Cause And Effect Of The Scottsboro Boys Trial

“Elastic Clause”. This clause is also often referred to as the “necessary and proper” or the “sweeping” clause. It can be found in article 1, section 8 of the constitution, clause 18. The “elastic clause” puts forward that Congress has the power to pass any law that they have deemed to be both necessary and proper to implement the powers that have already been delegated to the Congress. (U.S Const., art. I, §8). In essence, this clause offers a way for the US Congress to “achieve its’ constitutional mandated ends”(The Heritage Foundation, 2011). The purpose of this clause to allow the organisation of the government, while also helping to effectuate the power of Congress, and in doing so it introduces a great deal of flexibility to the constitution.

The book “To Kill a Mockingbird” written by Harper Lee and the article “Scottsboro Boys Trial” both contain controversial court cases. For “To Kill a Mockingbird” a black male named Tom Robinson was accused of raping a white woman named Mayella Ewell. In the “Scottsboro Boys Trial” nine young black men and teenagers are accused of raping two white females named Victoria Price and Ruby Bates. Both cases transpired in the 1930s in Alabama. This is bad for the accused as racism was at an all-time in the 1930s especially in the deep south. This was around the time when the Jim Crow Laws were still intact and black people were not still considered people and they would still lynch black people. If a black man was accused of any crime involving a white person the jury would take the white man's word over the black man’s word. These exact things

The Scottsboro Trials were a short time period of great racial inequality. It all started with a train fight between nine black boys and a group of white men. According to Anderson, their train was stopped, and as the black boys departed from the train, they were accused of rape by two white women prostitutes. The boys were sent to jail, and the day-long trial began. Before we can explain the trials, we need to understand what racism is. Routledge states, “...people sometimes use prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behavior to boost their own self-esteem.” An example of this at Scottsboro is during the trial, where all the black boys were tried together at the same time. Normally, only one person would

The Scottsboro Boys is the tale of nine innocent young black men accused of rape by two white women. Tome’s production of Scottsboro is amazing and heart-wrenching. Haywood Patterson, the only Scottsboro boy to die in jail, strives to always tell the truth because of past trauma, and Tru Verret-Fleming portrays Patterson perfectly, his acting leaves nothing to be desired. The choreography throughout the musical is unbelievably graceful and thoughtful. Britton Mauk’s set design has a simplistic but timely approach, which helps the audience pay attention to the show, rather than elaborate set pieces. Andy 's lighting sets the mood and shocks the audience in most of the scenes, and all of the dance numbers. Harry 's live sound mixing made

The trials of the Scottsboro Boys are a key piece of history of the United States legal system because “No crime in

Dred Scott v. Sandford was a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on US labor law and constitutional law. The case was decided in 1857 with a 7–2 decision. Scholars today believe it is one of the worst Supreme Court decisions of all time. Dred Scott was born a slave in Virginia in the 1790’s. In 1830, he was bought by Dr. John Emerson. As an army officer, Dr. Emerson moved frequently. After purchasing him they moved to Illinois, where slavery had been prohibited by the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 and by state law. After a few years, Emerson moved to a fort in the Wisconsin Territory, where it was barred by the Missouri Compromise. While there, Scott met and married Harriet Robinson, a slave owned by Lawrence Taliaferro. They had two daughters together. Ownership of Harriet was transferred to Emerson. They returned back to Missouri in 1840. Three years later, Dr. John Emerson died and his widow Irene inherited his

The forefathers of the United States built this country on the ideals of freedom and equality for all people. Unfortunately, the fight for equality and freedom did not end with the revolutionary war. The fight has continued throughout the decades. Many of these issues were fought in the courtroom. Auburn University created an online Alabama Encyclopedia, there, the following quote stated, “Scottsboro became an international cause celebre that dramatically encapsulated the American south 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 the north and south.” (Scottsboro trials). The Fourteenth amendment clearly states

Decades ago, children of various races could not go to school together in many locations of the United States. School districts could segregate students, legally, into different schools according to the color of their skin. The law said these separate schools had to be equal. Many schools for children that possessed color were of lesser quality than the schools for white students. To have separate schools for the black and white children became a basic rule in southern society. After the Brown vs. Board of Education case, this all changed.

