Scottsboro Boys

Uncommon card · No. 79178

The Scottsboro Boys were nine African American male teenagers accused of raping a young white woman and a 17-year-old white girl in 1931. The landmark set of legal cases from this incident dealt with racism and the right to a fair trial. The cases included a lynch mob before the suspects had been indicted, all-white juries, rushed trials, and disruptive mobs. It is commonly cited as an example of a legal injustice in the United States legal system. On March 25, 1931, two dozen people were "hoboing" on a freight train traveling between Chattanooga and Memphis, Tennessee. The hobos were an equal mix of blacks and whites. A group of whites gathered rocks and attempted to force all the black teenagers from the train, but were unsuccessful. The humiliated white teenagers jumped or were forced off the train and reported to a nearby train master that they had been attacked by a group of black teenage boys. Shortly thereafter, the police stopped and searched the train at Paint Rock, Alabama and...

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