Timeline of Scottsboro Boys

March 25, 1931

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.

March 26, 1931

Scottsboro boys are nearly lynched by crowd of over 100 gathered around Scottsboro's jail.

March 30, 1931

Grand jury indicts the nine Scottsboro boys for rape.

April 6, 1931

Trials begin in Scottboro before Judge A. E. Hawkins.

April 7-9,1931

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.

April -Dec., 1931

NAACP and International Labor Defense (ILD) battle for the right to represent the Scottsboro boys.

June 22, 1931

Executions are stayed pending appeal to Alabama Supreme Court.

July 10, 1931

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.

January, 1932

NAACP withdraws from case.

January 5, 1932

Ruby Bates, in a letter to a Earl Streetman, denies that she was raped.

March, 1932

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.

May, 1932

The U. S. Supreme Court announces that it will review the Scottsboro cases.

November, 1932

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.

January, 1933

Samuel S. Leibowitz, a New York lawyer, is retained by the ILD to defend the Scottsboro boys.

March 27, 1933

Haywood Patterson's second trial begins in Decatur before judge James Horton.

April 9, 1933

Haywood Patterson found guilty by jury and sentenced to death in the electric chair.

April 18, 1933

Judge Horton postpones the trials of the other Scottsboro boys because of dangerously high local tensions.

May 7, 1933

In one of many protests around the nation, thousands march in Washington protesting the Alabama trials

June 22, 1933

Judge Horton sets aside Haywood Patterson's conviction and grants a new trial.

October 20, 1933

The Scottsboro cases are removed from Judge Horton's jurisdiction and transferred to Judge William Callahan's court.

Nov.-Dec., 1933

Haywood Patterson and Clarence Norris are tried for rape, convicted, and sentenced to death.

June 12, 1934

Judge Horton, who had faced no opposition in his previous race, is defeated in his bid for re-election.

June, 1934

Alabama Supreme Court affirms the convictions of Haywood and Norris.

October, 1934

Two lawyers are charged with attempting to bribe Victoria Price in order to change her testimony.

January, 1935

The U. S. Supreme Court agrees to review the most recent Scottsboro convictions.

April 1, 1935

The U.S. Supreme Court overturns the convictions of Norris and Patterson because African Americans were excluded from sitting on the juries in their trials. Patterson v. State of Alabama, 294 U.S. 600 (1935); Norris v. State of Alabama, 294 U.S. 587 (1935)

December, 1935

The Scottsboro Defense Committee is organized.

January 23, 1936

Haywood Patterson is convicted for a fourth time of rape and is sentenced to 75 years in prison.

January 24, 1936

Ozzie Powell is shot in the head by Sheriff Jay Sandlin while attacking Deputy Sheriff Edgar Blalock.

December, 1936

Thomas Knight meets with Samuel Leibowitz in New York to discuss a possible compromise.

June 14, 1937

Conviction of Haywood Patterson is upheld by the Alabama Supreme Court.

July, 1937

Clarence Norris is convicted of rape and sentenced to death. Andy Wright is convicted and sentenced to 99 years for rape. Charlie Weems is convicted and sentenced to 75 years. Ozzie Powell pleads guilty to assaulting the sheriff and is sentenced to 20 years.

July 24, 1937

Roy Wright, Eugene Williams, Olen Montgomery and Willie Roberson were released after all charges were dropped against them

June, 1938

Alabama Supreme Court upholds the death sentence for Clarence Norris.

July 5, 1938

Clarence Norris's death sentence is reduced to life in prison by Governor Graves.

August, 1938

Alabama Pardon Board declines to pardon Patterson and Powell.

October, 1938

Pardon Board denies the pardon applications of Norris, Weems, and Roy Wright.

October, 1938

Governor Graves interviews Scottsboro boys.

November, 1938

Governor Graves denies all pardon applications.

September, 1943

Charlie Weems is paroled.

January, 1944

Norris and Andy Wright are paroled.

September, 1944 Norris and Wright leave Montgomery in violation of their paroles.

October, 1944

Norris is returned to prison.

June, 1946

Ozzie Powell is paroled.

September, 1946

Norris, paroled again, leaves Alabama.

October, 1946

Andy Wright is returned to Kilby prison.

July, 1948

Haywood Patterson escapes from prison.

June, 1950

Andy Wright is paroled. FBI arrests Patterson, but Michigan's governor refuses extradition to Alabama.

December, 1950

Patterson is involved in a barroom fight resulting in the death of another man. Haywood is charged with murder.

September, 1951

Patterson is convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 6 to 15 years. He dies of cancer less than a year later.

October, 1976

Clarence Norris is pardoned by Alabama Governor George Wallace.

July, 1977

Victoria Price's suit against NBC for its movie "Judge Horton and the Scottsboro Boys," which she claimed defamed her and invaded her privacy, is dismissed. Price dies five years later.

Jan. 23, 1989

Clarence Norris, the last surviving Scottsboro boy, dies at age 76.

April 19, 2013

Alabama Governor Robert Bentley signs legislation officially pardoning and exonerating all nine Scottsboro Boys.

Source

All sources goes to Famous Trails

Coming Soon BOYS LIKE US

A one act play explores an imaginary dream sequence where the Exonerated Central Park Five (Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana Jr., Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, and Korey Wise.) meets the Scottsboro Boys (Haywood Patterson, Charlie Weems, Ozie Powell, Clarence Norris, Olen Montgomery, Willie Roberson, Eugene Williams, Andy Wright, and Leroy “Roy” Wright) from the 1930s who were accused of raping two white women in Alabama. They befriended each other and shared their similar tragic injustice events with each other and the audience.