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The Scottsboro Boys case was one of the most significant civil rights cases in American jurisprudence. It was appealed twice to the United States Supreme Court. This case established the principle that criminal defendants in America have the right to effective counsel and that juries are not exempt from people based on their race.
Nineteen black youths ranging from twelve to twenty years old were charged in Scottsboro with the rape of Ruby Bates and Victoria Price. One of the girls would later retract her accusations. Both the victims and the accused had traveled together on a train that was passing along the Southern Railroad freight route between Chattanooga and Memphis on March 25, 1931. The train stopped in Jackson County, Alabama. This is where the women brought their allegations against the black youths to local officials. Because Scottsboro was the county seat, the defendants were brought before a judge.
Fourteen youths were tried and convicted. However, witnesses gave weak and inconsistent testimony. This case is widely considered to be one of the most egregious violations of justice against blacks in the post-Reconstruction South. Scottsboro was the location of only two trials. Eight of the nine young black defendants were convicted quickly and sentenced to their death by all-white juries. The trial took place in Scottsboro's mob atmosphere.
Two local attorneys were unable to accept the cases because they had no criminal defense experience. The judge did not allow them time to prepare for the trial, so they were unable to put up a good defense. The judge began the first trial immediately after they agreed to take them, and each case was started as soon as the jury returned from the last one.
The United States Supreme Court affirmed the death sentences and convictions of the defendants in its two appeals. It ruled that they had been wrongfully convicted. The convicted were held in state and local prisons for at least six and up to nineteen years. After serving lengthy sentences in prison, the Scottsboro Boys were released by Governor George Wallace. He issued a pardon for the Scottsboro boy who was still being held.
In January 2004, in the midst of television cameras, radio, and newspaper reporters, a large crowd gathered near Scottsboro's Jackson County Court House to dedicate a historical plaque commemorating the Scottsboro Boys' trial and their struggle for justice. An 87-year-old black man, who was one of few to remember the events, attended the ceremony. He said that the scene after the Boys' arrest was 'frightening' and that death threats were made against the suspects. He praised the town for putting the plaque in the courthouse yard. He said that he believes it would bring the races closer together and help them to understand each other better.
In this city, the Scottsboro Boys Museum opened in February 2010.
