Group+3--Scottsboro+Boys+Tribute

= Scottsboro Boys Tribute = Group 3: Hannah Andreae, Ashley Henke, Taylor Dement, Emily Hettinger The Scottsboro boys were a group of nine black teenagers that were accused of raping two white girls on a train. They were put on trial and sentenced to death. Victoria Price was in serious trouble because she was taking Ruby Bates across state lines which Ruby is a minor and was illegal, so she said that the black men had raped them. In 1931, raping someone was disciplinary by death.

[]

Among the despair and inequity, the nine boys who were involved never once gave up hope. Each man has a very interesting history.

As I said, each man has an interesting history, however, Charles had a difficult life. His mother died when he was four and only one of his other siblings survived childhood. Charles finished fifth grade and then worked in a pharmacy. Charles Weems was arrested in March, 1931. He kept a clean prison record and was paroled in 1943. He was first convicted of rape in 1937. Charles was also involved in the second trial in 1937. In 1934, he was tear-gassed and beaten for reading Communist literature that had been sent to him. With the tear gas, came permanent eye injures. Also in 1937, he came down with tuberculosis. In 1938 he was stabbed by a prison guard who thought he was Andy Wright. Weems was released from jail in 1943. He moved back to Atlanta where he married and took a laundering job.
 * Charles Weems**

Clarence was the second of eleven children. He only was educated to the second grade, as he had to work in the cotton fields. Later in life, Norris worked for a Goodyear plant. He failed to admit to the rape of Victoria and Ruby, as explained above. Before the first trial, Norris claimed he got taken from his jail cell and beaten. He also claimed that he had not raped the two young women, but every other one of the men that were getting accused, had. Norris's second conviction was overturned by the United States Supreme Court in the case of Norris vs Alabama, which proved that Alabams's system of excluding blacks from jury rolls violated the Fourteenth Amendment. Norris was convicted a third time in 1937 and was sentenced to death. However, Governor Graves sentenced him to life in prison. Five other men were released that were also prosecuted for the same rape, while Clarence "was paying the price for their freedom." While he was in prison, he fought a lot. After one incident in 1943, Norris ended in a hole for 10 days with only a blanked, bread, and some water. Also, during another incident he was beaten with a leather strap. Norris was first paroled in 1944, he moved to New York in violation of this parole and was returned to prison. In 1946, he was paroled again. He got a job shoveling coal in Cleveland for three years, then moved to New York again. In 1956, Norris was unemployed and visited Samuel Liebowitz who arranged a job for him as a dishwasher. In the 1960's, Clarence asked for help from the NAACP in getting a pardon from the State of Alabama. He had, obviously, violated parole when he left Alabama and was a fugitive subject to parole revocation and had to return to prison. A successful campaign was mounted, and in 1976 he recieved his pardon from Governor George Wallace.
 * Clarence Norris**

Andy Wright had a brother, Roy, who was also accused of this rape. Wright attended school in Chattanooga until sixth grade. He had to quit school then because his father died and he needed to help his mother support the family. He drove a truck for a produce distributor at age twelve. That job kept him going for seven years, until the distributor's insurence company heard of his young age and raised the rates. Andy was nineteen years old when he was arrested. While in prison, Life Magazine (1937) described Andy as "the best natured" of the Scottsboro boys, although he was oftenly ill and depressed. He was also said to be mistrustful, somewhat of a loner, and to have a mean streak. He was also beaten by prison guards and even other inmates. He had been beaten so severely that he required hospitalization. Wright was paroled in Jauary 1944. He married a woma from Mobil that same year. He tood a job for two years, driving a grocery delivery truck. Wright also left Alabams in violation of he parole in 1946, was arrested, and was in and out of prison for the next four years. On June 6, 1950, he left Kilby prison for good-the last of the Scottsboro Boy's to be freed. In 1951, he was once again accused of raping a 13 year old gir. NAACP investigators viewed the charges fasle. Wright had been dating the girl's mother and his accuser.
 * Andy Wright**

