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Title:
State of Alabama V. The Scottsboro Boys
Introduction:
In the South, during the early 1930’s African Americans were considered inferior to all other races, especially in terms of the law and equality. In the case of The Scottsboro Boys, nine young black males from Georgia accused of raping two white women in the southern part of Alabama. While illegally crossing railcars they were involved in a fight between other individuals who happened to be white. While being arrested, to avoid going to jail one of the white women said that her and her friend had been raped on the train by the nine young men. Years following this event many African American men have been wrongfully convicted of crimes they did not commit making this a widespread
Many of the boys ended up in terrible living conditions in Alabama prisons, as states by Linder “Kilby Prison, near Birmingham, housed Alabama's electric chair; one of Haywood Patterson's jobs was to carry out the bodies of electrocuted inmates”(10). The case of the Scottsboro Boys has affected history in many ways which have left a mark on the African American culture. In the mid-1950’s Emmett Till, a young African American boy murdered for allegedly whistling at a white woman in a market in the South. Till was viciously beaten and murdered by the alleged victims husband and his half-brother, who later were acquitted of the convictions and set free (Whitfield VII). This occurrence plays a major role in how laws during this time were made in favor of the white race as a whole. Although the Scottsboro Boys were obviously innocent, they still spent years in prisons and were beaten by police officers as if they were guilty. As stated by Thurston “The case of the nine black defendants who came to be known as the Scottsboro Boys seems, in its malign caricature of racist southern justice”(1995). This quote shows how racism played a large role in the way the law punished people of color just because of their
While segregation of the races between Blacks and Whites, de facto race discrimination, had been widespread across the United States by the 1930s, nine African-American Scottsboro Boys whose names are Ozzie Powell, Eugene Williams, Charlie Weems, Willie Robeson, Olen Montgomery, Roy and Andy Wright, Clarence Norris and Heywood Paterson were accused of raping two young white women named Victoria Price and Ruby Bates in Alabama in 1931. Along with the dominant influences of the Scottsboro cases on American civil rights history, the landmark case has substantial impacts on the U.S. Constitution primarily in that U.S. Supreme Court ascertained a defendant’s right to effective counsel.
Currently in the United States of America, there is a wave a patriotism sweeping across this great land: a feeling of pride in being an American and in being able to call this nation home. The United States is the land of the free and the home of the brave; however, for the African-American citizens of the United States, from the inception of this country to midway through the twentieth century, there was no such thing as freedom, especially in the Deep South. Nowhere is that more evident than in Stories of Scottsboro, an account of the Scottsboro trials of 1931-1937, where nine African-American teenage boys were falsely accused of raping two white girls in Scottsboro, Alabama and no matter how much proof was brought forth proving there innocence, they were always guilty. This was a period of racism and bigotry in our country that is deeply and vividly portrayed though different points of view through author James E. Goodman.
They complained that the NAACP was trying to bring fear and hatred to the people by making this situation a race issue. Clearly they hadn’t seen the lynching of young Emmett till as a hate crime against blacks. On September 6th, The same day as tills funeral service, a grand jury in Mississippi met to indict Milam and Bryant for the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till. They both plead innocent, and were held in jail until the start of the trial. The actual trial lasted only an hour an seven minutes. A white juror boasted that it wouldn’t have taken so long had they not stopped to drink coca cola. Whites were careless and insensitive to the seriousness of the case. The life of a teenage boy was dealt with like it mattered less than a worthless animal. Both, Milam and Bryant were not guilty and set free. This story went viral across the world, newspaper articles posted things like “the life of a negro isn’t worth a whistle” and other touchy headlines. Whitfield, S.
The Scottsboro trials occurred on March 25th, 1931. On trial were nine falsely accused black boys who had been the accused rapists of two white women. Similarly, In To Kill a Mockingbird, Tom Robinson, a black man, was tried for the rape of a young white woman, Mayella Ewell. In both trials the men were found guilty and sentence to life in prison or death.
