The way that the Scottsboro trials were handled by the Alabama court system, and the repeated wrongful convictions of the defendants in the face of exonerating evidence, is a prime manifestation of the way that racism worked in the South of the Jim Crow era. Racism is possibly the biggest factor behind the accusation of rape and the mishandling of the case. At the same time however, class differences also provided a motive for some of the actions of the people involved in the case. Ruby Bates and Victoria Price may have found some motivation to accuse the boys to avoid being arrested as hoboes or prostitutes, but once the trials began they were treated better than they had ever been before, and their new, more comfortable life gave them a fear of losing what status they had gained through their accusation. Without a distinct working class the International Labor Defense would probably not have existed, and the boys would not necessarily have had the same defense that they did. While the NAACP may still have come to their aid, there may not have been the same level of protest by the working class against the conviction of the boys. For both the boys and their accusers class influenced the way that they were treated, and they way that they acted. But for each of them class worked differently. In 1931, the 9 boys who would be soon accused of rape were riding illegally on a train that was headed to Memphis Tennessee.
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In a different car of the train were Victoria Price and Ruby Bates. The 9 black boys got into a fight with a group of white boys who were also riding on the train illegally, and when the 9 boys got the upper hand they forced the white boys to get off of the train. After being forced off of the train, the white boys managed to get Paint Rock Alabama before the train and told the local sheriff that a group of black boys had attacked them and forced them off of the train. When the train stopped in Paint Rock, the 9 boys were greeted by a posse of armed men. The boys were taken into custody immediately after immediately after the train was stopped, but the people waiting for them were surprised when two white girls also got off of the train. Victoria Price and Ruby Bates faced the obvious charges of illegally riding on the train, but since they were also riding the train with their boyfriends, they also faced the additional possibility of being charged as prostitutes under the Mann Act. When the sheriff and the other white people in the town saw them get off of the train they were focused on “arresting” the black boys and the two white girls were comparatively seen as innocent, they were simply white and there were black boys to arrest. The two girls were initially offered help getting to a doctor. Even though they were not arrested for hoboing when the train was stopped, they knew that there was still a chance that they would be arrested. “’In the South there isn’t black and white, there is black, white, and poor white’”. When the girls were side by side with black boys, they were seen as innocent, but they knew
In a different car of the train were Victoria Price and Ruby Bates. The 9 black boys got into a fight with a group of white boys who were also riding on the train illegally, and when the 9 boys got the upper hand they forced the white boys to get off of the train. After being forced off of the train, the white boys managed to get Paint Rock Alabama before the train and told the local sheriff that a group of black boys had attacked them and forced them off of the train. When the train stopped in Paint Rock, the 9 boys were greeted by a posse of armed men. The boys were taken into custody immediately after immediately after the train was stopped, but the people waiting for them were surprised when two white girls also got off of the train. Victoria Price and Ruby Bates faced the obvious charges of illegally riding on the train, but since they were also riding the train with their boyfriends, they also faced the additional possibility of being charged as prostitutes under the Mann Act. When the sheriff and the other white people in the town saw them get off of the train they were focused on “arresting” the black boys and the two white girls were comparatively seen as innocent, they were simply white and there were black boys to arrest. The two girls were initially offered help getting to a doctor. Even though they were not arrested for hoboing when the train was stopped, they knew that there was still a chance that they would be arrested. “’In the South there isn’t black and white, there is black, white, and poor white’”. When the girls were side by side with black boys, they were seen as innocent, but they knew