The Scottsboro Case
Mai Do
The Scottsboro case involved nine young African American men accused of raping two white women on a train in Alabama.
On March 25th, 1931, a number of vagrants were traveling on a train in Alabama. A few white men were walking along, and accidentally stepped on Haywood Patterson’s hand, nearly knocking him off. Haywood Patterson was on the boxcar with eight other African American boys. The white men demanded the African American boys get off, but they refused and there was a fight. The African American boys won, threw the white vagrants off, and the train soon stopped in Paint Rock. A group was assembled to find the boys that threw the white men off the train. Then Victoria Price and Ruby Bates — female vagrants disguised as boys — emerged and "falsely accused the nine young black men — Olen Montgomery, Clarence Norris, Haywood Patterson, Ozzie Powell, Willie Roberson, Charlie Weems, Eugene Williams, and brothers Andy and Roy Wright — of rape" (Salter). The African American boys were lined up and arrested, loaded into a truck, then driven to Scottsboro’s jail. A mob assembled and demanded the boys be brought out to be beaten for their crime. The next morning, the national guard secured the jail.
On March 25th, 1931, a number of vagrants were traveling on a train in Alabama. A few white men were walking along, and accidentally stepped on Haywood Patterson’s hand, nearly knocking him off. Haywood Patterson was on the boxcar with eight other African American boys. The white men demanded the African American boys get off, but they refused and there was a fight. The African American boys won, threw the white vagrants off, and the train soon stopped in Paint Rock. A group was assembled to find the boys that threw the white men off the train. Then Victoria Price and Ruby Bates — female vagrants disguised as boys — emerged and "falsely accused the nine young black men — Olen Montgomery, Clarence Norris, Haywood Patterson, Ozzie Powell, Willie Roberson, Charlie Weems, Eugene Williams, and brothers Andy and Roy Wright — of rape" (Salter). The African American boys were lined up and arrested, loaded into a truck, then driven to Scottsboro’s jail. A mob assembled and demanded the boys be brought out to be beaten for their crime. The next morning, the national guard secured the jail.
Victoria Price was 21 years old at the time, twice married and twice divorced. She had formerly served jail time, and was a tough woman. In contrast, Ruby Bates was more of the ideal Southern woman — she was quiet and soft spoken. Both Price and Bates lived off of prostitution and could only afford to
live in the African American part of town.
The African American boys had a mere real estate attorney as their defense. They knew they would lose due to their race, and each boy tried to come up with his own excuse. The defendants blamed each other for the alleged rape in an attempt to escape death, although it was highly unlikely that any of them committed the crime.
A guilty verdict was passed.
Eight of the boys were sentenced to death, save Haywood Patterson.
Soon, news spread of the Scottsboro boys thanks to the Communist Party, and news of the case "that dramatically encapsulated the American South's troubled post-Reconstruction history of legal and extralegal racial violence, the social and political upheaval of the Great Depression, and the lingering cultural divide between North and South" (Salter) made its way across the world. Lawyer Samuel Leibowitz - with a 77/78 win/lose record - was called on by the Communist Party to defend the boys, but he had no idea of Southern attitudes towards African Americans. To Southerners, Leibowitz was an outsider - he was a Northerner and a Jewish man. While Leibowitz attacked Price's testimony and revealed contradictions within them, in the Southerners' eyes he was insulting Southern womanhood itself, despite Price's lifestyle.
Price's boyfriend Lester Carter provided crucial testimony pertaining to both Price's and Bate's whereabouts the night before the alleged rape occurred.
Victoria Price and Ruby Bates had been with Lester Carter and another male that evening. Carter's testimony gave an explanation to the physician's finding of
dead sperm upon examining Price and Bates. If the rape had occurred as it was reported to have occurred - on the train just hours before it reached Paint Rock - then the sperm should have still been alive. Furthermore, Ruby Bates had disappeared a few weeks before this second trial, and returned - looking much better dressed - to testify once more, but this time for the defense. Bates took the stand, and revealed that Price had told her to testify to certain
things and lie in order to place guilt onto the African American boys out of fear of being reprimanded for hopping the train. In turn for aiding the defense,
however, Bates earned from the prosecution damaging remarks regarding her improved condition and the possibility of the interference of the Communist
Party, causing the jury to doubt her testimony in fear that it may have been fabricated by payments from the Communists.
