What were the Scottsboro Boys accused of?
Scottsboro Boys. The Scottsboro Boys were nine African American teenagers, ages 13 to 20, accused in Alabama of raping two White American women on a train in 1931. The landmark set of legal cases from this incident dealt with racism and the right to a fair trial.
Who was the prosecutor in the Scottsboro case?
-- to prosecutor Thomas Knight, on a proposed compromise, December 1936. Attorney Samuel Leibowitz with the Scottsboro boys, Courtesy: Morgan County Archives. When Haywood Patterson was found guilty in 1933, it was the first time in fifteen years that Samuel Leibowitz had lost a case.
Did the Scottsboro boys deserve the right to a jury trial?
As stated ear lier, the Alabama Supreme Court had ruled that the state had the right to “ix qualiica tions for jurors,” preventing the defendants from being judged by a jury of their peers. he Scottsboro Boys deserved the same protection under the law that the Constitution grants to all Americans. hey didn’t always get it.
Who are the directors of the Scottsboro Boys?
Direct from Death Row The Scottsboro Boys, a Black ensemble vaudevillesque "play with music and masks" Mark Stein production, directed by Michael Menendian, and presented at Chicago's Raven Theatre during the 2015 and 2016 seasons. ^ "Scottsboro: An American Tragedy Transcript". PBS. Archived from the original on January 28, 2017.
Who was the Scottsboro Boys lawyer?
Attorney Samuel Leibowitz with the Scottsboro boys, Courtesy: Morgan County Archives. When Haywood Patterson was found guilty in 1933, it was the first time in fifteen years that Samuel Leibowitz had lost a case.
What type of lawyer defended the Scottsboro Boys?
ACLU lawyers played a major role in the infamous 'Scottsboro Boys' case, which began in 1931 and would ultimately have far-reaching effects. The case marked the first stirrings of the civil rights movement and led to two landmark Supreme Court rulings that established important rights for criminal defendants.
What did defense attorney Leibowitz promise the Scottsboro Boys after the trial?
to Hell and backBoth defendants were sentenced to death. Leibowitz angrily promised to appeal the verdicts "to Hell and back." Judge Callahan, in the interest of judicial economy, agreed to postpone the trials of the remaining seven Scottsboro Boys until the appeals of the first two had run their course.
Did the naacp defend the Scottsboro Boys?
Although the I.L.D. officially ran the legal defense, the NAACP never lost interest in the case, and watched all the developments carefully. The organization remained active in providing support for the defendants and their families, and advancing their cause.
Who defended the Scottsboro Boys quizlet?
Samuel Leibowitz was the lead defense attorney (with a record of 77 acquittals in 78 murder trials) representing the Scottsboro Boys in the new trials, with Joseph Brodsky, the ILD's chief attorney, to assist him.
Which of the Scottsboro Boys died?
Clarence Norris, who received a pardon from Governor George Wallace of Alabama in 1976, would outlive all of the other Scottsboro Boys, dying in 1989 at the age of 76.
How many cases did Samuel Leibowitz win?
In over fifteen years of criminal defense work, Liebowitz had represented seventy-eight persons charged with first-degree murder. His remarkable record over that period was seventy-seven acquittals, one hung jury, and no convictions.
Who is James Horton Scottsboro?
Judge James Edwin Horton Jr., 1878 - 1973. James Edwin Horton Jr. was born in Tennessee in 1878, the son of a former slave owner. He studied medicine at Vanderbilt for a year and then received a B.A. and Bachelor of Law at Cumberland University, in 1897 and 1899.
What happened to the Scottsboro Brothers after the trial?
More than 82 years after they were wrongfully accused, the Scottsboro Boys are officially granted a pardon by the Governor of Alabama.
What happened to Ozie Powell?
While being transported from Patterson's trial back to the Birmingham Jail, he pulled out a pocketknife and slashed Deputy Edgar Blalock in the throat. Sheriff J. Street Sandlin stopped the car, pulled out his gun and shot Powell in the head.
How did the Communist Party help the Scottsboro case?
It was not the NAACP but rather the International Labor Defense (ILD), the legal arm of the Communist Party USA, that launched the international campaign to save the “Scottsboro Boys” from Alabama's electric chair. NAACP officials believed that the defense should should be conducted quietly, in the courts.
How were the Scottsboro Boys proven innocent?
The evi- dence at trial overwhelmingly proved that they were innocent. Ruby Bates recanted her previous testimony in Scottsboro. Bates testified that she was never raped and that she and Victoria Price made up the whole story to keep from being arrest- ed for vagrancy.
What did Samuel Leibowitz do?
Samuel Leibowitz was one of the great New York criminal defense attorneys of the 1920s and 30s. In 1941, he became a judge on the Criminal Court of New York. Throughout his career, Leibowitz successfully tried scores of criminal cases. He was always thoroughly prepared, and excelled in the courtroom.
