of armed men rushing the freight train. The boys were then arrested for vagrancy and disorder (Brinley 570) Later, two unemployed, female mill workers, Victoria Price and Ruby Bates, claimed that twelve black boys wielding knives and pistols gang raped them aboard the train. While the boys were held in prison, one of the girls, Victoria Price, positively identified six of the nine boys that she claimed had “raped her”. Soon the jail was surrounded by hundreds of men protesting for the lynching of the nine boys. The protest got so out of control, Alabama Governor, B. M Miller had to call in the National Guard to protect the boys. The boys underwent a grueling trail, which
It took place on March, 25, 1931 near Scottsboro, Alabama. The 9 african american boys were taken off the train for charges of assault from the whites. Then all 9 boys were accused of rape from white women Victoria Price and Ruby Bates.
In the 1930’s teenagers from across the country were leaving their homes to search for jobs due to the extreme poverty caused by the Great Depression. Whether it was blacks or whites, they were all affected one way or the other by the nation’s economical failure. It became popular for the young men and women to travel by freight trains to arrive to the places with better job opportunities. Around this time blacks were still not treated fairly, even in poverty. In the Scottsboro case in Alabama two white woman prostitutes falsely accused nine African American youths of rape on a freight train car; the boys were convicted in every trial due to the prejudices of an all white jury, and they had an attorney with little to no motivation to put any effort into their defense.
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
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
Let’s examine the reality of violence during the Reconstruction Era. In the document, “Southern Horrors- Lynch Laws in All its Phases, by Ida B. Wells-Barnett we see countless examples of the continued violence in the south against African-Americans. The slogan “This is white man’s country and the
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.
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.
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.
On March 25, 1931, With the Great Depression gripping the nation after the stock-market crash of 1929, people jumped on to freight trains to travel from one city to another city in hope to search for work. A group of whites and a group of blacks who are later called the ‘Scottsboro boys’ got in a fight on a train. The Scottsboro boys were defending themselves and they kicked the white group off in Jackson County. Then, two women who were on the train were trying to avoid arrest therefore falsely accused the nine black youths (who range from the age of thirteen to nineteen years old) of raping them. The Scottsboro boys were then arrested with assault and rape charges added against all nine of them after the allegations were made by Victoria Price and Ruby Bates. It was a rousing allegation in the Jim-Crow South, where many whites were attempting to maintain power just 66 years after the end of the Civil War.
On March 31, 1931 nine boys by the names of; Charles Weems, Clarence Norris, Ozie Powell, Olen Montgomery, Eugene Williams, Willie Roberson, Haywood Patterson, Andy Wright and youngest of them all, Roy Wright rode a train heading toward Alabama, they got into a fight with a group of white men that allegedly lead them to push the white men off of the train (An American Tragedy). The train stopped at a small town where an angry mob was waiting to find a group of troubled black men. As they got off the train, two young white women by the names of; Ruby Bates and Victoria Price claimed, “these boys raped us" (An American Tragedy). The public
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
Racism is often recalled as the fight between blacks and whites in America, but the thing that nearly all people forget is why racism really showed up. I think that there were a lot of things that lead up to racism, though I can conclude that racism is the idea that people used to explain the fight that people had for power. Power is what everybody wanted and people don't want to be seen as less than somebody because they want to have high self-esteem of themselves (Routledge). Primarily the fight for power was for whites only because whites looked to gain more power and they didn't want blacks to gain or have any power. One critical event that I can relate racism to is the Scottsboro Trials. The Scottsboro trial was a trial that was between
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.
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