THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS TRIALS

THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS TRIALS

• Scottsboro, Alabama
• The great depression
• Vagabonds-- riding trains looking for work
• A black and white man start a fist fight over a misunderstanding.
• Black group forces the whites off the train

THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS TRIALS

• Whites thrown off train report assault to police
• Nine black men then thrown in jail
• Victoria price and Ruby bates accused them of rape
• As the trials approached national guard was called to protect the men
• Town forms its own opinion that the men are guilty.

THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS TRIALS

• The trials eventually moved to Decantur, Alabama
• The white community instantly thought that they were guilty
• Many black communities protested
• The U.S supreme court eventually appealed the death sentences
• Even though the death sentences were appealed they still were in jail for the rest of there lives

THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS TRIALS

• Within the frist month the first boy was tried
• He was sentenced to death
• Many well- publicized trials followed
• They were all centered on an older womans testimony
• She was a known prostitute

THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS TRIALS

• Defense team
• unpaid drunk attorneys
• one had not tried a case in decades
• No cross- examination
• Verdict- all of the men were guilty

THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS TRIALS

• Prosecution attorney
• Thomas Knight Jr.
• Knight picked many arguments with Samuel Leibowitz
• He was very disrespectful to the black men on trial
• Very brusque and agressive in the court room

THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS TRIALS

• The judges
• James Horton & William Callahan
• James is the "hero" of the trials
• Mr.Callahan's goal was to keep the trial out of the press
• He denied every motion of defense

THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS TRIALS

• The Juries
• The juries were made of all white people until 1935
• Throughout the whole trial the juries was biased white people
• The jury ignored evidence
• For example, the white women were never hurt.

TOM ROBINSON & THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS TRIALS

• All of the men were accused of raping a white woman
• Same time period (great depression 1930s)
• Both of the trials occured in Alabama
• Atticus and Samuel were both apart of the state legislature
• They were also both defending the men who were accused of rape

WORK CITED

• Douglas O. Linder.scottsboro boys trials.umkc.web.13 october 2014
• Richard Wormser. The scottsboro cases.pbs.web.12 october 2014
• Black past.org. Scottsboro boys. black past.org.web.13 october 2014
• Darren Salter. scottsboro trials. encyclopedia of alabama.2008.web.13 october 2014