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The Beginning
March 25th – White men and black men are riding the train in search for employment due to the effects of the Great Depression. They break out in a fight, and when the train stops the 9 black men are charged for aggravated assault, and the raping of 2 women – Victoria Price and Ruby Bates – are added on to the charges. They are taken to Scottsboro, Alabama. -
Sentences
The first two sentences are carried out, Clarence Norris and Charlie Weems are tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. -
Sentences
Haywood Patterson is tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. -
Sentences
The last three boys are tried, convicted and sentenced to death; Olen Montgomery, Ozie Powell, Willie Roberson, Eugene Williams, and Andy Wright. -
Sentences
The last trial is for Roy Wright, who was 13 at the time. It ends up in a hung jury because 11 jurors sought the death sentence, and one votes for life imprisonment. -
The Outrage
Because of all the extreme factors playing into the Scottsboro case; such as the young age of the defendants, the speed of the trials and the harshness of the sentences, everyone everywhere was outraged. National organizations like “The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People” (NAACP) and the “International Labour Defense” (ILD) all called the court to reject the frame-up for the Scottsboro boys. The executions of the boys put an appeal to the Court for a re-trial. -
Truth Exposed
Right after the NAACP withdrawals from the case, a letter from “victim” Ruby Bates to her boyfriend is exposed, and it states that the rape never happened. -
Re-trial 1
The seven judges of the Alabama Court vote 6-1, the one vote being an agreement that it was not a fair trial. Although, Eugene Williams was granted a new trial due to him being juvenile at the time. -
Luck
Luckily, the United States Supreme Court agrees to hear the case. -
Last Words
From May to December; numerous events occured. Knight dies, Norris recieves death sentence, Wright recieves 99 years, Weems revieces 75 years, Powell recieves 20 years, and rape charges for the last five defendants.