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SCOTTSBORO BOYS.
Group of eight original press photographs of the
Scottsboro Boys, and people associated with their case.
Seven 8 x 10 photographs
and one 9 x 11 photograph; some slight wear to several; press data on versos.
Alabama, New York, 1933, 1940, 1949, 1951
[1,500/2,500]
INCLUDES THE CLASSIC JAILHOUSE IMAGE OF THE BOYS AND THEIR ATTORNEY
,
SAMUEL LEI
-
BOWITZ
.
On 25 May, 1931, nine black youths were traveling the same freight train from
Chattanooga to Memphis as two white women and seven white men. After a fight on the train, the
two white women claimed that they had been gang-raped by the boys. In a hasty proceeding, the boys
were represented by two court attorneys: one a drunk and the other an elderly man who frequently
nodded off during the “trial”. The grand jury indicted all nine for rape. A week later trials began and
eight of the nine were sentenced to death; the jury deadlocked over the fate of the youngest, only 12.
Nearly a decade of trials and retrials followed, ending with death sentences for most of the boys (later
commuted to life). One of the women recanted her testimony, but too late to be of any help. The
Scottsboro case brought national attention to Jim Crow justice in the deep South. The NAACP
dropped the case in 1932, which was then picked up by the Communist Party’s International Labor
Defense.
Most of the photos offered here date from 1933, the time of the second mistrial. Included is a photo of
Orville Gilley, one of the white hobos and the Court’s prime witness against the boys.