Scottsboro Boys Trial
By Adam Phipps
Question 1
The Scottsboro boys were on trial for raping a woman on a train. The majority of the people in Alabama thought they were guilty because they were all racist. It took many trials before a verdict was finally decided. The final verdict was that some of the boys were not guilty and the others would be put on parole. One of the women even confessed that she and her friend had never been raped. “Testimony was also given by one of the women, Ruby Bates, who now openly denied that she or her friend, Victoria Price, had ever been raped. (Citation 1)” It would be a bit hard to find the men guilty after the Ruby confessed.
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Question 2
There were many reactions to this trial in Alabama. Most people reacted immediately saying that the black people were guilty. Cheers of joy were even heard when the original execution verdict was announced. But there was at least one group of people who stood with these men. The Communist Party thought that they were being treated unfairly and sided with them. “…it was the Communist party that moved aggressively to make the Scottsboro case their own. (Citation 2) Although the party did use it as a recruiting tool for southern black people and northern liberals it was still kind.
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Question 3
This trial was, in many ways, similar to the trial of Tom Robinson. For instance they both took place in Alabama. They also both involved a woman claiming to have been raped by a black man. They also have their differences though, like how Tom Robinson was shot while the other black men were not. Also the Scottsboro boys were found not guilty unlike the Tom Robinson trial. “Primary documents related to the case afford several avenues of comparison between the Scottsboro trials and Tom Robinson's trial in To Kill a Mockingbird. (Citation 2)”
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