"Scottsboro Boys" Case Landmark Decisions

In a series of racially charged trials in Alabama, nine African American males ages 13 to 20 were falsely accused of raping two white women on a freight train. After all-white juries in Jackson County convicted the defendants, attorneys for the International Labor Defense guided their appeals and argued that the trial judge had failed to appoint adequate counsel. In Powell v. Alabama (1932), the U.S. Supreme Court agreed, establishing a constitutional right to a competent defense. A change of venue moved the trials to Decatur, where New York attorney Samuel Leibowitz became lead counsel for the defense, but retrials by all-white juries also ended in convictions. On appeal, the International Labor Defense won reversal by showing that blacks had been excluded from jury duty in Morgan County, and in Norris v. Alabama (1935) the Supreme Court ruled that a defendant must receive a trial by a jury of one's peers.

Decatur, Alabama · United States