Powell was born in rural Georgia, and had only one year of schooling, to the point where he could write his own name. He worked in llumber camps and descibed himself as quiet, shy, and bashful. Ozie was sixteen years old when he was arrested, however he was said to have not been in the train incidenct but had witnessed it. In February 1936, after testifying at Hayward Patterson's fourth trial, Powell was loaded into a car with Clarence and Roy. The three were handcuffed together in the backseat, while a sherrif and deputy rode in front. Powell and the deputy got into an argument, the deputy hit Powell on his head, Powell took a pen knife that had no been shown in detection during a search out of his pants, and slashed the deputys throat. With this, the sheriff stopped the car, got out, and fired a bullet that went right through his brain. Powell survived but, obviously, suffered sever brain damage. He had trouble speaking and hearing, memory loss, and weakness in his right leg and arm. On the operating table, Powell told his mother, "I done give up...cause everybody in Alabama is down on me and is mad at me." Like Clarence Norris, Powell had his pre-parole interview with Governor Graves in 1938. Ozie refused to answer the questions saying, "I don't want to say nothing to you." Graves decided not to parole Powell. In June of 1946, he was finally released from prison and moved back to Georgia.
 * Ozie Powell**

Montgomery was seventeen at the time of his arrest. Olen Montgomery was born in Monroe, Georgia, where he went to school through fifth grade. Olen was consistent in his story, and by 1937 every prosecutor who dealt with the Scottsboro cases agreed Montgomery was innocent. Montgomery was one of four Scottsboro Boys released in July of 1937. During his six years in jail he was nearly blind in one eye, but wrote frequent letters to his supporters asking for such things as six-string guitars and money to buy a night with a woman. After he was freed in 1937, Montgomery said that he wanted to be a lawyer or musician. Montgomery bought a saxophone, then a guitar, and practiced as much as possible. Mongomery did not like his jobs as a dishwasher, porter, or laborer, becuase they were getting in the way of his "musical calling." He agreed to tour the country with Roy Wright for the Defense Committee and spoke at a number of SDC-arranged meetings. Montgomerywent back and forth between New York City and Georgia, drinking heavily, and rarely keeping a job for more than a few months. Sometime after 1960, Montgomery settled for good in Georgia.
 * Olen Montgomery**

Eugene Williams had worked as a dishwasher in a Chattanooga cafe before he was prosecuted. At trial, Williams admitted that he fought with white boys on the train, but denied having seen Price or Bates until after his arrest. In prison, Williams said that "getting out is the main thing I think about." Life Magazine (1937) an article described Williams as "a sullen, shifty mulatto" who "tries to impress interviewers with his piety." In July 1937, the state dropped his charges, citing his youth at the time of the alleged incident. After his release he told Samuel Liebowitz that he hoped to have a job someday in a jazz orchestra. He moved to St. Louis where he had relatives, and where his sponsors hoped that he would enroll in a Baptist seminary. Eugene Williams was thirteen when arrested along with his friends the Wright brothers and Haywood Patterson in March, 1931.
 * Eugene Williams**

Willie Roberson was seventeen when he supposedly raped Ruby on the freight train. Williee was suffering from a serious case of syphillis, with sores all over his genitals, that would have made intercourse very painful. Roberson had to walk with a cane so obviously he was not physically able to jump from car to car, as Ruby had said. So with the strength of Bates and Price, Roberson was prosecuted. Price said that Roberson held her legs apart while other boys yelled "pour it to her." However, the prosecution surprisingly used Roberson's syphillis condition to its advantage, saying that he gave her syphillis because she had gotten the disease in 1931. Roberson was no where near the scene of the so called rape. He was alone in a boxcar near the caboose. Roberson never once changed his story. Eventually, prosecutors started to believe him, and Roberson was one of four Scottsboro Boys released in July of 1937. After his release, Roberson lived in New York City where he found steady work. Roberson's six years in jail were difficult. Roberson suffered from asthma, and the lack of fresh air did not help this condition. He was diagnosed (as were four other Scottsboro Boys) with "prison neurosis." With the situation he was in, Willie said, "If I don't get free I just rather they give me the electric chair and be dead out of my misery."
 * Willie Roberson**

