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A fight breaks out between groups of young black and white passengers riding a freight train. The wite boys were forced off of the train. The Boys called ahead to the next stop telling police to apprehend the black boys. When the train stopped just outside Paint Rock, they black youths were greated by local police and a mob. Nine black youths ranging in age from 13 to 20. The police also questioned two white women who were illegaly riding the train, and said the blacks raped them.
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Before Judge A. E. Hawkins, Clarence Norris and Charlie Weems are tried, convicted, and sentenced to death.
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Before Judge A. E. Hawkins, Clarence Norris and Charlie Weems are tried, convicted, and sentenced to death.
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Before Judge A. E. Hawkins, Olen Montgomery, Ozie Powell, Willie Roberson, Eugene Williams, and Andy Wright are tried, convicted, and sentenced to death.
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The trial For Roy Wright (who was 13 at the time) ends in a mistrial, due to the fact that 11 out of 13 jurors want the death penalty, while one just wanted life in prission.
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Progressive national organizations take up the Scottsboro case and call for the country to reject the Alabama frame-up. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the International Labor Defense (I.L.D.) court the defendants, their parents, and public opinion for the right to represent the young men in an appeal, and raise money for their defense.
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The executions of the defendants are stayed pending appeal to the Alabama Supreme Court.
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The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People walks away from the case, leaving the fate of the Scottsboro nine in tha hands of the International Labor Defense
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In a decision of 6-1, the Supreme Court of Alabama upholds the decision of the trial judge
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The United States Supreme Court agrees to hear the case.
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In Powell v. Alabama, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the defendants were denied the right to counsel. The court orders new trials.
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International Labor Defense (I.L.D.) asks well known american lawer Samuel Leibowitz to take the case
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Patterson is found guilty and sentenced to death
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unanimously denies the request for a new set of trials
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Two lawyers that have links with the I.L.D are caught with nearly $1, 500 trying to bribe Victoria Price (one of the girls who claimed that the nine had raped the girls) to changer her testimony
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The case is back in the Supreme Court again, this time because the jurry was composed of only white members
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In Norris v. Alabama, the United States Supreme Court finds the exclusion of blacks on jury rolls deprived black defendants of their rights to equal protection under the law
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The Scottsboro Defense Committee (SDC) is formed
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While being transported Ozie Powell pulls a knife and slashes a Deputy throat. The sherrif stops the car, and shoots Ozie Powell in the head. Everybody survives.
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Patterson is found guilty and sentenced to 75 years in prison
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Prosecuting attorney Lieutenant Governor Thomas Knight meets the defence council in New York to negotiate a compromise
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Alabama Supreme Court upholds Patterson's conviction
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The third trial of Clarence Norris ends in a death sentence
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The trial of Andy Wright ends in conviction and a sentence of 99 years.
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The trial of Charley Weems ends in conviction and a sentence of 75 years
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Ozie Powell pleads guilty to assaulting Blalock and is sentenced to 20 years in prisson. The rape charges against him are dropped
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Rape charges against the last four defendants, Olen Montgomery, Willie Roberson, Eugene Williams, and Roy Wright, are dropped
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The U.S. Supreme Court declines to hear the appeal of Haywood Patterson
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Governor Bibb Graves meets with Allan Knight Chalmers to discuss granting a pardon to the five convicted Scottsboro defendants.
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The Alabama Supreme Court affirms the sentences given Norris, Andy Wright and Weems
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Governor Graves commutes Norris's death sentence to life imprisonment
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Governor Graves meets with the convicted Scottsboro defendants in his office to consider parole
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Governor Graves meets with the convicted Scottsboro defendants in his office to consider parole
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Governor Graves denies the pardon applications of all five Scottsboro defendants
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Andy Wright and Clarence Norris are released on parole
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Wright and Norris leave Alabama, in violation of their parole. Chalmers persuades them to return to the South and, despite promises to be lenient, both are returned to jail, Norris in October 1944, Wright in October 1946
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Patterson dies of cancer
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Roy Wright dies
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Clarence Norris is pardoned
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Clarence Norris, the last of the Scottsboro Boys, dies
