Scottsboro Boys

Haywood Patterson was tried yet again in January 1936 and once again convicted. This time he received a sentence of seventy-five years imprisonment. It was the first time in Alabama history that a black man convicted of raping a white woman had not been sentenced to death.

By the summer of 1937, after numerous trials, appeals, and years in prison the case of the Scottsboro Boys was reaching the end. Seven of the nine Scottsboro Boys had been held in jail for over six years without a trial. On July 12 Clarence Norris began his third trial, which ended with a conviction and a death sentence. Andrew Wright was convicted on July 22. He received a sentence of ninety-nine years. Charles Weems received a seventy-five year sentence two days later.

In a surprise move the State of Alabama dropped charges and announced the freedom of Olen Montgomery, Willie Roberson, Eugene Williams, and Roy Wright. Ozie Powell had his charges dropped when he pled guilty to assault and received a twenty-year sentence. The five Scottsboro defendants jailed remained in prison while demonstrations for their freedom continued until 1942. By that time America became preoccupied with World War II (1939–45).

Either by parole or escape, all of the Scottsboro Boys eventually left Alabama but found limited success in life. Clarence Norris was the only Scottsboro defendant who lived to see an official pardon by the State of Alabama in 1976.