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The Threads of the 1920s Weave a 1930s Tragedy: “Scottsboro Boys” Trials

The Threads of the 1920s Weave a 1930s Tragedy: “Scottsboro Boys” Trials. http://www.jacksoncountychamber.com/news/community-news/152-scottsboro-boys-museum-and-cultural-center-opens. Cultural and Political Threads of the 1920s Racism Ku Klux Klan Jim Crow laws

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The Threads of the 1920s Weave a 1930s Tragedy: “Scottsboro Boys” Trials

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  1. The Threads of the 1920s Weave a 1930s Tragedy: “Scottsboro Boys” Trials http://www.jacksoncountychamber.com/news/community-news/152-scottsboro-boys-museum-and-cultural-center-opens

  2. Cultural and Political Threads of the 1920s • Racism • Ku Klux Klan • Jim Crow laws • Anti-Semitism • Leo Frank lynching • Henry Ford • Communism • Red Scare • Palmer Raids • Sectionalism • Classism

  3. Recall some of the results of the Great Depression • Soup Kitchens • Hoovervilles • Shantytowns • Hobos • Unemployment • Bank Failures http://www.squidoo.com/depression-era-cooking

  4. Background of the Trials of the “Scottsboro Boys” In March 1931, homeless and jobless whites and blacks were riding on a freight train traveling from Chattanooga to Memphis when they began name-calling resulting in a fist fight. The young, black hobos, aged thirteen to nineteen, succeeded in throwing most of the white men off the train. The white hobos went to the nearest train station and reported the fight to the station master at Stevenson, Alabama, who then reported the incident to the Jackson County Sheriff Matt Wann. The deputy who lived nearest the next stop Paint Rock, Alabama, was given this order by Sheriff Wann, "capture every Negro on the train. I am giving you authority to deputize every man you can find." Sheriff Matt Wann http://www.answers.com/topic/scottsboro-boys

  5. When the posse arrived to arrest the blacks involved in the fight, two white women, Victoria Price and Ruby Bates, riding the freight cars were also arrested. Fearing prosecution as vagrants and as violators of the Mann Act, they accused the nine black teens of rape. Thus began the case of the “Scottsboro Boys” which divided Americans along racial, class, sectional and political lines. Victoria Price and Ruby Bates http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/scottsboro/SB_VP&RB.jpg

  6. Haywood Patterson, age 18 http://216.226.178.196/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/photo&CISOPTR=3049&CISOBOX=1&REC=3

  7. Clarence Norris, age 19 http://216.226.178.196/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/photo&CISOPTR=3047&CISOBOX=1&REC=1

  8. Olen Montgomery, age 17 http://216.226.178.196/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/photo&CISOPTR=3048&CISOBOX=1&REC=2

  9. Willie Roberson, age 16 http://216.226.178.196/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/photo&CISOPTR=3050&CISOBOX=1&REC=4

  10. Charlie Weems, age 19 http://216.226.178.196/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/photo&CISOPTR=3051&CISOBOX=1&REC=5

  11. Eugene Williams, age 13 http://216.226.178.196/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/photo&CISOPTR=3052&CISOBOX=1&REC=6

  12. Ozie Powell, age 16 http://216.226.178.196/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/photo&CISOPTR=3053&CISOBOX=1&REC=7

  13. Andy Wright, age 19 http://216.226.178.196/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/photo&CISOPTR=3054&CISOBOX=1&REC=8

  14. Roy Wright, age 13 http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/scottsboro/SB_RWRI.jpg

  15. http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/scottsboro/SB_SB1A.jpghttp://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/scottsboro/SB_SB1A.jpg The nine teenagers were taken to the Scottsboro jail on March 25, 1931. Protection of the accused by the National Guard became necessary as the next day an angry crowd of whites gathered with the intent of lynching the young men.

  16. On March 30, 1931, a grand jury indicted all nine teenagers of the crime of rape. Their trials began on April 6, 1931,in the courtroom of A. E. Hawkins in Scottsboro. On April 7th, Clarence Norris, Charlie Weems, Haywood Patterson, Olen Montgomery, Ozie Powell, Willie Roberson, Eugene Williams, and Andy Wright were tried, convicted, and sentenced to death by electrocution.  The trial of thirteen-year-old Roy Wright ended in a mistrial when some jurors held out for a death sentence even though the state asked for life imprisonment. Scottsboro Courthouse http://216.226.178.196/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/photo&CISOPTR=2835&CISOBOX=1&REC=1

  17. Questions for Reflection and Study • How did the trials exacerbate the social, sectional, political, • religious, and racial divisions in America? • How would teens be treated differently by today’s court • system? • How do you think the trials influenced the lives of each of • these young men, and of the two young women? • How do you think the trials affected the national • perception of Alabama? • How did the trials polarize Alabamians? • What role did the Communist organization International • Labor Defense (I.L.D.) and the N.A.A.C.P. play in the trials? • What elements of the trials do you consider to be the most • unjust?

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