Given A Fair Trial Of The Scottsboro Boys In The 1930's

In the early 1930s, a group of African American boys were accused of raping two women aboard a train in southern Alabama being called the “Scottsboro Boys.” The boys were not given a fair trial because of the racial injustice in the south during this time. The trial was even brought to the supreme court which would help overturn the verdicts in favor of the boys. This trial was extremely significant because it really brought to light the racial injustice and inequality present during this time, especially in the legal system, as well as being a kind of spark for the civil rights movement in America.

The story of the Scottsboro Boys begins on March 25, 1931, when nine young men were on a train in southern Alabama looking for a place to work.

In the first trials, eight of the nine boys were sentenced to death when they were tried by a Jury that consisted of all white males. In an article written by PBS, it says, “Before Judge A. E. Hawkins, Clarence Norris, and Charlie Weems are tried, convicted, and sentenced to death” (PBS, Par. 4). This trial just includes two of the Scottsboro Boys; the rest of the eight men that were also sentenced to death were tried shortly after in similar courtroom conditions that consisted of an all-white male jury. The trials of the Scottsboro Boys had large effects everywhere in the United States sparking civil rights groups to start using the trails as a form of protest a couple of these groups include, The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the International Labor Defense (I.L.D.) These groups did many things to help the young men like raising money to pay for their court fees and starting protests to help get the case out of Alabama and move it up into the supreme court. The groups were very successful because a few of the boys were able to appeal in front of the supreme court. In the same article written by the editors at PBS it says, “November 7: In Powell v. Alabama, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the defendants were denied the right to counsel, which violated their right to

One of the men, Patterson escaped from prison and was found by the F.B.I. in 1948 and eventually died of cancer later in 1952 this is just the experience of one man but the events of the Scottsboro Boys as a whole were very important in fueling the civil rights movement which would lead to racial equality for all people. This was written about in an article on History.com where the editors say, “The trials of the Scottsboro Boys, the two Supreme Court verdicts they produced, and the international uproar over their treatment helped fuel the rise of the civil rights movement” (History.com, Par. 24). This great effect on the civil rights movement also helped shape the culture of the nation which can still be seen today. The tales of the Scottsboro Boys were also significant in many books and plays over the years which help display the importance of the event and what the boys truly experienced. The boys' trials were also briefly mentioned in the very famous piece of literature called To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee shortly after these events and many other similar events took place. In the same article by History.com, the editors also wrote, “Author Harper Lee reportedly drew on the boys’ experience when she wrote her classic novel To Kill A Mockingbird, and over the years the case has inspired numerous other books, songs, feature films,