Scottsboro Boys

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).

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.

Can anyone truly be sure if what a person is saying is the truth if there isn’t proof to show it? This question is one of the many jurors have to ask themselves while making decisions in cases with purely circumstantial evidence. On March 25th 1931, Haywood Patterson, Clarence Norris, Andy Wright, Roy Wright, Ozzie Powell, Willie Roberson, Charles Weems, Eugene Williams, and Olen Montgomery- also known as the Scottsboro boys, were charged with rape by Victoria Price and Ruby Bates. The girls claimed to have been raped by the Scottsboro boys after fighting broke out between them and a group of white men. The alleged crime happened on a train, during that time period hoboing- travelling by train in search of jobs, was incredibly popular. Key witnesses to this trial were the Scottsboro boys, the 15 white men on the train, Dr. R. R. Bridges- the doctor who examined the women after the alleged rape, and the eyewitness Ory Dobbins. The final verdict in the trial let four of the Scottsboro free while four were sentenced to serve in prison for a long period of time and one was sentenced to death (The Trials of "The Scottsboro Boys": An Account, Linder). The Scottsboro boys trial was unfair and biased due to public, media, jury bias, incorrect trial proceedings, and finally witness bias.

There were several trials held throughout the case of the Scottsboro Boys. Most of them were unfair and obviously conducted with the odds stacked against the boys. The testimonies given by the two girls often did not match up. Victoria Price spent the most time on the stand, and on the rare occasion that Ruby Bates testified, most of what she said was disregarded because it contradicted or changed Price’s story. It was concluded that anything Bates said was no good because she was dimwitted and could not keep her story straight.

The Scottsboro boys were nine African American teenagers falsely accused of raping two white women on a train in Alabama during the year 1931. No crime in American history that never occurred has produced as many trials, convictions, and retrials as the alleged gang rape of two white girls by nine black teenagers did. This tragedy marks a time in the United States where African Americans were not receiving the right to a fair trial and encountering racism because of their skin color. This court case is seen as one of the major examples that one innocent person or in this case many innocent people have been convicted and punished for a crime they did not commit.

The Scottsboro Trials of Alabama, started in 1931. Nine African American boys were accused of raping two girls on board a train near Scottsboro, Alabama.(A Tragedy of the American South) A fight broke out between white and black groups of youths. Victoria Price and Ruby Bates accused the boys of rape.(A Tragedy of the American South) Instead of the two girls getting charged with vagrancy and prostitution, they blamed the black boys of raping them..(A Tragedy of the American South) Rape was a politically explosive charge in the south.(A Tragedy of the American South) The case went to the US Supreme court in 1937, where Clarence Norris called the girls liars and was then struck by a bayonet.(A Tragedy of the American South) After going to court the boys spent two years between their first trials and second round. (Tragedy of the American South) One

The Scottsboro Trials were the trials against nine young African American men who were falsely accused of the rape of two white women in Scottsboro, Alabama. The men were Charlie Weems, Ozie Powell, Clarence Norris, Olen Montgomery, Willie Roberson, Haywood Patterson, Eugene Williams, Andrew Wright, and Leroy Wright. On a freight train, March 25, 1931, a fight began between a group of people of white and black race. After the altercation the train made a stop in Scottsboro to turn some of the people involved in the fight into police custody. During this stop two prostitutes (Victoria Price and Ruby Bates) were found and were about to face prostitution charges. Several sources claim that police officials forced the women to lie and others say

In 1906, Ed Johnson was convicted after witnesses claimed he sexually assaulted white female by using a leather strap. Although Johnson provided numerous alibis about his part in the sexual assault, he was still convicted for the crime and sentenced to death by a jury of only white people. While in jail, Johnson was brutally murdered by a mob that broke in. Twenty-five years later, the Scottsboro Boys were convicted for gang rape of two white women while traveling on a train. Of the nine Scottsboro boys accused in this case, eight of them were sentenced to death. This conviction raised public awareness and was one factor that saw the birth of the Civil Rights Movement. Just a few years later, three African American men, Ed Brown, Arthur Ellington and Henry Shields were all beaten and tortured into confessing for the killing of a white farmer in Mississippi. This incident became the well known Supreme Court decision titled Brown v. Mississippi (Grimsley). These were just average African American men living average lives when suddenly they are accused of crimes they did not commit. Earl Smith and Angela J. Hattery says in their journal that “many of them were at least twenty six years old when incarcerated whereas, some were sent to prison while they were still in their late teens and early 20s.” Before they were incarcerated, many of them were still getting their education and building careers and relationships. While these men were accused of their crimes based on their race, there are other factors that play a role in a wrongful conviction.

Charlie Weems, Ozie Powell, Clarence Norris, Olen Montgomery, Willie Roberson, Haywood Patterson, Eugene Williams, and Andrew and Leroy Wright were the nine, black, young men known as the Scottsboro boys. These boys were sadly accused of raping two white women on a train. It was near Scottsboro, Alabama, in 1931. Not only were these poor boys accused, but eight out of the nine were sentenced to death.

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 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

One of the reasons that the Scottsboro Boys were innocent was because of the lack of witnesses from the scene. Throughout the four trials against the boys there were only ever two true witnesses that were from the scene. These two were Victoria Price and Ruby Bates. It was the nine black mens word against the two white

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

The prejudice in Tom’s trial is also visible by the segregated seating arrangements of the whites and the blacks in the courthouse. The portrayed segregation not only takes place at the Maycomb court of law but had appeared through out the novel in all aspects of Maycomb life. This segregation is illustrated by Harper Lee through imagery and is strengthened through the realist aspect of the novel. The author shows prejudice through this segregation by revealing the two contrasting places where the ‘white and blacks’ lived and even where they went to separate churches. The author paints a vivid picture of the blacks living in a ghetto