The Scottsboro Trials The Scottsboro Trials were a short time period of great racial inequality. It all started with a train fight between nine black boys and a group of white men. According to Anderson, their train was stopped, and as the black boys departed from the train, they were accused of rape by two white women prostitutes. The boys were sent to jail, and the day-long trial began. Before we can explain the trials, we need to understand what racism is. Routledge states, “...people sometimes use prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behavior to boost their own self-esteem.” An example of this at Scottsboro is during the trial, where all the black boys were tried together at the same time. Normally, only one person would