Historical Context
The conflict unfolds against a backdrop of historical discrimination in the American South, particularly in Alabama during the mid-1900s. Hard-ships and struggles came along with the Great Depression. The pivotal moment occurred when nine African American boys faced accusations of rape, sparking what is now recognized as one of the lengthiest and most unjustly convicted cases in U.S. history. A skirmish ensued between a group of young African American passengers and their white counterparts, leading to the expulsion of all the boys at the subsequent stop. Upon disembarking, the police questioned them. Among the boys, two girls named Victoria Price and Ruby Bates, who were not supposed to be on the train but were seeking work, also faced police scrutiny. The situation escalated rapidly as the police became suspicious of the two white women and probed their reason for being on the train. In response, the women falsely claimed to have been assaulted by the group of African American boys. Little did they know that their actions would trigger a national predicament culminating in the tragic jail time of nine innocent boys.
*CEOTA- Scottsboro Boys Trial*
"In 1931, a train ride in search of work during the height of the Depression nearly ended the lives of nine Black teenage boys — Clarence Norris, Jr., Charlie Weems, Ozie Powell, Andrew Wright, Leroy Wright, Olen Montgomery, Willie Roberson, Haywood Patterson and Eugene Williams — who were falsely accused of rape by two white women."
~Alabama Political Reporter
"Jails and prisons are designed to break human beings, to convert the population into specimens in a zoo — obedient to our keepers, but dangerous to each other.”
~ Angela Davis, Angela Davis: An Autobiography
*The Washington Post; Racism in the South*
This photo may not have been related to the events of the Scottsboro Trials, but yet shows the violence that went along with racism in the south during the 1930s.
*Iforcolor.org*
*Jacobin*
The photograph on the left shows the freight train that the 9 boys were on.
“If anyone thinks that I am going to say I’m guilty when I am not and tell a lie on myself or anyone else, he’s crazy. If that’s the way I will have to get out of prison, I will always be here.”
~Haywood Patterson
Major Events of the Great Depression
*U.S History; Great Depression Timeline*