Emmett Till made the ultimate sacrifice and has shown what could lie in the future if a change is not made (Latson). Rosa Parks’s resistance to the racial segregation of the buses has inspired action in the NAACP and has shown the potential of what they could accomplish if blacks continue to defy racism. The prejudice among the white jury members clouded their judgment in the Scottsboro Trials, leaving them unable to fairly deduce a reasonable punishment or verdict. These trials making national news has made African Americans eager to combat and uncover the malpractices in the court. Till’s, Parks’s, and the Scottsboro Boys’s sacrifices were not in vain. They exposed the circumstances that African Americans had to endure and rallied them to protest the inequalities between races. Their actions were the impetus of the Civil Rights
The historical Scottsboro Trial and the fictional trial of Tom Robinson in the book To Kill a Mockingbird have striking similarities that may or may not be coincidence. Both trials took place in Alabama during the same era of relentless prejudice and bias, which is a major factor in each of these cases. In both cases, the accusers were white women and the persecutors were black men; therefore the black men were immediately considered liars and “wrongdoers”, unlike the word of the white women, which was essentially the truth above the word of someone who was black. Even when the persecutors in these cases had a possible chance of being declared innocent, mobs of citizens formed to threaten them, many of whom were simply racist against blacks. As is evident in these trials, most white people could easily accuse a black person of a crime whether they committed it or not and unjustly get away with it.
The Scottsboro and Maycomb trials took place in the 1930s, where the trials both have identical causes with the same conclusion, though its a tragedy event that happened however it have influenced the world today. The resemblance between Scottsboro and Maycomb leads the people into thinking about the Great Depression and the most infamous case that took place in Scottsboro, relating to Maycomb. Though there are no reasonable causes or hateful affairs between opposing characters, yet it seems like racism between white and the Afro-Americans had started the conflict. Coming to a white vs Afro-American cases, the jurors would always favor the white over the Afro-American for they believe its not right to do such thing as acquitting the Afro-American due to their old-fashion values and prejudiced mind. Such tragedy happening in the history has influenced the world today in many ways, the novel To Kill a Mockingbird is one project that’s inspired to be written. Though both Scottsboro and Maycomb seems like a loving town with nice people, however their dark sides are discovered through their actions.
The Emmett Till murder shined a light on the horrors of segregation and racism on the United States. Emmett Till, a young Chicago teenager, was visiting family in Mississippi during the month of August in 1955, but he was entering a state that was far more different than his hometown. Dominated by segregation, Mississippi enforced a strict leash on its African American population. After apparently flirting with a white woman, which was deeply frowned upon at this time in history, young Till was brutally murdered. Emmett Till’s murder became an icon for the Civil Rights Movement, and it helped start the demand of equal rights for all nationalities and races in the United States.
In the 1930’s a plethora of prejudiced persons are present amidst the prominent Scottsboro trials, a seven-year-long case consisting of false rape allegations made against nine black boys from Scottsboro. When citizens fail to acknowledge their own preconceived ideas and look past the prejudice present in society, justice cannot be served. In the Scottsboro case, the court of Alabama disregards the societal issues surrounding racial discrimination and endorses the guilty verdict and conviction of the nine African American boys. Failing to look past their own personal biases, the jury ignores the unquestionable evidence that would support the boys’ case. Instead, the jury focuses on their predilection
When Samuel Leibovitz was hired as the attorney for the nine convicted boys, news of the trial spread to the north. People saw this trial as a blatant disregard for equality. Incensed by this injustice, Americans banded together to protest the prosecutor of the case, or the state of Alabama. During the myriad of rallies, people were not as concerned about their race as they were about the Scottsboro Boys. Both whites and blacks marched together to support the cause. Soon, the phrase, “Blacks and whites unite and fight!” became widespread throughout the rallies. Americans were able to overcome the petty issue of race and focus instead on injustice, bringing them closer together. This shows that the Scottsboro trials were not just a watershed legal matter, but also a significant step towards better race relations in America. Events in which blacks and whites would march side by side, uncaring of their backgrounds, were rare in the United States. Such an occurrence only happened once before. This was in the time of the abolitionist movement, an effort to free slaves almost sixty years before the inception of the Scottsboro trials. Therefore, this prominent series of trials brought together Americans of all races, and thus, impacted the nation
