Changes

==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 incident 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, near the city of [[Scottsboro, Alabama]], 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.