The Scottsboro Boys: An American Tragedy

The Superiority of Whites over Blacks

Back in the early 1930s in Southern Alabama everything was seen as black and white. The color white was definitely superior to the black color. Black people were highly motivated to work and produce for their future and families, but there was this racism; discrimination; and segregation against colored people that impeded their success. All of this factors that destroyed the lives of 9 young black teenagers. Only southerner whites had the opportunity to have better jobs such as being a police officer; the respect from their society; and most importantly the power to do whatever they pleased, including mistreating this minority group. Just because of their color of skin, they even had to be distant with white females. Wherever they were seen, they were discriminated or rejected from the whites. Basically, where there were whites, can’t be blacks because they were always insulted or told to go away. This is how the whole thing with the Scottsboro boys begin. …show more content…
This case started in Alabama, but it rapidly became a national concern. These 9 young black males were accused of raping two young white females, Victoria Price and Ruby Bates. At that time accusing a black person of rape or even assault was a huge deal. It is the same as today, but in terms of the crime itself it calls people’s attention, not so much the person’s skin color. It was so much easier to believe that they did committed this severe crime due to the social context they were put up into. Southerner whites truly believe that black people were not a model of productive members of