The Scottsboro Trial was a real life trial which occurred in the 1930's and was much like the trial in To Kill a Mockingbird. The case involved nine black boys who had been accused of raping two white woman. The Scottsboro Trial made impacts across America and the world as a whole. The trial also helped spark the civil rights movement because of how blatantly unfair the case was towards the accused black boys. The Scottsboro Trial began on March 25th, 1931 on a freight train heading from Chattanooga, Tennessee to Memphis, Tennessee. This train was carrying many white and black hobos who were on the search for jobs. As the train neared Scottsboro a fight broke out between the blacks and whites. The whites were thrown off the train …show more content…
They were beaten by the guards for miniscule things and their punishments were much harsher because of their race. The thought of their imminent deaths tore them apart, some saying that the sound of the electric chair every night would keep them awake for hours. Leibowitz was eventually able to succeed in calling for a third trial. This trial was a loss from the start. The judge was extremely racist and knew from the start that he would side with the women. The judge overruled all of Leibowitz’s objections and gave everything to the prosecutors. The jury honestly had no choice but to once again convict the boys. Leibowitz was devastated. He had seen this case as his big chance to go down in the history books but he could not find a way to convince the jury to side with the blacks. Going into the South he had underestimated how racist the people would be and he now saw his mistake. However, Leibowitz was not done yet. He was adamant about being remembered for this case so he once again appealed to the Supreme Court. Leibowitz explained that none of the juries which had convicted the Scottsboro boys had contained black men. A fourth trial was scheduled with one restriction. Leibowitz could not defend the Scottsboro boys. He was devastated and saddened, but the trial did happen and Leibowitz did not