What happened to the defendants in the Scottsboro case quizlet?
Two white women along with the two white men accused Olen, Clarence, Haywood, Ozie, Willie, Charles, Andrew, Roy, and Eugene of raping them. The frieght train was stopped at Paint Rock. The train was then turned around to Scottsboro. The men were arrested immediately and they were jailed.
When were the Scottsboro boys convicted?
In the first set of trials in April 1931 , an all-white, all-male jury quickly convicted the Scottsboro Boys and sentenced eight of them to death.
Who Were the Scottsboro Boys?
By the early 1930s, with the nation mired in the Great Depression, many unemployed Americans would try and hitch rides aboard freight trains to move around the country searching for work.
What was the name of the case in which two black teenagers were accused of rape?
Alabama. Norris v. Alabama. The Scottsboro Boys were nine black teenagers falsely accused of raping two white women aboard a train near Scottsboro, Alabama, in 1931. The trials and repeated retrials of the Scottsboro Boys sparked an international uproar and produced two landmark U.S. Supreme Court verdicts, even as the defendants were forced ...
What was the second landmark decision in the Scottsboro Boys case?
This second landmark decision in the Scottsboro Boys case would help integrate future juries across the nation. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP) and other civil rights groups joined the ILD that year to form the Scottsboro Defense Committee, which reorganized the defense effort for the next set of retrials.
How many teenagers were arrested in Scottsboro?
The nine teenagers—Charlie Weems, Ozie Powell, Clarence Norris, Andrew and Leroy Wright, Olen Montgomery, Willie Roberson, Haywood Patterson and Eugene Williams—were transferred to the local county seat, Scottsboro, to await trial. Only four of them had known each other before their arrest.
What was the legal wing of the Communist Party that took on the boys case?
At this point, the International Labor Defense (ILD), the legal wing of the American Communist Party, took on the boys’ case, seeing its potential to galvanize public opinion against racism.
When did the Alabama Supreme Court uphold the convictions of the defendants?
But in March 1932 , the Alabama Supreme Court upheld the convictions of seven of the defendants; it granted Williams a new trial, as he was a minor at the time of his conviction. Powell v. Alabama. In November 1932, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Powell v.
What were the Scottsboro boys accused of?
The Scottsboro Boys were nine African-American teenagers, ages 12 to 19, accused in Alabama of raping two white women in 1931. The landmark set of legal cases from this incident dealt with racism and the right to a fair trial.
Who was involved in the Scottsboro case?
After a demonstration in Harlem, the Communist Party USA took an interest in the Scottsboro case. Chattanooga Party member James Allen edited the Communist Southern Worker, and publicized "the plight of the boys". The Party used its legal arm, the International Labor Defense (ILD), to take up their cases, and persuaded the defendants' parents to let the party champion their cause. The ILD retained attorneys George W. Chamlee, who filed the first motions, and Joseph Brodsky .
What does Lead Belly say in the Scottsboro Boys song?
In the song, he warns "colored" people to watch out if they go to Alabama, saying that "the man gonna get ya", and that the "Scottsboro boys [will] tell ya what it's all about.".
What is the parallel between Native Son and the court scene?
There is a parallel between the court scene in Native Son in which Max calls the "hate and impatience" of "the mob congregated upon the streets beyond the window" (Wright 386) and the "mob who surrounded the Scottsboro jail with rope and kerosene" after the Scottsboro boys' initial conviction.
What was the name of the movie that proved that Price and Bates were prostitutes?
An NBC TV movie, Judge Horton and the Scottsboro Boys (1976), asserted that the defense had proven that Price and Bates were prostitutes; both sued NBC over their portrayals. Bates died in 1976 in Washington state, where she lived with her carpenter husband, and her case was not heard.
Where are the letters from the Scottsboro Boys Trials?
To See Justice Done: Letters from the Scottsboro Boys Trials A digital exhibit by the Scottsboro Boys Museum & Cultural Center and the University of Alabama.
How old was Haywood Patterson when he was on the train?
A group of white teenage boys saw 18-year-old Haywood Patterson on the train and attempted to push him off the train, claiming that it was "a white man's train". A group of whites gathered rocks and attempted to force all of the black men from the train.
Who was the attorney that took the boys out of jail?
Defense attorney Samuel Leibowitz immediately picked them up from their jail, drove them out of the state, and put them on a train to New York. In New York, Leibowitz had planned to place the boys in vocational schools, but offers from vaudeville proved too tempting.
What did Montgomery say in his prison blues?
