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Why Are The Scottsboro Trials Important Today

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On March 25, 1931, the lives of nine young African American boys would be changed forever, and certainly not for the better. The boys, ages ranging from thirteen to twenty, were falsely accused of raping two white women on a train and tried multiple times in court. The set of trials is a largely forgotten and overlooked landmark case for not only the Civil Rights Movement, but all of American history. The Scottsboro Boys Trials have shaped modern American society by evolving and inclusifying constitutional law, shedding a national light on legal misconducts, and acted as a beacon of hope for the Civil Rights Movement in one of its earliest stages.
Charlie Weems, Willie Robeson, Olen Montgomery, Ozzie Powell, Eugene Williams, Roy and Andy Wright, …show more content…

The trial stirred national outrage, not only from African Americans but from white folk as well.On June 27, 1931, 5,000 black and white, men and women, paraded through the streets of Harlem ina Scottsboro protest demonstration, in solidarity for the young boys. Letters of uproar were being mailed to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the ACLU, the NAACP, and even the American Communist Party all got involved. The ACLU played a crucial role in getting the two aforementioned Supreme Court rulings by presenting them with attorney Walter Pollak, an expert on constitutional law (“ACLU History: Scottsboro Boys”). The organization remained active in providing support for the defendants and their families, and advancing their cause. All coming forward to assist with appeals, the American Communist Party lended more than just a helping hand, they offered up their leading lawyer Samuel Leibowitz and began a “Free the Scottsboro Boys” campaign. This led to fear and suspicion, from other African Americans, but mostly white people. “The Scottsboro, Alabama, cases have brought squarely before the American Negro the question of his attitude toward Communism." W.E.B. Du Bois editorialized in an issue of NAACP's journal The Crisis. Du Bois was convinced that the only reason the communist started the “Free the Scottsboro Boys” campaign was as a means to get African Americans to …show more content…

More than just the legalities of the situation, their case displayed that it was in fact possible to defend African Americans from the prolonged repression and racism of the south. However, no one of the time was foolish enough to believe that anything would be accomplished without struggle. The story of the Scottsboro boys is still relevant in today’s racially tense climate. While the United States has come a long way progressively, there are still parallels between then and now. False accusations and police brutality against black men can still be seen in every corner of the country. The United States also has the highest incarceration rate out of the entire developed world, and the black man falls more victim to this than any other racial group. “Approximately 12–13% of the American population is African-American, but they make up 35% of jail inmates, and 37% of prison inmates of the 2.2 million male inmates as of 2014” (U.S. Department of Justice, 2014). The fight upheld by these nine young boys serves as a symbol of strength and perseverance to the Civil Rights

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Could Atticus have won Atticus could not have won the case for Tom Robinson. Atticus tried to win the case but the Ewells won because the court favored whites. The case Atticus and Tom were in they couldn’t have won and Tom would have still went to jail even if he won the case. Atticus and the kids were surprised when they didn't win the case but atticus knew that he wouldn't have won because the case was with a black man and a white girl.

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They had spent years in prison! They had beaten the Jim Crow Laws. The Scottsboro Boys were innocent young men. Charlie Weems suffered from severe eye infection. Leroy Wright was not so fortunate.

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On April 3, 1963 Dr. King and the southern christian Leadership conference launched a huge campaign in the notoriously racist and violent city. Before the Birmingham protests, only 4% of Americans believed civil rights were the country’s most pressing issues. After Birmingham, 52% of the country came to understand race as the most important issue. It was here that King wrote his famous “letter from a Birmingham Jail”, and it was here that the iconic images of Sheriff Bull Connor and his dogs and fire hoses shocked the nation and the world who witnessed it all on their television

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The year was 1963, referenced in history as the defining year of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. The place, a roach-infested jail cell in Birmingham, Alabama. From solitary confinement, Martin Luther King Jr, responds to a statement published in the newspapers where eight Birmingham clergymen condemned reverend King’s protest as “unwise and untimely”. The Birmingham Campaign, was a series of peaceful demonstrations led by, and organized, by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Resources (ACMHR). The nonviolent demonstrations’ goal was to end the segregation system present in the city of Birmingham.

