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Southern Horrors: Law Lynching in All It’s Phases
Aspects of the Scottsboro trial
Lynching in 1920s america
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Living in the south and being colored, was a rough way to live life. The Scottsboro Boys definitely had life rough. They were arrested, they were put on trial, and they were falsely accused by the whites. The Scottsboro Boys were arrested and put in jail. Being arrested and being innocent, is a rugedy way to live life. Nine colored male teenagres were arested after a fight in Tennessee. Two white females decided to accuse the nine males of rape, even though this had not happened. The nine teenage males were put in multiple trials. The first trial did not go so well for eight of the colored males. They were believed to be guilty for the incident that had occured. Eight of the colored males were subjected to the electric chair, resulting
in death. Another, trial was set in court. One if the colored males, Hayward Patterson, was found to be guilty a second time. Then, the white men falsely accused the nine Scottsboro Boys. The boys that were wrongly accused of rape, were given a pardon. After 82 years, the Scottsboro Boys were given a pardon by the Governor of Alabama. The teenagers, who now are men were finally given some justice by the south. In conclusion, the nine Scottsboro Boys were falsely accused of raping two white females. After they were arrested, went through multiple trials, and were falsely accused by white men.
The details disclosed that the prosecution highlighted the names of the potential black judges and tinted every black potential juror’s name in a different color. There were four different duplicates of the record of all of the individuals summoned for the task in the case. Evert record had a key, which indicated that the highlighted names represented the blacks. Besides, there were no any blotches made for the white jurors on the lists. There were also many marks made on the black people’s names on the juror questionnaires, and there was no any other race that was
Emmett Till, who was born on July 25, 1941, was 14 years old when he was lynched in Mississippi after allegedly flirting with a white woman. He had traveled from his hometown of Chicago to visit his relatives in the South when two white men arrived at his family’s home and dragged him out at gunpoint.
While segregation of the races between Blacks and Whites, de facto race discrimination, had been widespread across the United States by the 1930s, nine African-American Scottsboro Boys whose names are Ozzie Powell, Eugene Williams, Charlie Weems, Willie Robeson, Olen Montgomery, Roy and Andy Wright, Clarence Norris and Heywood Paterson were accused of raping two young white women named Victoria Price and Ruby Bates in Alabama in 1931. Along with the dominant influences of the Scottsboro cases on American civil rights history, the landmark case has substantial impacts on the U.S. Constitution primarily in that U.S. Supreme Court ascertained a defendant’s right to effective counsel.
On March 25, 1931 nine African American youths were falsely accused and wrongfully imprisoned for the rape of two white girls. Over the next six consecutive years, trials were held to attempt to prove the innocence of these nine young men. The court battles ranged from the U.S Supreme court to the Scottsboro county court with almost every decision the same---guilty. Finally, with the proceedings draining Alabama financially and politically, four of the boys ...
They complained that the NAACP was trying to bring fear and hatred to the people by making this situation a race issue. Clearly they hadn’t seen the lynching of young Emmett till as a hate crime against blacks. On September 6th, The same day as tills funeral service, a grand jury in Mississippi met to indict Milam and Bryant for the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till. They both plead innocent, and were held in jail until the start of the trial. The actual trial lasted only an hour an seven minutes. A white juror boasted that it wouldn’t have taken so long had they not stopped to drink coca cola. Whites were careless and insensitive to the seriousness of the case. The life of a teenage boy was dealt with like it mattered less than a worthless animal. Both, Milam and Bryant were not guilty and set free. This story went viral across the world, newspaper articles posted things like “the life of a negro isn’t worth a whistle” and other touchy headlines. Whitfield, S.
The stories that the author told were very insightful to what life was like for an African American living in the south during this time period. First the author pointed out how differently blacks and whites lived. She stated “They owned the whole damn town. The majority of whites had it made in the shade. Living on easy street, they inhabited grand houses ranging from turn-of-the-century clapboards to historics”(pg 35). The blacks in the town didn’t live in these grand homes, they worked in them. Even in today’s time I can drive around, and look at the differences between the living conditions in the areas that are dominated by whites, and the areas that are dominated by blacks. Racial inequalities are still very prevalent In today’s society.
The Emmett Till murder shined a light on the horrors of segregation and racism on the United States. Emmett Till, a young Chicago teenager, was visiting family in Mississippi during the month of August in 1955, but he was entering a state that was far more different than his hometown. Dominated by segregation, Mississippi enforced a strict leash on its African American population. After apparently flirting with a white woman, which was deeply frowned upon at this time in history, young Till was brutally murdered. Emmett Till’s murder became an icon for the Civil Rights Movement, and it helped start the demand of equal rights for all nationalities and races in the United States.