The men pleaded not guilty but were accused of rape that same day. For the first time, via the Fourteenth Amendment, the Sixth Amendment reached the state levels as a result of Gideon vs. Wainwright. The Fourteenth Amendment included “the Due Process Clause, to describe a legal obligation of all states. These words have as their central promise an assurance that all levels of American government must operate within the law and provide fair procedures” (Cornell Law). This required Alabama’s defendants to be appointed attorneys for their cases. Although the Scottsboro were given their rights, the men were not informed that they could hire lawyers, so they had no access to a lawyer until shortly before the trial. Consequently, the men only discussed the case with their lawyers immediately preceding the hearing—leading to a weak defense. This therefore, lead to a guilty verdict for the Scottsboro boys in the original case. Because the men were not given a fair trial, they appealed their convictions to the Alabama Supreme Court. The Alabama Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that the trial was fair leading the men to appeal to the United States Supreme Court. The United States Supreme Court however disagreed with the state rulings and reversed them. The United States Supreme Court ruled that the boys’ rights were violated as the boys were not allowed to discuss the case with their

This was essentially the first time in history since pre civil war that whites and blacks came together as one and put all of their differences to their sides. When the trials were publicized, nearly the entire nation was sitting back, watching the trials of the nine boys. There were people starting riots and conflicting with the public left and right, yelling "Free the Scottsboro Boys," and "We have the right to speak up!" Initially, they are responding to the nation in a way that sends a huge message for the boys and opens up the unification of blacks and

The verdict of the Scottsboro case was very significant and impactful to the lives of black people in the United States. According to World Almanac Videos, the author (Richard Wormser) suggests that,” The case was one of the first to cause heavy national attention on the political and social forces at work in the furtherance of racism.” Page 9. The evidence shows that civil rights in the south and equal treatment of blacks in the south was a major issue in the early 1900’s and this discrimination even extended into law. This case changed how people thought about the law. The boys were charged with raping two

Imagine having to leave your home at the last minute. Where would you go? Millions of immigrants worldwide ask themselves the same question. Most of them choose America. When they arrive what do they expect? A world where everyone receives justice? How can there be justice for all in America when the Criminal Justice system is biased? Approximately 80 years ago, the same kind of discrimination was present in America’s Criminal Justice system. Even though America has come a long way since Jim Crow laws, the legal system has yet to provide justice for all.

Racism is something people resort to to cover up their guilt. For example, the author states, “When people’s self-esteem is threatened, prejudicial actions such as racism appear to restore esteem” (Routledge). People do not want to feel bad about themselves, so they find putting down others make them feel better. The people who resort to racism feel better when they see others have low self-esteem. Another idea that supports my topic is, in the video Scottsboro Boys, “Two women lied about how all nine of the Scottsboro Boys raped them so they do not get in trouble for being prostitutes” (Anderson). The two women knew if they got caught they would be charged with an international crime, so they said all nine of the boys raped them. The

Racism played a significant role in the Scottsboro Trials. Racism is where people are biased/prejudiced towards one race more so than others. Racism is evident most everywhere, and happens for many reasons. Racism can occur due to an individual's or group’s self-esteem, desire to be the most powerful/significant, need for structure, or purely out of dominance (Routledge). Racism was very evident in the Scottsboro trials. There were nine boys, each of them found guilty in a single day, because they were all black (Anderson). The two girls who accused the boys were inspected by a doctor, and he said there was no evidence of rape (Anderson). One of the girls had retracted her accusation, saying it was purely fictitious, and still the boys spent

The Scottsboro trials were a long horrific eighteen-year-long trial about eight black boys in Scottsboro, Alabama. According to Anderson in the video lecture “Scottsboro Boys” a large group of people had gotten on a train to find work when a large fight broke out on the train. The fight was between eight black men and a few white men, the train stopped in Scottsboro when two white women got off the train and accused the eight black men of rape. The eight boys were brought into court and trialed. There were multiple cases of racism in the Scottsboro trials, one included that all the boys were trialed together and in only one day. There was also racism in the trial because they were convicted multiple, multiple times