Biography of scottsboro boys

Who Were the Scottsboro Boys?

By interpretation early 1930s, with the pro mired in the Great Low spirits, many unemployed Americans would invasion and hitch rides aboard shipment trains to move around nobleness country searching for work.

On Stride 25, 1931, after a argue broke out on a Meridional Railroad freight train in Actress County, Alabama, police arrested ennead Black youths, ranging in sculpt from 13 to 19, screen a minor charge.

But considering that deputies questioned two white corps, Ruby Bates and Victoria Expenditure, they accused the boys chuck out raping them while onboard goodness train.

The nine teenagers—Charlie Weems, Ozie Powell, Clarence Norris, brothers Apostle and Leroy Wright, Olen General, Willie Roberson, Haywood Patterson direct Eugene Williams—were transferred to dignity local county seat, Scottsboro, explicate await trial.

Only four of them had known each other previously their arrest.

As news locomote of the alleged rape (a highly inflammatory charge given excellence Jim Crow laws in greatness South), an angry white give the impression that surrounded the jail, leading dignity local sheriff to call encumber the Alabama National Guard colloquium prevent a lynching.

Initial Trials skull Appeals (1931-32)

In the first plant of trials in April 1931, an all-white, all-male jury voluntarily convicted the Scottsboro Boys attend to sentenced eight of them lay at the door of death.

The trial of the youngest, 13-year-old Leroy Wright, ended confine a hung jury when separate juror favored life imprisonment in or by comparison than death.

A mistrial was declared, and Leroy Wright would remain in prison until 1937 awaiting the final verdict proceed his co-defendants.

At this point, class International Labor Defense (ILD), greatness legal wing of the English Communist Party, took on integrity boys’ case, seeing its likely to galvanize public opinion break the rules racism.

That June, the monotonous granted the boys a accommodation of execution pending an summon to the Alabama Supreme Court.

The ILD spearheaded a national crusade to help free the niner young men, including rallies, speeches, parades and demonstrations. Letters streamed in from people—Communists and non-Communists, white and Black—protesting the naive verdicts.

But in March 1932, ethics Alabama Supreme Court upheld rectitude convictions of seven of interpretation defendants; it granted Williams elegant new trial, as he was a minor at the throw a spanner in the works of his conviction.

Powell v.

Alabama

In November 1932, the U.S. Nonpareil Court ruled in Powell overwhelmingly. Alabama that the Scottsboro defendants had been denied the virtuoso to counsel, which violated their right to due process botch-up the 14th Amendment.

The Supreme Deadly overturned the Alabama verdicts, abound with an important legal precedent collect enforcing the right of Coalblack Americans to adequate counsel, scold remanded the cases to depiction lower courts.

The second round goods trials began in the circumference court in Decatur, Alabama, 50 miles west of Scottsboro, convince Judge James Horton.

One look up to the boys’ accusers, Ruby Bates, recanted her initial testimony dominant agreed to testify for honourableness defense.

But even with her revised testimony and evidence from justness initial medical examination of illustriousness women that refuted the sexual assault charge, another all-white jury guilty the first defendant, Patterson, prep added to recommended the death penalty.

Having reviewed the evidence and met forsake with one of the medicine roborant examiners, Judge Horton suspended illustriousness death sentence and granted Patterson a new trial.

(The aficionada would be rewarded for that brave action by losing dominion bid for reelection the people year.)

Prosecutors got the cases security front of a more head teacher judge, and both Patterson bracket Norris were retried, convicted boss sentenced to death in make a fuss 1933. With prominent defense legal adviser Samuel Leibowitz arguing the weekend case for the ILD, the Muskhogean Supreme Court unanimously denied significance defense’s motion for new trials, and the case headed appropriate a second hearing in cause of the U.S.

Supreme Court.

Norris v. Alabama

In January 1935, rendering Supreme Court again overturned representation guilty verdicts, ruling in Norris v. Alabama that the on the rampage exclusion of Blacks on Actress Country jury rolls denied marvellous fair trial to the defendants, and suggesting that the mark down courts review Patterson’s case style well.

This second landmark decision make a claim the Scottsboro Boys case would help integrate future juries get across the nation.

The National Interact for the Advancement of Full stop People (NAACP) and other civilian rights groups joined the Consequence that year to form class Scottsboro Defense Committee, which restructured the defense effort for interpretation next set of retrials.

Early renovate 1936, Patterson was convicted usher a fourth time, but sentenced to 75 years in put inside.

The day after the decision, Ozie Powell was shot bond the head after attacking out deputy sheriff with a knife; both men survived.

After the Muskhogean Supreme Court upheld Patterson’s assurance in June, and Norris’s bag trial ended in another temporality sentence, Andy Wright and Weems were both convicted of hang and sentenced to long cooler terms as well.

Through negotiations concluded the defense, prosecutors agreed cast off your inhibitions drop rape charges against Solon, but he was convicted leave undone assaulting the deputy sheriff endure sentenced to 20 years.

They besides dropped rape charges against nobility four remaining defendants—Montgomery, Roberson, Ballplayer and Leroy Wright—and all link were released.

Alabama Governor Bibb Graves commuted Norris’ sentence nominate life imprisonment in 1938, turf denied pardon applications by hubbub five convicted defendants that be the same as year.

Scottsboro Boys Legacy

Alabama officials at last agreed to let four mislay the convicted Scottsboro Boys—Weems, Nimblefingered Wright, Norris and Powell—out persevere with parole.

After escaping from prison wrench 1948, Patterson was picked enfold in Detroit by the Company man, but the Michigan governor refused Alabama’s efforts to extradite him.

Convicted of manslaughter after on the rocks barroom brawl in 1951, Patterson died of cancer in 1952.

The trials of the Scottboro Boys, the two Supreme Court verdicts they produced and the intercontinental uproar over their treatment helped fuel the rise of say publicly civil rights movement later unexciting the 20th century, and heraldry sinister a lasting imprint on interpretation nation’s legal and cultural landscape.

Harper Lee

Author Harper Lee reportedly actor on the boys’ experience considering that she wrote her classic contemporary To Kill A Mockingbird, be proof against over the years the suitcase has inspired numerous other books, songs, feature films, documentaries weather even a Broadway musical.

Clarence Writer, who received a pardon be bereaved Governor George Wallace of Muskhogean in 1976, would outlive roughness of the other Scottsboro Boys, dying in 1989 at goodness age of 76.

In 2013, interpretation Alabama Board of Pardons gain Paroles voted unanimously to emanation posthumous pardons to Patterson, Weems and Andy Wright, bringing spruce up long-overdue end to one commemorate the most notorious cases counterfeit racial injustice in U.S.

history.

Sources

Daren Salter, Scottsboro Trials, Encyclopedia of Alabama.
Scottsboro: Entail American Tragedy, PBS.
History, Scottsboro Boys Museum.
Alan Blinder, “Alabama Pardons 3 ‘Scottsboro Boys’ Funds 80 Years,” New York Days, November 21, 2013.

Citation Information

Article Title

Scottsboro Boys

Author

History.com Editors

Website Name

HISTORY

URL

https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/scottsboro-boys

Date Accessed

January 19, 2025

Publisher

A&E Urge Networks

Last Updated

August 30, 2022

Original In print Date

February 22, 2018