Rabina Mainali Sign 111 Dr. Dulan 3 November, 2015 Witnesses of the Scottsboro trials The Scottsboro trials came about during the year 1931 when Great Depression had hit the South hard. In search of work several individuals boarded a freight train from Chattanooga to Memphis, Tennessee not knowing their future ahead wasn’t so bright. While in the train a white man stepped on a black man’s hand, later identified as belonging to Haywood Patterson. A fight between the white youths and Patterson’s
Annotated Bibliography Altman, Susan. “Scottsboro Trial.” Encyclopedia of African-American Heritage, Second Edition, Facts On File, 2000. African-American History.
Injustice is seen a lot in this world whether it is racial, healthcare, gender inequality, or even economic injustice but today we will be focusing on the Scottsboro boys and the trial of Powell vs Alabama. In the 1930’s, nine young African American teenagers as young as 13 years old were falsely accused of rape and eight were sentenced to prison over a crime they did not commit. Although they were eventually released after years, not because of insufficient evidence but because they served a significant amount of time in prison as minors and kept having to retrial, it still does not distract from the fact it took 82 years to clear their names over a crime they did not commit and subsequently ruined their reputation and lives while they were
The charge of raping white women was an explosive accusation, and within two weeks the Scottsboro Boys were convicted and eight sentenced to death, the youngest, Leroy Wright at age 13, to life imprisonment. (D. Carter para. 2). At the time, during the trial the Alabama legal system was very prejudice, bias, and unconstitutional. First, the legal system was prejudice because the council that was provided was inadequate to defend his defendants and also the trial only took two weeks.
The Scottsboro trials were trials in which two white women wrongly accused nine black men of rape (Anderson). Racism is very prevalent in the Scottsboro trials, as racism can be defined in this case as Whites pushing Blacks down to gain higher status (Schafer). It was found during the trial that many of the men were not in the same boxcar as the women and there was no doctor’s evidence of rape (Anderson). Anderson also states that the black men were given drunk, and clearly incompetent lawyers for this case. Even after one woman admitted that the rape never happened, the jury would not give in and the case continued (Anderson).
"Racism is a refuge for the ignorant. It seeks to divide and to destroy. It is the enemy of freedom, and deserves to be met head-on and stamped on." (Pierre Berton) The Scottsboro Trials impacted America in a way that cannot be explained by words.
The Scottsboro case went a little like this, nine black boys were charged rape against two white women. They were brought to trial in Scottsboro, Alabama in April 1931 after they had already been in jail for three weeks. “ Despite the testimony by doctors who examined the girls and said there was no sign of rape, the men were charged with rape and sentenced to death except for the youngest of twelve years old. ” As stated in Scottsboro case law article. The scenticting of death was lifted but after all of them had already spent 6 years in jail.
Racism and discrimination have been and continue to cause injustices around the world. One example of this that seems to keep coming back is the Scottsboro Boys case. This case took place in the 1930’s, but continues to impact society even today. Nine young black men were falsely accused of raping on a freight train over a fight with a group of white men. The case of the Scottsboro Boys was an unfair case that greatly influenced the civil rights movement and the society we live in today.
The Scottsboro Trials were unfair and biased towards the black boys. Two prostitutes accused nine boys on a train of rape. The prostitutes committed a federal crime, by them crossing state boarders without a reasonable cause (Johnson). Right when the prostitutes got of the train, they cried rape. A majority of the nine boys were not even in the same train car as the prostitutes (Johnson).
After reading and viewing the racism pieces I conclude that many blacks were unfairly treated in crimes that they never did during the Scottsboro trials. The Scottsboro trial is a great example of how badly blacks were treated back during the Jim Crow Laws. The Scottsboro trial was about nine black boys aged twelve to seventeen who were falsely accessed of raping two white women on a train in Alabama. During the Great Depression, people would ride on train cars in search of jobs because there was such a shortage of them. So when the boys were getting out of the train, two white women claimed that they had raped them.
The Impact of the Scottsboro Boys on American History After watching the Scottsboro video, i came to the conclusion that the subject of it had an enormous outcome for the rest of history. Over the course of the Scottsboro boys trial, everything that happened sculpted both negative and positive events in this significant era. It affected thousands of lives, and impacted the rest of American history. Over hundreds of years, the theme of racism still continues until this day, we as Americans still experience the wrath of racism; maybe not as much, but it certainly hasn't gone away. All nine of the Scottsboro boys trials had an astonishing outcome on our nation and people, and it also portrayed many other events that happened in American history like World War ll, and the Civil Rights Movement.
Injustice The Scottsboro Case shed light on the racial practices expressed in law that made a great impact on the legal system today. The actual victims of the Case did not receive a fair trial due to the color of their skin. The ones who played the victims planned the crime, and their stories made no sense. But like many of the trials during the time it wasn’t based on the actual evidence that was found,or even the defendants ' stories.
The Scottsboro Trial is known to be one of the biggest cases to happen in the civil rights movement. The case began on March 25, 1931, with nine young black men on a freight train. By April 9th eight out of the nine men were convicted and sentenced to death for raping Victoria and Ruby.
“That trial is not fair where affection is judge. ”- Thomas Fuller. At a time when the country was divided between the judgement of a person’s skin color and justice. In 1931 The Scottsboro Trial was an underrated in American history.
The Scottsboro Boys case was a landmark event in the Civil Rights Movement, involving nine African American teenagers falsely accused of raping two white women in Alabama in 1931. The case highlighted the deep-seated racism and
