Rape charges, in particular, fit a pattern. There has been “a myth of black predation on white women when the reality was the polar opposite. . . . black men, women and children were degraded and often victimized and particularly black women were raped, and worse, by white men for generations, under slavery,” Gardullo says.
The Scottsboro Nine’s case, however, became a moment showing that despite their status as outsiders, black Americans could carry their calls for justice across the nation and around the globe. The journey through the judicial system of nine defendants included more trials, retrials, convictions and reversals than any other case in U.S. history, and it generated two groundbreaking U.S. Supreme Court cases.
Some historians view it as a spark that fired the mid-20th century civil rights movement. While the Scottsboro Nine wore the faces that represented a great tragedy, their survival represented “an opportunity for people to meditate on how this injustice could be rectified,” says Gardullo.
Among those riding on the train that day in 1931 were young hoboes, both white and black, men and women. At one point, a white man stood on the hand of 18-year-old Haywood Patterson, who would become one of the Scottsboro Nine, and almost knocked him off the train. A fight broke out, and the black travelers ousted the white travelers, forcing them off the train. The defeated white youths spread word of what had happened, and an angry, armed mob met the train in Paint Rock, Alabama, ready for lynchings. But the nine suspects, only four of whom knew each other, were arrested, taken into police custody, and transported to the nearby town of Scottsboro.
Later, the National Guard was summoned to disperse a violent crowd of vigilantes surrounding the jail. For their safety, the defendants ultimately were imprisoned 60 miles away.
The accused, ranging in age from 13 to 19, faced allegations of raping Ruby Bates, 17, and Victoria Price, 21. The women told police they were going from city to city seeking mill work; as hoboes themselves, the women might have been tried on charges of vagrancy and illegal sexual activity if they had not accused the black men. Their testimony was weak. Nevertheless, a grand jury indicted Charlie Weems, 19, Ozie Powell, 16, Clarence Norris, 19, Andrew Wright, 19, Leroy Wright, 13, Olen Montgomery, 17, Willie Roberson, 17, Eugene Williams, 13, and Patterson within a week. Represented by a retiree and a real estate attorney, eight were tried, convicted by an all-white jury less than a month after the alleged crime, and sentenced to death. The trials consumed just four days. The case of Leroy Wright ended with a hung jury when some jurors thought that a life sentence would be more appropriate, considerng his youth, than execution. A mistrial was declared, but Wright remained in custody.