The Scottsboro Boys

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4-12-11 Period 1 The Scottsboro Trial- “The Scottsboro Boys” On March 25, 1931, a group of young black men hopped a freight train on the Southern Railroad’s Chattanooga to Memphis run. They were headed to Memphis to look for jobs. Another smaller white group which included several young women also hopped the train heading to Huntsville. While the train was stopped for water, some of these black and white youths got into a fight. The whites, being outnumbered, were forced off the train. The white kids, seeking revenge, told the train master that some of the black kids on the train had assaulted them. The train master immediately sent a message to the next station. A sheriff’s posse was formed and stopped the train near Paint Rock, Alabama. The posse rounded up every young black male and nine were taken to the jail in Scottsboro. These nine boys, aged twelve to twenty. These boys’ names were Olen Montgomery, Clarence Norris, Haywood Patterson, Ozie Powell, Willie Roberson, Charles Weems, Eugene Williams, Andrew Wright, and Leroy Wright. They became known as “The Scottsboro Boys”. Two white women also told the posse that they had been raped by the young black men. These alleged rape victims were Victoria Price and Ruby Bates. Both women were examined within two hours by a medical physician who found neither of the women to have any cuts, bruises, or other injuries. Yet on March 31, all nine of the Scottsboro boys were indicted for the rapes. In the following weeks, eight of the boys were convicted and sentenced to death in the electric chair. The only one, who was not convicted, was twelve year old Leroy Wright. His trial ended with a mistrial. There was a great deal of public outcry for and against the boys. The NAACP was slow to help the boys and the International Labor Defense (ILD) took over their cases. In January 1932, the Alabama Supreme

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