2nd-The+Scottsboro+Boys

**The Beginning**



On March 25, 1931, nine black teenagers, known as the "Scottsboro Boys", were accused of raping two white girls on a Southern Railroad freight run. No crime in American history led to as many trials, convictions, reversals, ans retrials as this case did. Two mill workers, Victoria Price and Ruby Bates, told the police they had been raped by twelve black men after a stone-throwing fight, between white and black teenagers, broke out on a freight from Chatanooga to Memphis. Nine black teenagers were arrested after the were accused of assaulting the white teenagers. Six of the blacks were later pointed out as the ones who "raped Victoria Price". The accusation led to crowds of men hoping to lynch the boys. Their plan was stopped after the Alabama governor ordered the National Guard to protect the Scottsboro Boys.

**The Trial**



The trials began twelve days after the boys were arrested. Haywood Patterson called the court room as "one big smiling white face". People had already made up their minds about how they felt about the boys. One newspaper article had the headline: "ALL NEGROES POSITIVELY IDENTIFIED BY GIRLS AND ONE WHITE BOY WHO WAS HELD PRISONER WITH PISTOL AND KNIVES WHILE NINE BLACK FIENDS COMMITTED REVOLTING CRIME." The boys were represented by Stephen Roddy and Milo Moody, who turned out to be unprepared and incompetent. Six of the nine boys denied raping or ever seeing the girls. Three of the other boys later said that they did and that a gang rape by other defendants did happen. After four trials, eight of the nine Scottsboro Boys were convicted and sentenced to death. The case of twelve year old Roy Wright, one of the boys, was declared a mistrial. He was sentenced to life instead of death due to his young age.

The Aftermath



After years of trials and one sided juries and judges, all of the Scottsboro Boys eventually found their way out of Alabama, either through paroles or escapes. Charles Weems was paroled in 1943, Ozie Powell and Clarence Norris in 1946, and Andy Wright, the last to leave Alabama for good in June, 1950. Haywood Patterson managed a dramatic escape in 1948. Patterson and Norris each went on to write books about their lives. One of Patterson's book, //Scottsboro Boy // //, // was published in 1950 while he was still a fugitive. Shortly after it was published, Patterson was arrested by the FBI, but the governor of Michigan refused Alabama's extradition request. Patterson latered died of cancer in prison. Norris published his book, //The Last of the Scottsboro Boys //, in 1979. Ten years later, on January 23, 1989, the last of the Scottsboro Boys was dead.

