1. The Threads of the 1920s Weave a 1930s Tragedy:
“Scottsboro Boys” Trials

2. Cultural and Political Threads of the 1920s
Racism
Ku Klux Klan
Jim Crow laws
Anti-Semitism
Leo Frank lynching
Henry Ford
Communism
Red Scare
Palmer Raids
Sectionalism
Classism

3. Recall some of the results of the Great Depression
Soup Kitchens
Hoovervilles
Shantytowns
Hobos
Unemployment
Bank Failures

4. Background of the Trials of the “Scottsboro Boys”
In March 1931, homeless and jobless whites and blacks were riding on a freight train traveling from Chattanooga to Memphis when they began name-calling resulting in a fist fight. The young, black hobos, aged thirteen to nineteen, succeeded in throwing most of the white men off the train. The white hobos went to the nearest train station and reported the fight to the station master at Stevenson, Alabama, who then reported the incident to the Jackson County Sheriff Matt Wann. The deputy who lived nearest the next stop Paint Rock, Alabama, was given this order by Sheriff Wann, "capture every Negro on the train. I am giving you authority to deputize every man you can find."
Sheriff Matt Wann

5. Victoria Price and Ruby Bates
When the posse arrived to arrest the blacks involved in the fight, two white women, Victoria Price and Ruby Bates, riding the freight cars were also arrested. Fearing prosecution as vagrants and as violators of the Mann Act, they accused the nine black teens of rape. Thus began the case of the “Scottsboro Boys” which divided Americans along racial, class, sectional and political lines.
Victoria Price and Ruby Bates

6. Haywood Patterson, age 18

7. Clarence Norris, age 19

8. Olen Montgomery, age 17

9. Willie Roberson, age 16

10. Charlie Weems, age 19

11. Eugene Williams, age 13

12. Ozie Powell, age 16

13. Andy Wright, age 19

14. Roy Wright, age 13

15. http://www. law. umkc. edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/scottsboro/SB_SB1A
The nine teenagers were taken to the Scottsboro jail on March 25, Protection of the accused by the National Guard became necessary as the next day an angry crowd of whites gathered with the intent of lynching the young men.

16. Scottsboro Courthouse
On March 30, 1931, a grand jury indicted all nine teenagers of the crime of rape. Their trials began on April 6, 1931,in the courtroom of A. E. Hawkins in Scottsboro. On April 7th, Clarence Norris, Charlie Weems, Haywood Patterson, Olen Montgomery, Ozie Powell, Willie Roberson, Eugene Williams, and Andy Wright were tried, convicted, and sentenced to death by electrocution.  The trial of thirteen-year-old Roy Wright ended in a mistrial when some jurors held out for a death sentence even though the state asked for life imprisonment.
Scottsboro Courthouse

17. Questions for Reflection and Study
How did the trials exacerbate the social, sectional, political,
religious, and racial divisions in America?
How would teens be treated differently by today’s court
system?
How do you think the trials influenced the lives of each of
these young men, and of the two young women?
How do you think the trials affected the national
perception of Alabama?
How did the trials polarize Alabamians?
What role did the Communist organization International
Labor Defense (I.L.D.) and the N.A.A.C.P. play in the trials?
What elements of the trials do you consider to be the most
unjust?