Aim

Aim of the Scottsboro Trials Kylie Lizardi

The aim of the people in the Scottsboro Trials was essentially to prove the boys innocent. In that time, blacks were automatically considered worth less than white men, therefore they were not even going to be given a trial initially. But because they gave them a right to a trial, they believed that they did not do it and they were going to prove it. In Douglas Linder’s research on the event, he reveals the purpose of the court case. He says, “Defense witnesses were all called to serve a single purpose: to prove Price a liar and convince the jury that no rape had occurred aboard the Southern Railroad freight” (Linder). Their “single purpose” was to save these boys’ lives, because they had no one to stand up for them. In the end, they were unsuccessful, but the trials lasted six years; six years of struggle to save nine boys being accused of a crime they did not commit. The defense cared enough to argue for six years that they should live.

While the aim of the people in the trial was to save the boys’ lives, the trial itself symbolizes many things in history. One of them includes revealing people’s insensitivity and heartlessness. Nine innocent boys were accused of raping two white women, that were seemingly fine, and because of their skin color, law officials decided instantly that the boys’ deserved death without any proof. Thankfully, their death was prolonged in an attempt to prove them innocent, but the foul beliefs of society still remained. Linder writes about his opinion on people, asserting that, “Evil rarely comes in the form of monsters, but rather in the form of relatively normal people who, for reason of careers, ideology, or a desire for society’s approval, are indifferent to the human consequences of their actions.” The way he refers to people as “monsters” conveys this idea that people are synonymous with evil. It draws forth the idea that the belief that skin color defines a person was sparked by an evil being. It is what promoted the Civil Rights movement and changed the world as it was once known. The Scottsboro Trials aimed to change.

The trials brought forth the unfairness of society that people neglected to see in the past. People use the trials to represent the harsh conditions blacks faced in the past, and show how inhumane and horrible they were. The American Law Library reviewed the effects of the trials. "Since the arrest of the Scottsboro Boys, anger and dismay had been growing across the United States and in other parts of the world over what appeared to be racially motivated arrests and prosecution of the boys" ("Scottsboro Trial") The "anger" possessed by Americans because of this trial "motivated" people to make a difference. Society has changed for the better based on the trials similar to the Scottsboro case. It's goal was to change society, and that is exactly what it did.

Works Cited

Linder, Douglas. "THE TRIALS OF "THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS"." //Famous American Trials//. Web. 25 Aug. 2011.

"Scottsboro Trial - History Of The Scottsboro Boys." //Law Library - American Law and Legal Information.// NetIndustries. Web. 26 Aug. 2011.