His "Lonesome Jailhouse Blues" was published in the Labor Defender and began: "All last night I walked my cell and cried, Cause this old jailhouse done get so lonesome I can't be satisfied.". In a compromise in 1937, four of the defendants, including Montgomery, had the rape charges dropped against them.
What did the court decide in Norris v. Alabama?
Alabama, the court decided that the absence of black jurors on the jury rolls of Alabama constituted a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause.
When was Norris tried?
In 1937 , Norris was tried and convicted a third time. As a few of the others were released he suspected that "the State frame me out of the best of my life just to get those four boys free.". The next year, his death sentence was commuted to life in prison by Alabama Governor Bibb Graves.
Did Patterson lose his right to appeal?
A confusing series of filing deadlines was missed and Patterson lost his right to appeal. However, in their ruling on Norris v. Alabama, the United States Supreme Court recognized that the two cases were interrelated and strongly suggested that the lower courts look into the Patterson case again.
Who was the attorney for the Scottsboro case?
In this May 1, 1935 file photo, attorney Samuel Leibowitz from New York, second left, meets with seven of the Scottsboro defendants at the jail in Scottsboro, Ala. just after he asked the governor to pardon the nine youths held in the case. From left are Deputy Sheriff Charles McComb, Leibowitz, and defendants, Roy Wright, Olen Montgomery, Ozie Powell, Willie Robertson, Eugene Williams, Charlie Weems, and Andy Wright. The black youths were charged with an attack on two white women on March 25, 1931. (Credit: AP Photo)
Who were the Scottsboro boys?
In this July 26, 1937 file photo, police escort two of the five recently freed "Scottsboro Boys," Olen Montgomery, wearing glasses, third left, and Eugene Williams, wearing suspenders, forth left through the crowd greeting them upon their arrival at Penn Station in New York.
How many people were in Scottsboro on April 7?
Some 10,000 visitors crowded into tiny Scottsboro — whose normal population was 2,000 — on the first day of the trials, which proceeded at a lightning pace. The first two convictions — of Charlie Weems and Clarence Norris — came on April 7, the second day of trial.
What organizations worked together to fight for the Scottsboro youth?
Meanwhile, the bickering defense organizations worked out a rapprochement. In December 1935, on the eve of yet another set of trials for the Scottsboro youths, the ACLU, NAACP, ILD, League for Industrial Democracy , and the Methodist Federation for Social Service came together as the Scottsboro Defense Committee.
What was the name of the black boy who raped a girl on a train?
That drama revolved around nine Black youths charged with raping two white girls on a freight train in Alabama. The youths became known as the Scottsboro Boys, and the case became a window into the South’s unremittingly brutal system of justice.
What did the South call the boys in Scottsboro?
They called the boys ‘black fiends’ and ‘Negro brutes’ and clamored for ‘quick justice’ — meaning wholesale slaughter.”.
How many black boys were in the car when Ruby Bates testified?
When the two girls were roughly halfway home, testified Price, 12 Black boys, one waving a pistol, invaded the car and forced all but one of the white boys to leap from the fast-moving train. In this April 7, 1933 photo, Ruby Bates sits in the witness stand in a courtroom in Decatur, Alabama.
Why were the Scottsboro boys entitled to an attorney?
The so-called 'Scottsboro boys' – ranging in age from 12 to 19 – were entitled to an attorney under Alabama law because the charges carried a death sentence, but none came forward until the morning of trial, ...
What was the significance of the Scottsboro Boys?
ACLU History: Scottsboro Boys. The case of nine young African American men accused of the rape of two white women in the town of Scottsboro, Alabama, in 1931, was a milestone in the emergence of a national civil rights movement. It was also an important milestone for the rights of criminal defendants, establishing for the first time ...
What is the Scottsboro case?
While the Scottsboro case is known as a notorious example of institutionalized racism and a tragic miscarriage of justice, the Supreme Court's decision in Powell established an important right for defendants of all races in capital cases from that moment on. In a subsequent Scottsboro appeal, Norris v.
Who was the ACLU attorney who argued for the right to free speech?
ACLU attorney Walter Pollak, an expert on constitutional law, was the right man for the job: he had successfully argued the 1925 case of Gitlow v. New York, a landmark Supreme Court ruling which established, for the first time, that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requires states to respect the Bill of Rights – in the case of Benjamin Gitlow, the right to free speech. In 1932, arguing before the Supreme Court on behalf of one of the Scottsboro boys in Powell v. Alabama, Pollak used the same legal strategy to establishthat due process prohibits the states from sentencing someone to death without ensuring that the defendant has been adequately represented by a lawyer at trial. While the Scottsboro case is known as a notorious example of institutionalized racism and a tragic miscarriage of justice, the Supreme Court's decision in Powell established an important right for defendants of all races in capital cases from that moment on.
Did the all white jury return guilty verdicts?
