Compare And Contrast The Trial Of The Scottsboro Boys

In A Death in the Islands: The Unwritten Law and the Last Trial of Clarence Darrow (Skyhorse Publishing, 2016), Dallas author Mike Farris recounts the events surrounding two explosive and racially charged trials in early 1930s Hawaii involving a group of Pacific Islander and Asian men, known collectively as the Ala Moana Boys, who were the Hawaiian equivalents of their more notorious black contemporaries, the Scottsboro Boys of Alabama. Farris, who was inspired to write the A Death in the Islands after stumbling upon Theon Wright’s Rape in Paradise in a bookstore in Hawaii more than 20 years ago, artfully weaves together separate incidents that occurred during the early morning hours of Sunday, September 13, 1931. While the author states in

So, in the absence of speedy official governmental justice, there was the spontaneous generation of what was called a “Vigilance Committee” or “Examination Committee.” Committees formed to be the judge and jury to mete out the punishment to both black and white citizens that worked to incite, plan, or support any form of insurrection within the counties. Responding to the fears, a planter-dominated vigilance committee rounded up slaves in the Second Creek neighborhood, where talk of a conspiracy first surfaced. Committee members believed that the slaves schemed not just to “kill their masters,” but to “ravish,” “ride” and “take the ladies for wives.” Ten slaves were hanged on Jacob Surget’s Cherry Grove plantation on September 24, 1861.

The Scottsboro Trials The Scottsboro Trials were a short time period of great racial inequality. It all started with a train fight between nine black boys and a group of white men. According to Anderson, their train was stopped, and as the black boys departed from the train, they were accused of rape by two white women prostitutes. The boys were sent to jail, and the day-long trial began.

In 1931, the world witnessed one of the most famous legal lynchings in the Scottsboro Trial. (1931-37). Therefore, this paper identifies and critically discusses the symbolic issues that engaged the public’s sense, the morality and/or the imagination. This will help in better understanding the reasons for lynching’s popularity throughout history. This paper will contend that this verdict was predetermined by an ideology of white supremacy exemplified by racial, gendered, political and sexual stereotypes.

Although the Scottsboro trials was not a pivotal event in Black American history, it was an occasion which highlighted the severe injustice of the American legal system and prejudice that black Americans lived in. From 25th March 1931 when 9 black men allegedly gang raped two white girls on the Railroad from Chattanooga to Memphis, a numerous amount of trials, reversals and retrials occurred, the most in American history. Over the course of two decades the ‘Scottsboro boys’ were made celebrities by their struggle for justice by dividing Americas politics. The trials, which were originally conducted in front of an all white jury leading to 8 of the boys being sentenced to the death penalty, after they were represented by bias lawyers which made

Once Hannah Arendt says “The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil”. Society shapes and influences people in many different ways. From back then to now the way people are shaped and influenced has changed drastically. Today many people are influenced and shaped by music, social media and famous people. Back then people were influenced and shaped by first class citizens, wealthy people, and the differences between whites and blacks.

The Scottsboro Trials and To Kill a Mockingbird In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the famous father named Atticus says “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it (Judith 2). This quote is said during a time of intense racism. “Not long after Obama took office, the National Urban League released its 2009 State of Black America report. The findings showed that racial inequities continued in employment, housing, health care, education, criminal justice, and other areas” (Buckley 1). This essay will primarily focus on the criminal justice area of this when discussing the Scottsboro trials and comparing the trials to the famous novel To Kill a Mockingbird.

A wise arthur once wrote in her book “ I think there 's only one kind folks, folks.” Meaning that all men are the same but, that 's not how people thought during the time of the scottsboro trials and even to this day. In the time of 1931 there were many whites that had a problem “playing nice” with the black residents of the United State. This caused multiple incidents to occur where blacks were punished and they did absolutely nothing wrong. The blacks could have been punished by being put in jail anywhere to being lynched or beaten to death.

Harper Lee’s reenactment of the 1930 culture was completely accurate. She portrays an environment where blacks are completely disregarded as humans. Lee also shows how the time period permits for behavioral cruelty. For example during the trial, Dill is upset when Tom Robinson is convicted guilty. Scout comforts him saying not to worry, that Robinson is just a negro.

Contrary to popular belief, racism is still well alive in the United States, even in the 21st century. Many attempts have been made to terminate the unwanted social injustice, but its presence is still plainly evident today. Still, there have been many citizens who have become blind to racism. Despite slavery being abolished, and segregation outlawed, racism still exists. A minority in the United States would easily be able to explain in detail the evident facts of racism today, while most white persons will tell you that the country has reached racial equality.

"The Scottsboro Boys" By Jessica McBirney explains the prejudge towards African-Americans during the mid 1900's. The author separates her ideas by piecing them in different sections of her writing using headings. However, she mentions the main idea of her informative writing throughout the different paragraphs. The main idea of her short writing was that the Scottsboro Boys' trials showed an enormous degree of racial inequality that existed in the United States' criminal justice system and most of the Southern United States. The Scottsboro Boys' trial sparked African-American protestors and activists to push the government to improve the racial equality in justice systems.

Nine boys Charlie Weems, Ozie Powell, Clarence Norris, Olen Montgomery, Willie Roberson, Haywood Patterson, Eugene Williams, and Andrew and Roy Wright were accused of raping two white women on a freight train, on March 24, 1931. The boys were caught for illegally riding on a freight train, and were originally charged with that until one of the police found the two white women VIctoria Price, and Ruby Bates and pressured them into saying that the boys had raped them on the freight tra in. All the Scottsboro boys were sentenced to death in the first trial, except Roy Wright who was only 13 was sentenced to life in prison. After two more trials with an all white jury, got the attention of the nation because it was showing how racist the U.S court system was. Ruby Bates eventually went out and retold her statement saying that she was pressured into telling the jury that the Scottsboro boys had raped them.

The Impact of the Scottsboro Boys on American History After watching the Scottsboro video, i came to the conclusion that the subject of it had an enormous outcome for the rest of history. Over the course of the Scottsboro boys trial, everything that happened sculpted both negative and positive events in this significant era. It affected thousands of lives, and impacted the rest of American history. Over hundreds of years, the theme of racism still continues until this day, we as Americans still experience the wrath of racism; maybe not as much, but it certainly hasn't gone away. All nine of the Scottsboro boys trials had an astonishing outcome on our nation and people, and it also portrayed many other events that happened in American history like World War ll, and the Civil Rights Movement.

Injustice The Scottsboro Case shed light on the racial practices expressed in law that made a great impact on the legal system today. The actual victims of the Case did not receive a fair trial due to the color of their skin. The ones who played the victims planned the crime, and their stories made no sense. But like many of the trials during the time it wasn’t based on the actual evidence that was found,or even the defendants ' stories.

On March 25, 1931, the lives of nine young African American boys would be changed forever, and certainly not for the better. The boys, ages ranging from thirteen to twenty, were falsely accused of raping two white women on a train and tried multiple times in court. The set of trials is a largely forgotten and overlooked landmark case for not only the Civil Rights Movement, but all of American history. The Scottsboro Boys Trials have shaped modern American society by evolving and inclusifying constitutional law, shedding a national light on legal misconducts, and acted as a beacon of hope for the Civil Rights Movement in one of its earliest stages. Charlie Weems, Willie Robeson, Olen Montgomery, Ozzie Powell, Eugene Williams, Roy and Andy Wright,