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Racial discrimination in the justice system
The history of the american justice system
Racial discrimination in the justice system
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During the Great Depression jobs were hard to come by for whites but for blacks it was practically impossible. Several individuals jumped trains to get from city to city in search for work. On March 25, 1931, numerous people were hoboing on a freight train traveling from Chattanooga to Memphis, Tennessee. A number of white and black teenagers on the train got in a fight which resulted in the white boys getting thrown off the train. They told a sheriff about the fight and he gathered a posse to stop and search the train at the next stop, Paint Rock, Alabama. Nine black teenagers were arrested: Roy Wright, Clarence Norris, Olen Montgomery, Andy Wright, Willie Roberson, Ozie Powell, Eugene Williams, Charlie Weems, and Haywood Patterson. While under the assumption that they were only being arrested for beating up the white boys, their troubles were only begin when, two young white women, Victoria Price and Ruby Bates, accused the teenagers of rape.
Scottsboro, Alabama was the location of the first trials. After the three rushed trials all but thirteen-year-old Roy Wright were convicted of rape and sentenced to death. The American Communist Party, founded by C. E. Ruthenberg, was organized to complete equality for African Americans. They sent Mr. Louis Leibowitz a powerful attorney to help get the boys’ cases appealed after the first trial was determined unfair. The Alabama Supreme Court resentenced seven of the eight convicted to death, but they granted both Roy Wright and Eugene Williams new juvenile trials because they were only thirteen. Chief Justice John C. Anderson ruling that the defendants had been denied an impartial jury, a fair trial, a fair sentencing, and effective counsel lead to more trials. Eight of the nine defendant...
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Cates, David. The Scottsboro Boys. Minneapolis, MN: ABDO Pub., 2012. Print.
Daniel, F. Raymond. "GIRL REPEATS STORY IN SCOTTSBORO CASE." NEWS4-4. N.p., 4 Apr. 1933. Web. 05 Mar. 2014.
Haskins, James. The Scottsboro Boys. New York: H. Holt and, 1994. Print.
Horne, Gerald. Powell v. Alabama: The Scottsboro Boys and American Justice. New York: Franklin Watts, 1997. Print.
James, Bill. Popular Crime: Reflections on the Celebration of Violence. New York: Scribner, 2011. Print.
Linder, Douglas O. "Scottboro Boys." Scottboro Boys. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2014.
Norris, Clarence, and Sybil D. Washington. The Last of the Scottsboro Boys. New York: Putman's, 1979. Print.
Randsdall, Hollace. "The First Scottsboro Trials." The First Scottsboro Trials. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2014.
"Sixth Amendment." LII / Legal Information Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2014.
Although, there might be other significant legal issues surrounding the cases, I would like to describe the Scottsboro cases mainly focusing on the issues of effective counsel based on Carter’s (1979) book and U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings on Powell v. Alabama. Prior to pointing out the rulings on the right to effective counsel which ultimately reversed the case, the lower courts’ decisions and related circumstances need to be discussed briefly in order to comprehend the rationale of the nine justices’ opinions.
Finkelman, Paul. His Soul Goes Marching On: Responses to John Brown and the Harpers Ferry Raid. Virginia: University of Virginia, 1995. Print.
Auchampaugh, Phillip. "James Buchanan, The Court and the Dred Scott Case." Tennessee Historical Magazine January 9.4 (1926): 231-40. JSTOR. Web. 14 May 2014.
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
It is important to know all about our past of economic depression and racism so history does not repeat itself. The Great Depression was the reason that many laws were made to make sure a economic depression like it never happens again. There is a strong connection in To Kill a Mockingbird with the Cunninghams. The Cunninghams were a poor family of farmers due to the Great Depression. They had no money to pay a lawyer but instead paid with products from their farm. In the book, Atticus says “The Cunninghams are country folks, farmers, and the crash hit them hardest” (p. 23). It is again important to have a good understanding of the life hobos lived during the depression.