Roy Wright was twelve or thirteen when he was arrested. H also was the youngest of the "Scottsboro Boys." He was the brother of Andy Wright, who was also arrested for the alleged rape on March 25, 1931. Wright was on his first trip away from his home in Chattanooga, where he worked in a grocery store. His one and only trial ended in a mistrial when eleven jurors wanted a death senctence, but instead gave him a life sentence, beings his age. At the first trials in Scottsboro, Wright testified that he saw other defendants rape the white girls. He later said that he did it because he was threatened and severely beaten by authorities. Wright kept a Bible with him in jail, where he was held for six years without retrial. In a letter to his mother he wrote, "I am all lonely and thinking of you...I feel like I can eat some of your cooking Mom." Wright went, along with others, over a year without fresh air. " Alabama decided to drop all charges against Wright in 1937. After he was set free, he told Samuel Leibowitz that wanted to be a lawyer or a teacher. After going on a national tour for the Scottsboro Defense Committee, Wright served in the army, got married, and took a job with the merchant marine. In 1959, after returning from an extended stay at sea, Wright became convinced that his wife had been unfaithful. Wright shot and killed his wife, then killed himself." (from law2.umkc.edu)
 * Roy Wright**

Patterson was born in Georgi. The son of a sharecropper who moved to Chattanooga to work as a steelworker.He was educated to the third grade, working as a delivery boy for a time after he quit. He was already a veteran of the rails when arrested in Paint Rock in 1931. He had been riding the train across the country since he was fourteen. Haywood was pretty much known as the center of "The Scottsboro Boys." He was seen as the most guilty and defiant of the boys. He was arrested when he was eighteen. Patterson faced the most trials and convictions (four between 1931 and 1937), did the hardest time in Alabama prisons, managed the most prison escapes (two), and whose story was first told in the book //Scottsboro Boy//. "After being falsely accused of rape in 1931, Patterson spent the next sixteen years in Alabama courtrooms and prisons. Tried four times, Patterson was convicted and sentenced to death three times, before receiving a seventy-five year sentence from his fourth jury. Patterson, either awaiting trial or serving time, spent time in jails and prisons in Scottsboro, Decatur, Birmingham, Kilby (the death house), and Atmore." (from law2.umkc.edu) Patterson managed two escapes, as stated above. The first time was in April of 1943 and gave Pattersononly five days of freedom before he was captured, only to face harsher treatment from prison guards. The second escape was on July 17, 1947, when Patterson was working on a prison farm. He and a number of other inmates began running through tall rows of corn, then out into the woods, through snake-infested creeks. Cornered by three dogs, Patterson drowned two before scaring off the third. After a few close calls, Patterson made his way to Atlanta, then Chattanooga, then to the home of his sister in Detroit. At age thirty-six, Patterson was able to enjoy his first beer. In 1950 Patterson was charged with murder when he was involved in a bar fight, that ended in the death of the other man.
 * Haywood Patterson**

[] Victoria Price was a stubborn, rough-hearted lady. Victoria had a hard life; she was only 21 and had been charged with adultry, vacancy, and had been in the half house. She was full of trouble, hearing about this tragedy makes me realize that the trouble only worsens. In Chattanooga Victoria accused nine black men of raping her while being on a freight train. The rape trial lasted for over six years which led to one of the most tragic cases in America history. In 1931, Victoria was working at a cotton mill for $1.20 a day; but that job was not going to last due to the fact of the depression it was bound to shut down. Fortunately Victoria Price and her friend Ruby Bates decided to go job hunting in Chattanooga and that is when the nine boys came along. As I said earlier in the paragraph Victoria was a troubled lady; she was a hard drinker and had a rough past. She was a widow in well mixed cultural town; Victoria made love in box cars, on the streets, old buildings, etc. Her daily outfit consisted old beaten raggy clothing with overalls and a sack for a shirt. To Victoria Price her neighbors referred to her as 'a common street prostitute to the lowest type,' Price was obviously well hated in her town. One night Price was arriving home late when a brawl was appearing. However she may have thought she were alone but she was not; a man was standing nearby and seen it all. She was fighting with another woman ripping off all clothing and showing her private parts. Some heard her say stuff about negro men and showing the size of their private parts; how trashy! Moving onto the trial, lawyer says that Price was a very difficult client that was not easily trapped. Frequently she would swear, evasive, and tons of sarcasm just to avoid questions she could not answer truthfully. Victoria would basically deny everything; for example when asked about adultery or past things she has said, she would just pretend she doesn't know what it is. As shown in the movie; the lawyer presented a toy freight train to ask Price what exactly happened on the train. Price, however, said she was not on that train; for far too short and it's only a toy. That proves Victoria was not the smartest lady around or just did not have common sense. She claims as the boys raping her were saying "I'm going to pull this in and pull it out then you will have negro baby." Now only the question is if it is true to what the boys actually said, or the rape actually appeared. The rape couldn't have happened because the semen inside her was appeared from the night before with another man having sexual intercourse by the railroad already! In a private conference with the prosecutors, Victoria was still being stubborn because they asked her if she could drop the charges against four of the Scottsboro boys, but no surprise she refused. In 1976 NBC hosted a show about everything that happened without Price's permission. Of course Victoria became fustrated and pleaded for it to end. The TV cast ended the show to please Price. In 1986 Victoria Price died without any apology to the boys or anyone for that matter. []
 * Victoria Price**