In addition, the jury fails to recognize the disabilities and special circumstances that would prohibit some of the men from being physically able to commit the crime because of their racial prejudice. As the documentary explains, “Two of them are 13 years old at the time the incident took place. One of them was blind. One of them had syphilis and simply couldn’t have had sexual intercourse” (Scottsboro Boys: An American Tragedy). Even as the defense presents these indisputable facts, the jury fails to look past their racial bias of protecting white women to see the disabilities that prove the innocence of the four men. They remain locked away in jail for over six years, until the fourth trial where the court of Alabama recognizes the prejudice-filled verdict and real change occurs, as the new innocent verdict brings justice to the four Scottsboro boys’. The jury reviews the disabilities and acknowledges the undeniable fact that they are not physically capable of rape. As for the other five defendants remaining in custody, the jury cannot look past the color of their skin, even as the defense mentions the abnormality of half of the defendants being guilty and half
The primary thing that persuaded my current viewpoint on race relations was the George Zimmerman trial for the homicide of Trayvon Martin. This was a case that took place when I was relatively young, around the age of ten, so I feel that the event has shaped the way that I view racism today. My mother studied racism for her degree, so I was never particularly ignorant about the topic of race. However, the Trayvon Martin case was the first time in my life that I could remember a blatant and publicized act of racial injustice. Hence, it provided evidence and validation for all the things that I had been taught about race up until this point. However, it further influenced the way I viewed race because it allowed me to see specifically see the
The first vote ended with eleven men voting guilty and one man not guilty. We soon learn that several of the men voted guilty since the boy had a rough background not because of the facts they were presented with. Although numerous jurors did make racist or prejudice comments, juror ten and juror three seemed to be especially judgmental of certain types of people. Juror three happened to be intolerant of young men and stereotyped them due to an incident that happened to his son. In addition, the third juror began to become somewhat emotional talking about his son, showing his past experience may cloud his judgment. Juror ten who considered all people from the slums “those people” was clearly prejudiced against people from a different social background. Also, Juror ten stated in the beginning of the play “You 're not going to tell us that we 're supposed to believe that kid, knowing what he is. Listen, I 've lived among 'em all my life. You can 't believe a word they say. I mean, they 're born liars.” Juror ten did not respect people from the slums and believed them to all act the same. As a result, Juror ten believed that listening to the facts of the case were pointless. For this reason, the tenth juror already knew how “those people” acted and knew for sure the boy was not innocent. Even juror four mentioned just how the slums are a “breeding ground
Yet with the help of one aged yet wise and optimistic man he speaks his opinion, one that starts to not change however open the minds of the other eleven men on the jury. By doing this the man puts out a visual picture by verbally expressing the facts discussed during the trial, he uses props from the room and other items the he himself brought with him during the course of the trial. Once expressed the gentleman essentially demonstrate that perhaps this young man on trial May or may not be guilty. Which goes to show the lack of research, and misused information that was used in the benefit of the prosecution. For example when a certain factor was brought upon the trail; that being timing, whether or not it took the neighbor 15 seconds to run from his chair all the way to the door. By proving this right or wrong this man Juror #4 put on a demonstration, but first he made sure his notes were correct with the other 11 jurors. After it was
The Scottsboro trials started when nine boys between the ages of, the youngest Eugene Williams at 13 and, the oldest Charles Weems 19 at the time, got on a train. Because of the unfairness towards different races, the boys all African American were not supposed to ride a train. Two white women, Victoria Price and Ruby Bates were also, illegally riding the train. When the train came to a stop in Paint Rock Alabama, the posse that stopped the train were very much surprised to have found the two women. They instantly claimed that they had been raped. Just hours later semen was discovered in the women. But the women were calm and not found injured in anyway. The nine boys were accused, even though many believed the women were not raped. Neighbors and family described Bates and Price to be prostitutes. Victoria Price herself came out and fully admitted to their wrong doing. Price stated that Ruby Bates got her into the lie. Resemblance is shown between both of these stories plaintiffs. Miss Mayella Ewell is much like Price. She knows the real situation but defends her father's lie. As Price does, defend her friends. Price and Bates never seem to remember what happened. Anytime they are asked a question it consistently seems to be answered “ I do not remember” or “ I do not know”. As does Miss Ewell. “ What happened next? She can not really remember, but eventually her father and Mr. Tate were there.”
“The trial was brought to a speedy conclusion. Not only did Judge Evans find the twelve guilty, fine them $100 each, and committed them to jail, but five people in the courtroom who had served as witnesses for the defense arrested. […] The police were then instructed to transfer the seventeen prisoners that night to the county jail”(30).
The Scottsboro trial of 12 young African American boys over the alleged rape of rape of 2 white girls was completely unjust, because of lies, ignored the facts, and racism. For example, the first thing to remember is that the boys were put on trial for “raping” two white girls on a train in Tennessee. The girls claimed that the boys made 6 of the 7 seven white boys on the train jump off, then the boys assaulted the women. First of all, during the trial, Victoria Price gave a testimony that crucified the boy, and yet getting sympathy from the jury. Her testimony was not the same as the other girl’s, Ruth Bates. When this happened no one went back to check if any of their stories were true. This was unjust, because in normal cases, without racism, there
The Mississippi Burning Trial” was not for the cold-blooded murders of three young civil rights workers, but rather for the violation of their civil rights. The federal government wanted to break Mississippi’s “white supremacy” stronghold on the South. “The Mississippi Burning Trial” proved to be the opportunity to do so. The three branches of the federal government and their various departments were actively involved in bringing about this civil rights trial in Mississippi and these activities and personal views are well documented in court records, department records, and the press.