A guilty verdict was passed once again.
The boys stood trial a total of three times, and only four had charges dropped from them the last trial when Samuel Leibowitz stepped down from the boys' defense. Four later were freed, and lastly, Haywood Patterson ran from prison. Due to the boys' years in forced confinement, their mental health had deteriorated, and all struggled to live normal lives as grown men after leaving prison.
live in the African American part of town.
The African American boys had a mere real estate attorney as their defense. They knew they would lose due to their race, and each boy tried to come up with his own excuse. The defendants blamed each other for the alleged rape in an attempt to escape death, although it was highly unlikely that any of them committed the crime.
A guilty verdict was passed.
Eight of the boys were sentenced to death, save Haywood Patterson.
Soon, news spread of the Scottsboro boys thanks to the Communist Party, and news of the case "that dramatically encapsulated the American South's troubled post-Reconstruction history of legal and extralegal racial violence, the social and political upheaval of the Great Depression, and the lingering cultural divide between North and South" (Salter) made its way across the world. Lawyer Samuel Leibowitz - with a 77/78 win/lose record - was called on by the Communist Party to defend the boys, but he had no idea of Southern attitudes towards African Americans. To Southerners, Leibowitz was an outsider - he was a Northerner and a Jewish man. While Leibowitz attacked Price's testimony and revealed contradictions within them, in the Southerners' eyes he was insulting Southern womanhood itself, despite Price's lifestyle.
Price's boyfriend Lester Carter provided crucial testimony pertaining to both Price's and Bate's whereabouts the night before the alleged rape occurred.
Victoria Price and Ruby Bates had been with Lester Carter and another male that evening. Carter's testimony gave an explanation to the physician's finding of
dead sperm upon examining Price and Bates. If the rape had occurred as it was reported to have occurred - on the train just hours before it reached Paint Rock - then the sperm should have still been alive. Furthermore, Ruby Bates had disappeared a few weeks before this second trial, and returned - looking much better dressed - to testify once more, but this time for the defense. Bates took the stand, and revealed that Price had told her to testify to certain
things and lie in order to place guilt onto the African American boys out of fear of being reprimanded for hopping the train. In turn for aiding the defense,
however, Bates earned from the prosecution damaging remarks regarding her improved condition and the possibility of the interference of the Communist
Party, causing the jury to doubt her testimony in fear that it may have been fabricated by payments from the Communists.
A guilty verdict was passed once again.
The boys stood trial a total of three times, and only four had charges dropped from them the last trial when Samuel Leibowitz stepped down from the boys' defense. Four later were freed, and lastly, Haywood Patterson ran from prison. Due to the boys' years in forced confinement, their mental health had deteriorated, and all struggled to live normal lives as grown men after leaving prison.
Sources:
Salter, Daren. "Scottsboro Trials." Encyclopedia of Alabama. N.p., 6 Feb. 2008. Web. 04 Dec. 2013.
Scottsboro: An American Tragedy. Dir. Daniel Anker and Barak Goodman. By Barak Goodman and Kay Boyle. Perf. Andre Braugher. Cowboy Pictures, 2001. Film.
Photo: Conn, J. Jackson County Courthouse and the Scottsboro Boys. 2010. Photograph. Scottsboro, Alabama. Flickr. Web. 11 Dec. 2013.
Salter, Daren. "Scottsboro Trials." Encyclopedia of Alabama. N.p., 6 Feb. 2008. Web. 04 Dec. 2013.
Scottsboro: An American Tragedy. Dir. Daniel Anker and Barak Goodman. By Barak Goodman and Kay Boyle. Perf. Andre Braugher. Cowboy Pictures, 2001. Film.
Photo: Conn, J. Jackson County Courthouse and the Scottsboro Boys. 2010. Photograph. Scottsboro, Alabama. Flickr. Web. 11 Dec. 2013.