The evolution of race relations in our country has progressed largely at the expense of all minorities but especially the African-American population. When the United States of America was founded racial inequality was considered to be the norm. There were definite differences in the lives and customs between “whites or caucasians” and “African-Americans”. This was especially true in the southern states of our country. Although it was evident everywhere it was very blatant in the south. Adults were guilty of prejudices, religious bias and their own personal interpretations of “right” and “wrong”. Caucasian people were given privileges and opportunities that were never even considered for people of color.
Many glaring examples …show more content…
In the 1930s two white men and two white women boarded a train in Alabama. There were thirteen black males that boarded the same train. The black men and the white men had a dispute which then turned into a fight. The thirteen black men one of which was said to have a pistol, threw the white men off the train. The white women, of which one of them was a known prostitute, claimed that they were then raped by the black men. When the train was stopped in Paint Rock, Alabama, the townspeople and local law enforcement took the black males into custody. They were charged for throwing the white men off the train and the supposed rape of the two white women. The trials lasted from 1931-1937. The black males did say that they threw the white men off the train but they denied rape charges. Throughout the trials some were proven guilty and some were proven innocent. Even the ones that were proven guilty were eventually let out of prison because evidence kept changing and new stories told. The community however could not let it go. They always found new reasons to bring the Scottsboro boys back into the courts and into prison. Even after one of the women stated in a letter that they were never raped by the Scottsboro boys, much of the community just went off a white woman 's statement of lies and the fact that the Scottsboro boys were black. Even after all the trials were over the boys always seemed to be back in prison or slandered by the community and media. The last surviving Scottsboro boy died at the age of