Racism was undoubtedly an insulting and a prejudice concept that we did to discriminate against blacks just because of the color of their skin. It impacted all people, even the whites that wanted to fight back because they realized it was wrong. A few reasons why people tend to be racist are some whites strive to keep their power over the blacks no matter how far they have to go. Along with what Schafer mentioned in his article, “cheated power gives the illusion of shared final decision making authority when, in reality none exists” (Schafer 1). One can see that the whites think they are in the hierarchy, while in reality that just makes them part of the lower class. An example of racism is shown through the Jim Crow laws and the Chinese Exclusion Act. The Jim Crow Laws were against all blacks for laws along the line of looking at a white woman a certain way. While the Chinese Exclusion Act ceased child immigrants from entering the United States. There are several similarities between the Scottsboro trials and the Tom Robinson trial. One similarity is how prejudiced the jury was, everyone thought they were guilty before the trials even started because the color of their skin. Both trials took place in Alabama a segregated area; as a result the jurors were all white. Another reason why they were treated awful is the fact that they were falsely accused. They both ended up being charged for
Throughout the 1800’s and 1900’s in the southern region of the United States, all African Americans were treated like they didn’t belong here in this country. Almost all white males that were wealthy owned a plethora of African Americans as their personal slaves. They would work days upon days for their respective owners. Whether it was picking cotton or doing whatever their owner asked of them, they were pretty much treated like they were anything but a human being. They were treated poorly and their living conditions can probably be considered as inhumane. The quality of life for the two races in our beloved country had a huge difference. This era was more commonly known as the Jim Crow era. “Jim Crow describes the segregationist social system
The Scottsboro Trial and the trial of Tom Robinson are almost identical in the forms of bias shown and the accusers that were persecuted. The bias is obvious and is shown throughout both cases, which took place in the same time period. Common parallels are seen through the time period that both trials have taken place in and those who were persecuted and why they were persecuted in the first place. The thought of "All blacks were liars, and all blacks are wrongdoers," was a major part of all of these trails. A white person's word was automatically the truth when it was held up to the credibility of someone whom was black. Both trials were perfect examples of how the people of Alabama were above the law and could do whatever they wanted to the black people and get away with it. In both trials lynch mobs were formed to threaten the black people who were accused. Judge Hornton tried many times to move the case to a different place so that a fair trial could take place and not be interrupted by the racist people. Finally was granted to move the case even though the lynch mobs threatened to kill everyone who was involved in the case if it were to be moved. In this essay the bias and racism in both trials are going to be clarified and compared to each other.
Although abolition of slavery in the South coincided with the conclusion of the Civil War, a century of institutionalized racism was widespread in the former Confederacy. This institutionalized racism came in the form of the Jim Crow laws. It was a social norm to look at African Americans as inferior or even harmful to the White population. Groups such as the Ku Klux Klan roamed around "defending" the white population from the African Americans. This defense came in forms of public executions (lynching) or intimidation. Another fear the White Southerners had was the fear of black men exploiting white women. This fear led to many imprisonments and murders of falsely accused African American men. On March 25th, 1931, nine young African American boys were accused of raping two young white women on a train. These nine eventually became known as the Scottsboro Boys, named after the town where they were arrested. Although the boys had a lawyer fighting for them, the trial was over and the guilty verdict came automatically due to the Jim Crow mindsets of the citizens of Alabama. The unfair trials that the Scottsboro boys received are the results of the institutionalized racism in the South; this case revealed the injustice that prevailed in the American South.
... connections with the Scottsboro case. In conclusion both the Scottsboro case and Tom Robinson’s case, whether it be fact or fiction, a human by flesh but not by la, was damned for a conviction that he could not control, he was black.