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Untitled timeline
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Scottsboro brothers are arrested
March 25 1931
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Posse stops Southern Railroad train in Paint Rock, Alabama. Scottsboro boys are arrested on charges of assault. Rape charges are added against all nine boys after accusations are made by Victoria Price and Ruby Bates.
Lynching
March 26 1931
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Scottsboro boys are nearly lynched by crowd of over 100 gathered around Scottsboro's jail.
Rape
March 30 1931
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Grand jury indicts the nine Scottsboro boys of rape.
NAACP battle
April 1931 - December 1931
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NAACP and International Labor Defense (ILD) battle for the right to represent the Scottsboro boys.
Trials Begin
April 6 1931
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Trial begins in Scottsboro before judge A.E Hawkins
Sentencing to Death.
April 7 1931 - April 9 1931
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Clarence Norris, Charlie Weems, Haywood Patterson, Olen Montgomery, Ozie Powell, Willie Roberson, Eugene Williams, and Andy Wright are tried and convicted, and sentenced to death. The trial of Roy Wright ends in a mistrial when some jurors hold out for a death sentence even though the prosecution asked for life imprisonment.
Executions
June 22 1931
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Executions are stayed pending appeal to Alabama Supreme Court.
Execution of Willie Stokes
July 10 1931
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On the date first set for their executions, the Scottsboro boys listen to the execution of Willie Stokes, the first of ten blacks to be executed at the prison over the next ten years. After hearing gruesome reports of the execution, many of the boys report nightmares or sleepless nights.
Withdraws
January 1932
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NAACP withdraws from case.
Denial
January 5 1932
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Ruby Bates, in a letter to a Earl Streetman, denies that she was raped.
Alabama Supreme Court
March 1932
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Alabama Supreme Court, by a vote of 6-1, affirms the convictions of seven of the boys. The conviction of Eugene Williams is reversed on the grounds that he was a juvenile under state law in 1931.
Review of Scottsboro
May 1932
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The U. S. Supreme Court announces that it will review the Scottsboro cases.
Reverse convictions
November 1932
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The Supreme Court, by a vote of 7-2, reverses the convictions of the Scottsboro boys in Powell vs. Alabama. Grounds for reversal are that Alabama failed to provide adequate assistance of counsel as required by the due process clause of the 14th Amendment.
Samuel S. Leibowitz
January 1933
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Samuel S. Leibowitz, a New York lawyer, is retained by the ILD to defend the Scottsboro boys.
Second trial
March 27 1933
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Haywood Patterson's second trial begins in Decatur before judge James Horton.
Electric Chair
April 9 1933
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Haywood Patterson found guilty by jury and sentenced to death in the electric chair.
Tension uprises
April 18 1933
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Judge Horton postpones the trials of the other Scottsboro boys because of dangerously high local tensions.
Thousands march in protest
May 7 1933
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In one of many protests around the country thousands march in Washington protesting the Alabama trials of the Scottsboro boys.
Haywood Patterson
June 22 1933
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Judge Horton sets aside Haywood Patterson's conviction and grants a new trial.