Nine boys Charlie Weems, Ozie Powell, Clarence Norris, Olen Montgomery, Willie Roberson, Haywood Patterson, Eugene Williams, and Andrew and Roy Wright were accused of raping two white women on a freight train, on March 24, 1931. The boys were caught for illegally riding on a freight train, and were originally charged with that until one of the police found the two white women VIctoria Price, and Ruby Bates and pressured them into saying that the boys had raped them on the freight tra in. All the Scottsboro boys were sentenced to death in the first trial, except Roy Wright who was only 13 was sentenced to life in prison. After two more trials with an all white jury, got the attention of the nation because it was showing how racist the U.S court system was. Ruby Bates eventually went out and retold her statement saying that she was pressured into telling the jury that the Scottsboro boys had raped them. She joined the fight to end the unfair and racist trial. The trial was taken to the Supreme Court in 1937, because it started to become a huge deal. Their lives were saved, but it took more than 20 years to get all the boys out of jail. …show more content…
Through April 9th, the rest of the boys were tried, and all were given the death sentence. Roy Wright’s trial ended on a hung jury as he was too young to be put to death in one juror’s eyes, but the rest voted for his execution. Patterson’s second trial was from March 27th to April 9th, 1933, and he was again found guilty and sentenced to death by electrocution. Through November and December of 1933, Patterson and Norris’ cases result in death penalties. In the beginning of 1936, Patterson is tried for the 3rd time with a different result; 75 years in prison. Norris is also tried for the 3rd time, at the start of the summer, but again is sentenced to
”(King, 219). The NAACP team continues to gather more lawyers and evidence to support their case in the retrial. Marshall was woken up in the middle of the night with news that Mccall had shot both Groveland boys, Shepherd was dead and Irvin was in the hospital. Mccall claimed the Shepherd needed to pee, so he got out of the car, and then hit Mccall over the head with a flashlight and took off running. The FBI did some investigations of the scene and the evidence makes people suspicious of Mccalls
Charles Weems was arrested in March 1931 at the age of nineteen, making him the oldest of the Scottsboro Boys. He was convicted of rape first in 1931, then again in a second trial in 1937. In prison, Weems suffered from tuberculosis and was stabbed by a prison guard who had mistaken him for Andy Wright. He was finally released in 1943.
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.
Although, what really happened was one of the white girls stepped on one of the boys hands and they started fighting and throwing rocks. ”8 out of the 9 boys were trialed with death” (Linder). The court during the time had a strong racial dislike for the black race. On January 1932, the court ruled 6-1 on all but one of the convictions.
The Scottsboro boys had to stay in the prisons that were considered inferior to whites because of their terrible conditions until the next trial in 1933. During this trial, the doctor who examined the girls after the supposed rapes acted as more of a help to the defense. The doctor said that there was semen found in the vaginas of the women, but the women came off as calm and had no vaginal damage or bleeding. At the end of the trial, Judge Thornton announced he would dismiss the death sentences and order a new trial. Of the nine boys, seven of them were held for six years until the hearing of Clarence Norris in 1937.
There are many racist caucasian people that serve in juries. They believe that African Americans should be in a position under them so they would do whatever they could to keep them down. During the Scottsboro Trials nine African American men were arrested for something that they did not do. They were accused of raping two white girls
Racism and Segregation in the South During the 1930’s, the Great Depression caused poverty throughout the United States. People all over the country went to extreme measures to earn money and survive. Several people hopped on trains illegally to travel and try to start new lives for themselves. Some women resorted to prostitution around these hobo camps to earn their living. Two such women were Ruby Bates and Victoria Price.
America, Changed for the better "You don't fight racism with racism, the best way to fight racism is with solidarity"(Bobby Seale). Over the years our American history has been shaped by good and bad events. Racism has been apart of us since the beginning. It has shaped our history a great deal. An important event that has shaped American history is the Scottsboro trials.
Although it would affect the younger members of the group, their incompetent lawyers were willing for the court to try all of the boys together. The two white women who accused them of rape, Victoria Price and Ruby Bates, were questioned quickly before the all-white Alabama Jury
She showed courage in refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man, which led to her arrest and not only the loss of her job but also her husband 's. She even received death threats for years. Because of this courage, it led to heroic deeds, the deed of hoping to end racial segregation. Even if it did happen in the long run,
She helped organize legal defense. Also involved the Jim Crow Laws. Parks got denied 2 times. She knew she could not give up. Rosa on her third try was accepted.
On January 5th, 1993 at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla, Westley Allan Dodd was executed by hanging for the killing of three boys, ages four, ten and eleven. Dodd became the first prisoner to be hanged in the United States since 1965, when two inmates were executed in Kansas (Egan). Before The Governor of Washington suspended the death penalty in 2014, the State of Washington executed 78 prisoners between the years 1904 and 2010 (WA DOC). Westley
On March 30, 2008, eight teenagers attacked a sixteen year old cheerleader, Victoria Lindsay. This attack took place in Lakeland, Florida around 8:30 pm. This girl fight seen around the world would become known as the Mulberry Eight. This attack all started because Victoria Lindsay was trash talking on her MySpace page.
This trial happened in the 1930s. The boys were traveling by train to Memphis looking for jobs. While on the train a brawl erupted between a gang of whites and a gang of blacks. The blacks were able to force the gang of whites off the train. Which only left the gang of blacks and four whites.
Injustice The Scottsboro Case shed light on the racial practices expressed in law that made a great impact on the legal system today. The actual victims of the Case did not receive a fair trial due to the color of their skin. The ones who played the victims planned the crime, and their stories made no sense. But like many of the trials during the time it wasn’t based on the actual evidence that was found,or even the defendants ' stories.