International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest

Extract

In 1931 a groundswell of international opposition was raised against the convictions and sentences of nine black youths, aged 13 to 20, in Scottsboro, Alabama. The case, which would involve seven trials and two Supreme Court hearings before its conclusion, was a cause that garnered support from the Communist Party , the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the Commission on Interracial Cooperation (CIC). The Scottsboro Resistance was critical in its attempt to create global solidarity between races. Further, the actions would become a model for the civil rights movements of the 1960s. In March 1931 a train traveling from Chattanooga to Memphis was stopped at Scottsboro, Alabama. The purpose of the stop was for the armed posse of townspeople to arrest every black man on the train after a reported fight with white men that resulted in some of the whites being thrown from the train. While the posse was dealing with the gathered suspects, two women clad in overalls, Victoria Price and Ruby Bates, reported to the sheriff that they had been raped by the nine black men arrested by the posse. Provided with a defense attorney, who never made his association clear to the court, the young men were tried with a mob outside held at bay by the Alabama National Guard. Despite the fact that the women's testimony was ... log in or subscribe to read full text