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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.

==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.  

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."

==Supreme Court==

==Supreme Court==

On appeal to the Supreme Court the civil rights lawyers argued that defendants (1) had been denied the right to counsel; (2) had not been given a fair and impartial trial; and (3) had been tried before juries from which blacks were systematically excluded. They argued that these allegations constituted a denial of due process of law and equal protection of the laws under the 14th Amendment.  

On appeal to the Supreme Court the civil rights lawyers argued that defendants (1) had been denied the right to counsel; (2) had not been given a fair and impartial trial; and (3) had been tried before juries from which blacks were systematically excluded. They argued that these allegations constituted a denial of due process of law and equal protection of the laws under the 14th Amendment.  

==Communist role==

==Communist role==

In 1928 the 6th Congress of the Comintern in Moscow, under [[Stalin]]'s control, resolved that the black population of the American South was a subject nation, thus capable of engendering a 'national revolutionary movement,' and ordered the American party to give work on the "Negro question" high priority. The party found in the Scottsboro case an ideal vehicle for worldwide propaganda as well as a recruiting tool in the ghettos of northern cities.  

In 1928 the 6th Congress of the Comintern in Moscow, under [[Stalin]]'s control, resolved that the black population of the American South was a subject nation, thus capable of engendering a 'national revolutionary movement,' and ordered the American party to give work on the "Negro question" high priority. The party found in the Scottsboro case an ideal vehicle for worldwide propaganda as well as a recruiting tool in the ghettos of northern cities.  

==Arts==

==Arts==

In the North, liberal and radical artists created paintings and poems that depicted a racist South, where white men dominated blacks and white women with the illegitimate use of violence and arbitrary power. Artists used their work, moreover, to elicit sympathy for the accused and to convince Americans of the necessity of federal anti-lynching legislation. There were few lynchings in the South in the 1930s, and the [[New Deal]] depended on the votes of the white South, and President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] refused to break up his coalition on the issue.

In the North, liberal and radical artists created paintings and poems that depicted a racist South, where white men dominated blacks and white women with the illegitimate use of violence and arbitrary power.  

 

Paintings, drawings, and sculptures highlighted the suffering of lynching victims and the hypocritical Christianity of the perpetrators.  Artists used their work to elicit sympathy for the accused and to convince Americans of the necessity of federal anti-lynching legislation. There were few lynchings in the South in the 1930s, and the [[New Deal]] depended on the votes of the white South, and President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] refused to break up his coalition on the issue.

 

==Race==

==Race==

Alabama whites at the time perceived blacks, regardless of wealth or education, as lacking integrity and self-control and thus prone to criminal behavior. This pervasive mindset contributed to the belief that African Americans should not serve on juries and that the nine young men must surely be guilty notwithstanding evidence to the contrary.

Alabama whites at the time perceived blacks, regardless of wealth or education, as lacking integrity and self-control and thus prone to criminal behavior. This pervasive mindset contributed to the belief that African Americans should not serve on juries and that the nine young men must surely be guilty notwithstanding evidence to the contrary.