Ruby Bates was a 17-year old girl who was very different from her friend Victoria. Unlike Price; Bates was a shy and quite girl who was friendly to most townspeople. As I was saying it doesn't make much sense for someone polite to be such good friends with Victoria but of course Victoria changed her, then Ruby got into some serious trouble. Ruby's lifestyle was pretty average accept for the fact her father was rarely in the picture. She grew up with five other siblings and well-respected mother. The odd thing though is the Bates family was the only white family on the street, Ruby felt a little alone in her neighborhood. One time a Social Service man came over to check the house out and said that 'niggers use to live here I can smell it, and you sure will not be able to get the nigger smell out.' The father was there visiting at the time as well and surely enough he did not smell anything wrong. A good point about the Scottsboro Trial is if it were white boys that raped these two young girls, would there even be a trial? Back then there was a huge difference between black men and white woman; black men could not get away with anything. Living on a street full of blacks, Ruby felt inequality to everyone else. The black men on the street would call her the lowest of the low white woman out there and things similar to that. Ruby tried to ignore them because what she said to the judge and her lawyer, the black men who raped her meant nothing at all to her! After everything that happened, Ruby's family started to drift apart badly. Her mother found "someone" and would come home with him drunk to be crazy in front of her kids. One of the sisters and the mother were starting to show no concern for Ruby because they just did not care anymore about the trial. Ruby was hardly even apart of the trail because Victoria wanted the show all for herself to basically have Bates has a backup. Speaking in front of a whole jury was a piece of cake for Price but for Ruby, it was much harder. Also Ruby could not identify the ones who attacked her; so that made Victoria even madder! Victoria called the boys who raped her her 'niggers boys,' why would she have such a name for them if she hated them? Both woman told the prosecutor in their own words that they had hardly any idea to what they were saying just that they wanted all the men dead as soon as possible. In my own opinion Ruby Bates seems liked a nice girl until she met Victoria Price. However personally Ruby could have stood up for herself to not cause so much pain upon her family. [|http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scottsboro/SB_HRrep.html#Ruby%20Bates%20and%20Her%20Family]
 * Ruby Bates**


 * How was it resolved?**

On July 22, 1937, Andrew Wright was convicted of rape and sentenced to 99 years. He was paroled, but returned to prison after violating parole. He was released in 1950 and was paroled in New York. Charlie Weems was convicted of rape in July 24, 1937 and sentenced to 105 years in prison. He was paroled in 1943 after serving 12 years. On July 24, 1937, the state of Alabama dropped charges against Willie Roberson, Olen Montgomery, Eugene Williams, and Roy Wright. July 15, 1937 Clarence Norris was convicted of rape and sexual assault and sentenced to death. His sentence was reduced to life in prison, he was paroled in 1946. January 24, 1936 Ozzie Powell was shot in the head by Sheriff Jay Sandlin while Powell was attacking Deputy Sheriff Edgar Blalock. On July 26, 1937, Haywood Patterson was sent to Atmore State Prison Farm, and all the remaining boys were sent to Kilby Prison. Governor Graves had planned to pardon them in 1938, but didn’t like their hostility and their refusal to admit guilt, so he refused the pardons. []