Accused! The Trials of the Scottsboro Boys: Lies, Prejudice, and the Fourteenth Amendment.

 Brimner, Larry Dane. Accused! The Trials of the Scottsboro Boys: Lies, Prejudice, and the Fourteenth Amendment. 2019. 189p. ISBN 978-1-62979-775-5. Available at 345.761 BRI on the library shelves.

The Great Depression that started in 1929 affected everyone in the United States and most around the world. For years afterwards, the economic conditions remained dire for many. People known as hobos traveled from place to place, looking for work anywhere they could find it. At the same time, race relations in the South were tense, following decades of Jim Crow oppression. African Americans in the South thus had an even harder time to survive.

In 1931, nine male African American teenagers boarded a train. Finding one of the wagons filled with White hobos. Outnumbering the hobos already there, they forced the White hobos to jump out of the train as it was traveling at a relatively low speed. But as the train's speed increased, three White hobos were not able to jump.

Some of the youths who were forced off complained to the local police. Sheriff units were deployed further down the track near Scottsboro, and when the train arrived the twelve passengers were arrested. Two of the White folks turned out to be women, and soon they alleged that the nine African American teens had raped them during the trip. These accusations stirred the anger of White Alabamians, who demanded swift justice for their womenfolk and as a message to their African American neighbors to stay in their assigned stations and not create social unrest.

Over the course of the following eight years, those who became known as the Scottsboro Boys went to court several times. Unable to get fair and impartial trials, they were condemned to death, only to have these condemnations reversed on appeal. The cases went all the way to the Supreme Court, with Patterson v. Alabama, Norris v. Alabama and Powell v. Alabama all created case law with consitutional questions such as equal protection, participation of African Americans on juries, impartial judging. 

During those years, the teens grew up and endured oppressive and inhuman prison conditions. They were beaten and threatened with death several times by being found guilty by a very racist justice system. Accuses presents the case that the 9 boys were set up by a racist judge and prosecutor who wished to send a strong signal to the African Americans to stay in their place. For eight years the boys kept hope, however, and eventually all of them were released, most without charges or compensation. Fans of social justice will appreciate this violent history but will note that there is still much work left to be done to achieve racial harmony in the United States.