The Scottsboro Trials

Imagine being a black teenager in the south amid the great depression. It was hard enough for whites to find jobs during this time; I can’t even begin to fathom what it would be like being black seeking a job. Many blacks sought hoboing as a common pastime seeing it as an adventure to get them from one small job to another. And this is where the story of the Scottsboro Boys begins.

Aboard a southern railroad car was a young black youth named Haywood Patterson. He clutched to the side of the car as it careened back and forth over the rusty tracks. Across the top of the car walked a young white man. Every time this man would walk past Patterson he would step on his fingers. Patterson finally said to the man, “whenever you need to get through, tell me and I will move my hand”.

The young man believed that he did not have to ask someone to move their hands, especially a nigger. This outraged him and he began to shout obscenities and racial slurs at Patterson. Soon after, a stone throwing fight erupted between the white hobos and the black hobos that were riding on the train. All but one white youth was forced of the train by the rocks. This white youth named Orville Gilley was pulled back on. The train itself was picking up speed and Gilley could have gotten killed.

A local stationmaster was told the “attack” by the white hobos that had been thrown off of the train. This stationmaster wired ahead to the next stationmaster to let him know of the situation. As the train slowed down and came to a stop in Paint Rock, Alabama, those that were accused of the future crime had no telling what they were going to be up against. Once in Paint Rock, 9 black youths were rounded up, tied together and taken to prison in Scottsboro Al. Here the boys were placed in a jail cell awaiting their charges. Little did they know an additional charge was going to be added that never even crossed their minds.

While in Paint Rock 2 young women greeted the Posse that came to round up the men from the train. One of these women (Victoria Price) told the posse that she had been raped by a gang of 12 blacks with pistols and knives (Linder, n.d.).They were escorted into the jail so that Victoria could point out her attackers. Here she claimed 6 of the 9 men had raped her. That’s when a guard replied “If those six had Miss Price, it stands for reason the others had Miss Bates” (Linder, n.d.).The accused turned out to be: Haywood Patterson, Andy Wright, Eugene Williams, Clarence Norris, Charlie Weems, Olen Montgomery, Ozie Powell, Willie Roberson and Roy Wright.

Let me tell you about the accusers in this case, Victoria Price and Ruby Bates. Both women were from Huntsville, Al and daughters of widows. They grew up in the worst section of town living in shacks and associating with Negroes. Prior to Paint Rock, they had been working in Margaret Mill which produced cotton. The mill had shut down and they joined the other hobos seeking work (Goodman, 1994, pp20-21).

When these ladies got older they were said to have fornicated with Negroes also. Now you have to understand that in the south there was a stigma between white woman and black men, when a white woman sleeps with a black man its considered rape (in the south). Now when these women were found on the train with Negroes, they did not want to be thought of as adulterers and tramps. Instead they claimed rape so that they could be thought of as southern women, poor but virtuous (Goodman, 1994, pp20-21).

During their stay at the jail, the Scottsboro Boys attracted many people, and not always the nicest. One evening a lynch mob was hanging around the outside hoping that there could be a lynching. Their plans were foiled because Governor B.M. Miller ordered the National Guard to protect the suspects.

On March 30th, 1931, a grand jury indicts all 9 boys. The boys were appointed council; however this was not an easy task. No one at the time wanted to represent them. A unpaid and unprepared Chattanooga real estate attorney named Stephen Ruddy agreed to take on the case as long as he had help. Up stepped local attorney Milo Moody. Moody was a 70year old man who hadn’t tried a case in years. Their incompetence showed during the April 6th-9th trials before Judge A.E. Hawkins. Eight of the 9 boys are tried, convicted and sentenced to death. The case against the youngest boy, Roy Wright, whom at the time was 13, ended in a hung jury (PBS, 1999-2000).

This turned into a high profile case. Because of the short and speedy trials, the age of the defendants and severity of the sentences national organizations were being sought upon to take up the case. You would have thought the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Color People) would have jumped at the opportunity. However they were worried about the charges of rape, the political impositions and what damage it would have on the organization