Essay about Scottsboro Boys and White Males Steps

Submitted By Jayda-Dorsey
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Pages: 3
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A crime that never occurred. Convicted felons, alleged perpetrators, rapist, and criminals are all stereotypes of the African American man. These where also stereotypes used in two similar cases, “The Scottsboro Nine” and “Central Park Five”. In 1931 and again in 1989 these two groups of males were accused of rapping white women. African American men over the course of decades have struggled for justice and inequality; have been falsely convicted with an insufficient amount of evidence, negatively portrayed in the media, and racially profiled for generations. During the Depression year of 1931 hoboing was used as a common form of pastime. Riding freight trains was an adventure used for escaping the toil of everyday lives. On March 25, 1931, four black teenagers in search of work along with five other black teens from Georgia boarded the freight train. Among these passengers were an additional four whites, two males and 2 females. While walking through the freight one of the white males steps on the hand of Haywood Patterson one of the black youths. A fight then broke out between the two ethnic groups. Eventually all the whites where forced off the train, except one. After losing the fight the whites left at Stevenson, Alabama went to the nearest police station and reported the incident as an assault by a gang of blacks. The stationmaster called ahead and had the train stopped in Paint Rock, Alabama. At the stopping of the train armed men surrounded the freight captured and arrested the nine boys. They where then taken to jail for assault and attempted murder in Scottsboro where they became known as “The Scottsboro Boys”. The two white females aboard the train Victoria Price and Ruby Bates said to have came in contact with the group of black boys. They told one of the members of the boys that they where raped by another gang of 12 blacks The two women, who had had sexual relations with some of the white men thrown off the train where in fear of prosecution for their sexual activity with the white men so they agreed to testify against the black youths. When brought into questioning, Victoria Price pointed to detectives that six of the nine boys brought in were their perpetrators. With no
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