1. { The Scottsboro Trials

2.  March 25, 1931  Railroad freight train from Chattanooga to Memphis  A white man stepped on the hand of Haywood Patterson, a black man on his way to Memphis looking for work  A brawl broke out between the white men and nine black men after the white man told Patterson that the train was intended for whites  News of the brawl reached the next train station and a mob formed The Crime

3.  When the train rolled into the station the mob searched the cabins for the nine black men  They found two women: Ruby Bates and Victoria Price  The women accused the nine black men of raping them RAPE!

4. The Accusers Victoria Price & Ruby Brooks 2 poor Huntsville millworkers on the train job hunting

5.  21 years old  Promiscuous, hard drinking, hard swearing - Made love in box cars and fields, slept in hobo jungles, rode rails in beaten overalls - Made love in box cars and fields, slept in hobo jungles, rode rails in beaten overalls  Called “a common street prostitute of the lowest type”  Deserves most of the blame – accused 9 black men of gang raping herself and Ruby Bates  Difficult witness to trap - Evasive - Evasive - Sarcastic - Sarcastic - Frequently used ignorance and bad - Frequently used ignorance and bad bad memory to avoid answering difficult bad memory to avoid answering difficult questions questions Victoria Price

6. Ruby Bates  17 years old  Described as a “notorious prostitute” and that she often had “negro men in her room all night”  Poor liar – she was shy, inarticulate and insecure  Later recanted her story  Actively campaigned for the release of the jailed Scottsboro boys

7. The Scottsboro Boys

8.  18 years old  Faced most trials and convictions  Sentenced to death 3 times  Received 75 year sentence  Managed 2 escapes – successful his second escape  1952 died in prison of cancer at the age of 39 Haywood Patterson

9.  19 years old  1934 beaten and teargased for reading Communist literature sent to him – caused permanent eye injuries  1937 contracted tuberculosis  1938 stabbed by a prison guard who mistook him for his intended target  Paroled in 1943 Charles Weems

10.  1944 Paroled  Died in Bronx Community Hospital January 1989 at the age of 76 Clarence Norris

11.  19 years old  Older brother of Roy Wright  1944 paroled  Broke parole in 1946 and was in and out of Alabama prison system for the next 4 years  June 1950 he left prison for good – the last Scottsboro by to be freed Andy Wright

12.  16 years old  1936 shot in the head by a deputy during an altercation and suffered severe brain damage  1946 released Ozzie Powell

13.  17 years old  Severely nearsighted and nearly blind in one eye  1937 Released Olen Montgomery

14.  13 years old  Friends with Patterson and the Wright brothers  July 1937 Charges were dropped Eugene Williams

15.  17 years old  Suffered from serious case of syphilis - could barely walk  Spent 6 years in jail  Released Willie Roberson

16.  12 or 13 years old  Younger brother of Andy Wright  1937 charges were dropped  1959 Shot and killed his wife then himself Roy Wright

17. http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=yCBV-GhyINY http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=yCBV-GhyINY