Racism and Segregation in the South During the 1930’s, the Great Depression caused poverty throughout the United States. People all over the country went to extreme measures to earn money and survive. Several people hopped on trains illegally to travel and try to start new lives for themselves. Some women resorted to prostitution around these hobo camps to earn their living. Two such women were Ruby Bates and Victoria Price. They prostituted around the South, trying to earn money, and then hopped on the moving trains to change location. As well as Victoria Price and Ruby Bates, nine African-American boys were riding on the same train as these two girls. Some white men tried to kick the boys off the train, and started a fight. The nine boys beat the men and threw them off the train. The train was stopped and a lynch mob was waiting the arrival of the boys. Price and Bates knew that they could get in trouble for their “occupation,” so they accused the boys of gang raping them. Many of the boys had never met each other before, and one of them even had Syphilis. This made the claim truly unbelievable, but because of their skin color, they were imprisoned. Fortunately, the boys received a trial that would soon change American history. The Scottsboro trial shaped our country because it uncovered extreme racism in the South, united blacks and …show more content…
The Scottsboro tragedy showed the world and the North of the U.S how bad the racism problem was in the South. That was all these trials were based on. Alabama wanted to kill these men just because of the color of their skin, no real evidence. These trials revealed that injustice and caused the civil rights movement to become more supported. Although this incident was a sad time for the U.S, it helped uncover a lot of problems in the South and helped our judicial system change to be more