As the Archivist for Morgan County, I’m surrounded at work by the rich tapestry of our local history. The City of Decatur’s story begins over 200 years ago, and it’s filled with events both inspirational and heartbreaking. In our efforts to provide our visitors with an inclusive and honest narrative of our history, the Morgan County Archives has included information about race relations and discrimination in our exhibits. One of these exhibits deals with the infamous “Scottsboro Boys” trials that were held in Decatur during the 1930’s. The exhibit features photographs taken during the March 1933 trial of Haywood Patterson and other artifacts including the witness stand from the courtroom where the trials took place.
The tragic Scottsboro Boys saga began on March 25, 1931, on a freight train travelling from Chattanooga to Memphis. A fight broke out between black and white youths who were riding the rails looking for work in those dark days of economic depression. The whites were forced off the train and they complained to local authorities. The train was stopped in Jackson County, where sheriff’s deputies removed the passengers. Among them were two young women, Victoria Price and Ruby Bates. When questioned, they accused the nine black youths of having sexually assaulted them. The nine were arrested and tried in Scottsboro (hence the name hung on the defendants). A doctor who examined the women stated that their account of what happened was not possible. In truth, Price had instructed Bates to tell the assault story to deflect attention from their own crime, crossing state lines for immoral purposes (they had worked as prostitutes in Chattanooga). After a rushed trial in which they received grossly inadequate legal representation, all but one (Roy Wright, who was 13 at the time) were convicted and sentenced to death.
The trials were moved to Decatur and Haywood Patterson’s first re-trial started in March 1933. The International Labor Defense (ILD) hired Samuel Leibowitz, one of the most famous trial lawyers in the nation, to defend the nine. In a brilliant defense, Leibowitz disproved most of the prosecution’s evidence. Ruby Bates even refuted her earlier testimony and said the pair had lied at Scottsboro. In spite of all this, the all-white, all-male jury convicted Patterson.
In a bold move that cost him his career, Judge James Horton threw out the verdict as not supported by evidence.
Subsequently the defense appealed another of the cases up to the Supreme Court and in Norris v. Alabama, the Court ruled that because there were no blacks on the jury rolls, the defendants were denied their constitutional rights to trials by juries of their peers. Eventually all the defendants were released but all went through harrowing experiences.
A Scottsboro Boys CEOTA Civil Rights Museum is being planned in Decatur by CEOTA (Celebrating Old Town with Art).
CEOTA’s mission is to preserve, educate, inform, promote and share the heritage, stories, and structures of the “Old Town” neighborhood in Decatur, Alabama. Early Old Town was home to mayors, councilmen, physicians, and some of the oldest congregations in the city of Decatur, Alabama. Phase 1 of the Museum is underway now and will involve renovation of the boarding house where one rape accuser, Ruby Mays, stayed during the trials. Learn more about the Scottsboro Boys CEOTA Civil Rights Museum here.