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570 Words | 3 Pages

Nine boys Charlie Weems, Ozie Powell, Clarence Norris, Olen Montgomery, Willie Roberson, Haywood Patterson, Eugene Williams, and Andrew and Roy Wright were accused of raping two white women on a freight train, on March 24, 1931. The boys were caught for illegally riding on a freight train, and were originally charged with that until one of the police found the two white women VIctoria Price, and Ruby Bates and pressured them into saying that the boys had raped them on the freight tra in. All the Scottsboro boys were sentenced to death in the first trial, except Roy Wright who was only 13 was sentenced to life in prison. After two more trials with an all white jury, got the attention of the nation because it was showing how racist the U.S court system was. Ruby Bates eventually went out and retold her statement saying that she was pressured into telling the jury that the Scottsboro boys had raped them.

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The Scottsboro trials was an incident involving nine black boys and two white women. One day in the 1930’s an unspeakable event happened. Several groups consisting of both black and white people were riding the rails. On one of the train cars, the black and white people began fighting (Johnson). When two white women got involved they were thrown off the train with the rest of the people in the fight.

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During the mid nineteen thirties there was ample prejudice from whites towards African Americans. This prejudice was greatly depicted in one particular case of nine young black men. The Scottsboro Boys were labeled as outcasts and faced a considerable amount of prejudice during their trials for a crime they had not committed; although some of the nine Boys were exonerated during the trials, the last of the Scottsboro Boys were not redeemed until decades later. On March 25, 1931, during the height of the Great Depression, a group of nine black boys, later known as the Scottsboro Boys, was traveling on a train towards Memphis, Tennessee, in search of work.

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Ironically, southern resistance actually helped the civil rights movement by publicizing the hardship African Americans faced as TV news crews eagerly covered and spread the story. As more people began to see these hardships, they, especially the younger generation, began to sympathize with the movement. The Port Huron statement, for example, exhibits the growing sentiment among young people that something is wrong.(Doc 20.2) In their statement, the students for a democratic society question how we can declare “all men are created equal” when we treat African Americans so badly. Soon after this statement was printed, another landmark of the movement took place: Martin Luther king jr.’s

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1447 Words | 6 Pages

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.

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1657 Words | 7 Pages

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.

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1285 Words | 6 Pages

Once MLK Jr. came into Birmingham, he and Bull Connor were constantly in conflict. It was, in fact, Bull Connor who arrested MLK Jr. which led to the writing of “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” After an injunction, that forbid public leaders of the Civil Rights Movement from promoting or participating in demonstrations, was acquired by Connor, MLK Jr. continued with a planned demonstration on the next day which resulted in MLK Jr.’s arrest (Tiefenbrun 265). While in jail, MLK Jr. was secretly brought a published piece in the local newspaper. This piece, “Call for Unity,” was a statement from eight distinguished religious leaders of Alabama; the piece berated the civil rights movement in Birmingham as “‘unwise and untimely’ and a provocation to hatred and violence” (Westbrook 22).

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“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.

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In Birmingham between 1957 and 1962 seventeen black churches and homes had been bombed, including the home of Shuttles worth, who ran actively for civil rights. Martin Luther King and a couple of other protester were arrested in Birmingham Alabama. King fought for the rights of his people; his persuasion and passion for the injustice situation that African American have suffered. King read what the clergymen thought about king’s activities and how they thought it wasn’t smart or wise. King explains wisely, the real reason why he was in jail and that’s simply because injustice is in Birmingham prison.

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2355 Words | 10 Pages

African Americans have faced injustice and discrimination for centuries. One major problem blacks had to overcome was the institution of slavery. Slavery in the United States began in 1619 and ended in 1865 with the ratification of the 13th amendment. This declared that all forms of slavery or servitude be outlawed. Yet even after the conclusion of slavery, blacks had to face discrimination and prejudice until they were viewed as equal.

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For the next few months, the African American students attended school under armed supervision. Even so, they faced physical and verbal abuse from their white peers’’(Source B).This demonstrates how people got together and protested along with the African American students on how the segregationists were being racist and treating them like they were nonexistent. This also shows how the segregationists were ignoring the fact that others were disagreeing with them, but they were mainly focused on being inconsiderate and treating the ‘’Little Rock Nine’’ poorly because they were Negros. After All, the Little Rock Showdown displayed how the segregationists treated the Negro students unequally because they were just as qualified to go to school with white

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