The Scottsboro trials started when nine boys between the ages of, the youngest Eugene Williams at 13 and, the oldest Charles Weems 19 at the time, got on a train. Because of the unfairness towards different races, the boys all African American were not supposed to ride a train. Two white women, Victoria Price and Ruby Bates were also, illegally riding the train. When the train came to a stop in Paint Rock Alabama, the posse that stopped the train were very much surprised to have found the two women. They instantly claimed that they had been raped. Just hours later semen was discovered in the women. But the women were calm and not found injured in anyway. The nine boys were accused, even though many believed the women were not raped. Neighbors and family described Bates and Price to be prostitutes. Victoria Price herself came out and fully admitted to their wrong doing. Price stated that Ruby Bates got her into the lie. Resemblance is shown between both of these stories plaintiffs. Miss Mayella Ewell is much like Price. She knows the real situation but defends her father's lie. As Price does, defend her friends. Price and Bates never seem to remember what happened. Anytime they are asked a question it consistently seems to be answered “ I do not remember” or “ I do not know”. As does Miss Ewell. “ What happened next? She can not really remember, but eventually her father and Mr. Tate were there.”
Several groups of white and black men rode the trains in the thirties for transportation. One night a group of white men started a fight with the black men on the train, which led to them getting kicked off. Later on in the case it is proved that the white men start the fight because both of the men have different stories and one of them admits to starting it all. After the white men were kicked off of the train, it was ridden to the next stop somewhere in Alabama. Upon arriving at the station, the black men and the white women were arrested for vagrancy.
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
Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a fictional story in which a black man is accused of a crime against the daughter of one of the most hateful, racist men in all of Maycomb, Alabama. Though the book is considered fictional, it couldn’t be any more real. Nine black men were “hoboing” a train and ended up being accused of a crime against two white women and known as vial criminals throughout the south. This incident became known as the Scottsboro trial. Although the book To Kill a Mockingbird and the Scottsboro trial are very similar, they are also quite different.
Ling, P.J. “A White Woman’s Word: The Scottsboro Case (1931).” Race On Trial. Ed. Annette Gordon-Reed. New York: Oxford, 2002. 118-138.
This term paper is on one of the most controversy discussion known as Capital Punishment. This is a topic in which the writer believes does not have a positive effect on decreasing crime in the world. For almost three years now, the writer has grown a passion for criminal behavior in some of the notoriety of a few crime cases that resulted in Capital Punishment and Wrongful Executions. One of my personal favorite crime cases in history is the Scottsboro Boys. This case represents an incident where five innocent African American men nearly faced execution after being accused and convicted of raping two white females on the back of a train back in 1931. This case is one of many reasons I am against capital punishment because it can lead to wrongful deaths of innocent men and women without justified evidences and witnesses. The writer is also
In another similar case, nine black teeanagers from ages thirteen to nineteen were arrested, falsely accused, and initially sentenced for raping two white women, Victoria Price and Ruby Bates, on a train in Scottsboro, Alabama in 1931. The young boys were also tried ...
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee seems like a complete replica of the lives of people living in a small Southern U.S. town. The themes expressed in this novel are as relevant today as when this novel was written, and also the most significant literary devices used by Lee. The novel brings forward many important themes, such as the importance of education, recognition of inner courage, and the misfortunes of prejudice. This novel was written in the 1930s. This was the period of the “Great Depression” when it was very common to see people without jobs, homes and food. In those days, the rivalry between the whites and the blacks deepened even more due to the competition for the few available jobs. A very famous court case at that time was the Scottsboro trials. These trials were based on the accusation against nine black men for raping two white women. These trials began on March 25, 1931. The Scottsboro trials were very similar to Tom Robinson’s trial. The similarities include the time factor and also the fact that in both cases, white women accused black men.
Wallace, George. “Excerpts from Wallace’s Speech on the Alabama Rights Movement March.” New York Times. 19 Mar. 1965: 20
MacDonald, H. (2010, January 4). A crime theory demolished. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870359090504574638024055735590.ht