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This abuse of prosecutorial power and deprivation of a fair jury trial stand as an example of Dems misuse this power for political, which in the 1930s was to vilify African Americans.
The '''Scottsboro case''' was a miscarriage of justice in the 1930s that is primarily important because the Communist Party seized on it to recruit black members on charges that America was inherently racist, much to the annoyance of the [[NAACP]] and legitimate civil rights leaders who were trying to save the defendants from the death penalty.
The '''Scottsboro case''' was a miscarriage of justice in the 1930s that is primarily important because the [[Communist Party]] seized on it to recruit black members on charges that America was inherently racist, much to the annoyance of the [[NAACP]] and legitimate civil rights leaders who were trying to save the defendants from the death penalty.
This abuse of prosecutorial power and deprivation of a fair [[jury trial]] stand as an example of [[Dem]]s misuse this power for political, which in the 1930s was to vilify African Americans.
==Incident==
==Incident==
The Scottsboro incident of 1931 involved nine young black youth aged 13 to 19; they were convicted of raping two white women on a freight train on its way through Alabama on the basis of very scanty evidence. A sheriff's posse stopped the freight train because of reports black youths had assaulted several white young men on that same train earlier in the day. All were part of the growing teenage hobo culture during the Great Depression and rode the trains in search of work or adventure. Within hours, two white women among the freight riders also accused the black prisoners of gang rape. The governor sent in the National Guard to prevent a lynching, but angry white mobs surrounded the courthouse every day. The nine were indicted and tried in April, 1931, in three groups, each trial being completed in a single day. The juries found the defendants guilty and imposed the death penalty on all. The chief testimony was given by the two women; since they had traded sexual favors with the whites on the train for food, they were liable to arrest for vagrancy if they did not give the testimony the court wanted. One explained to the press, "Those Negroes Have Ruined Me and Ruby Forever."
The Scottsboro incident of 1931 involved nine young black youth aged 13 to 19; they were convicted of raping two white women on a freight train on its way through Alabama on the basis of very scanty evidence. A sheriff's posse stopped the freight train because of reports black youths had assaulted several white young men on that same train earlier in the day. All were part of the growing teenage hobo culture during the Great Depression and rode the trains in search of work or adventure. Within hours, two white women among the freight riders also accused the black prisoners of gang rape. The governor sent in the National Guard to prevent a lynching, but angry white mobs surrounded the courthouse every day. The nine were indicted and tried in April, 1931, in three groups, each trial being completed in a single day. The juries found the defendants guilty and imposed the death penalty on all. The chief testimony was given by the two women; since they had traded sexual favors with the whites on the train for food, they were liable to arrest for vagrancy if they did not give the testimony the court wanted. One explained to the press, "Those Negroes Have Ruined Me and Ruby Forever."