Scottsboro Boys Research Paper

The Scottsboro Boys To begin, the Scottsboro Boys case of 1931 was very controversial at the time and lasted until 1937. The case is about nine young men who were illegally riding the train to find work because in those times work was very hard to come by. The train was stopped and the young men were taken off near Scottsboro, Alabama and charged with a minor crime. There also were two Caucasian young women riding the train illegally as well Ruby Bates and Victoria Price. There is a lot of misconception but charges of rape was filled. 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. There was no direct evidence to prove that the young men sexually assaulted those women

Being this was the South at the time blacks didn’t have equal rights. The jury that was observing the case was all white and none of them knew what it was like being a black man in America. In America you have the opportunity to be granted equal rights as every citizen despite the color of your skin. That wasn’t the case in the first trial or appeal and it caused an up roar. There were demonstrations done in Washington D.C. and also sit-ins in segregated restaurants. Eventually, one of the white women, Ruby Bates, came forward to repudiate her testimony, acknowledging that she and Price had been pressured into falsely accusing the Scottsboro Boys, and she became part of the campaign to save their lives. (D.T. Carter para, 4). She came forward and admitted to falsely accusing them and nothing