Scottsboro Boys Case Study

In the 1930s the social, political, and racial divisions in the United States were on the rise. During this period, the social division was evident in the financial difficulties of individuals that led to a rise in human trafficking. Men and women would ride trains all over the country looking for jobs and many women were in such financial difficulties that they had to sell sex to survive. In response, the Mann Act was passed, which outlawed travel for prostitution and human trafficking. Political and racial division was evident in the courtrooms across the country as a conflict of democracy and communism arose. The case involving the Scottsboro boys highlighted all the divisions that the country faced. Nine black boys were looking for work …show more content…
The party believed that capitalism would result in bankruptcy and needed to be reformed, but not removed. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, NAACP, fought to overcome racism, inequality, and provide opportunities for African Americans. The Communist Party immediately can to the defense of the Scottsboro boys. The NAACP was directly involved because, the NAACP’s chief lawyer said that the communist party “made it impossible for any aspirant to Negro leadership to advocate less than full economic, political, and social equality (Foner).” Even though the United Communist Party had the intention of fighting against racism, I believe that their political standpoint harmed the Scottsboro boys. By defending the boys, the political aspect of communism was also on trial. If the Scottsboro boys were acquitted, the Communist Party would have also won and gained support. What I found to be the most troubling about the trial was the amount of evidence that revealed the innocence of the boys was ignored. For example, the boys were not even in the same location as the women and the physician that testified even concluded that there was no sign that proved that the women were raped. Despite all this evidence, the boys were imprisoned for many years before they were …show more content…
For example, The Huntsville newspaper was heavily in favor of women and against the Scottsboro boys. The paper described the women as being anguished and in serious conditions and boys were described as “beasts unfit to be called human” (piper). The Afro American newspaper had a neutral stance regarding the case. This paper stated nothing more than the true facts about the trial and provided news as a news source should. In this paper the boys were described “youths” rather than Negroes that was stated in the Huntsville paper. The communist paper was obviously in favor of the Scottsboro boys and it defined them as “innocent” in bold font at the bottom of the paper. There is no doubt that the public opinion of the case was influenced by the paper. These papers also raised awareness of the amount of racism in the state of Alabama. I believe that even though a lot of progress has been made, the public opinion of racism in our state still exists. When people look at the different cities in the State, most will notice that they are dominated by social, political, and racial divisions. However, I believe that the city of Birmingham serves as an example of a city that is rising above these divisions. As I was riding through the downtown area the other night, I noticed the multi-cultural environment of the