Not surprisingly, the all-white, all-male jury returned guilty verdicts in record time, and all but one of the nine were sentenced to death.
Who Were The Scottsboro Boys?
Initial Trials and Appeals
- In the first set of trials in April 1931, an all-white, all-male jury quickly convicted the Scottsboro Boys and sentenced eight of them to death. The trial of the youngest, 13-year-old Leroy Wright, ended in a hung jury when one juror favored life imprisonment rather than death. A mistrial was declared, and Leroy Wright would remain in prison until 1937 awaiting the final verdict on his co …
Powell v. Alabama
- In November 1932, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Powell v. Alabama that the Scottsboro defendants had been denied the right to counsel, which violated their right to due process under the 14th Amendment. The Supreme Court overturned the Alabama verdicts, setting an important legal precedent for enforcing the right of Black Americans to adequate counsel, and remanded t…
Norris v. Alabama
- In January 1935, the Supreme Court again overturned the guilty verdicts, ruling in Norris v. Alabamathat the systematic exclusion of blacks on Jackson Country jury rolls denied a fair trial to the defendants, and suggesting that the lower courts review Patterson’s case as well. This second landmark decision in the Scottsboro Boys case would help integrate future juries across the nati…
Scottsboro Boys Legacy
- Alabama officials eventually agreed to let four of the convicted Scottsboro Boys—Weems, Andy Wright, Norris and Powell—out on parole. After escaping from prison in 1948, Patterson was picked up in Detroit by the FBI, but the Michigangovernor refused Alabama’s efforts to extradite him. Convicted of manslaughter after a barroom brawl in 1951, Patterson died of cancer in 1952…
Harper Lee
- Author Harper Lee reportedly drew on the boys’ experience when she wrote her classic novel To Kill A Mockingbird, and over the years the case has inspired numerous other books, songs, feature films, documentaries and even a Broadway musical. Clarence Norris, who received a pardon from Governor George Wallaceof Alabama in 1976, would outlive all of the other Scottsb…
Sources
- Daren Salter, Scottsboro Trials, Encyclopedia of Alabama. Scottsboro: An American Tragedy, PBS. History, Scottsboro Boys Museum. Alan Blinder, “Alabama Pardons 3 ‘Scottsboro Boys’ After 80 Years,” New York Times, November 21, 2013.
Overview
The Scottsboro Boys were nine African American teenagers and young men, ages 13 to 20, accused in Alabama of raping two white women in 1931. The landmark set of legal cases from this incident dealt with racism and the right to a fair trial. The cases included a lynch mob before the suspects had been indicted, all-white juries, rushed trials, and disruptive mobs. It is commonly cited as an e…
Decatur trials
When the case, by now a cause celebre, came back to Judge Hawkins, he granted the request for a change of venue. The defense had urged for a move to the city of Birmingham, Alabama, but the case was transferred to the small, rural community of Decatur. This was near homes of the alleged victims and in Ku Klux Klan territory.
Arrests and accusations
On March 25, 1931, the Southern Railway line between Chattanooga and Memphis, Tennessee, had nine black youths who were riding on a freight train with several white males and two white women. A fight broke out between the white and black groups near the Lookout Mountain tunnel, and the whites were kicked off the train. The whites went to a sheriff in the nearby town Paint Rock, …
Lynch mobs
In the Jim Crow South, lynching of black males accused of raping or murdering whites was common; word quickly spread of the arrest and rape story. Soon a lynch mob gathered at the jail in Scottsboro, demanding the youths be surrendered to them.
Sheriff Matt Wann stood in front of the jail and addressed the mob, saying he …
Trials
The prisoners were taken to court by 118 Alabama guardsmen, armed with machine guns. It was market day in Scottsboro, and farmers were in town to sell produce and buy supplies. A crowd of thousands soon formed. Courthouse access required a permit due to the salacious nature of the testimony expected. As the Supreme Court later described this situation, "the proceedings ... took p…
Aftermath
Governor Graves had planned to pardon the prisoners in 1938 but was angered by their hostility and refusal to admit their guilt. He refused the pardons but did commute Norris's death sentence to life in prison.
Ruby Bates toured for a short while as an ILD speaker. She said she was "sorry for all the trouble that I caused them", and claimed she did it because she wa…
In popular culture
• African-American poet and playwright Langston Hughes wrote about the trials in his work Scottsboro Limited.
• The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is about growing up in the Deep South in the 1930s. An important plot element concerns the father, attorney Atticus Finch, defending a Black man against a false accusation of rape. The trial in this novel is often characterized as based on the Scottsboro case. But Harper Lee said in 2005 that she had in min…
See also
• Scottsboro Boys Museum & Cultural Center
• Communist Party USA and African Americans
• False accusations of rape as justification for lynchings
• Martinsville Seven