Scottsboro: A Tragedy of the American South

by Dan T. Carter

Covers the Scottsboro case since its inception as a 1931 freight car incident, accentuating national and international ramifications

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Race, African American, Crime, Law, American History

512 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Before his retirement in 2007, Dan Carter taught at the University of South Carolina, where he specialized in 20th century U.S. politics and the post-Civil War American South. He graduated from University of South Carolina in 1962 and completed his graduate work in history at the University of Wisconsin and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1967. Prior to accepting his appointment to the University of South Carolina, Carter taught at Emory University from 1970 until 2000.

Reviews

[David Eppenstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a retired public defender and have spent my legal career entirely devoted to indigent criminal defense. Reading this book would, therefore, be more interesting and engrossing to me than most laymen. While there was a fair amount of legalese used I don't believe it was something that would put off a non-lawyer reader. What was striking to me was the familiarity I had with much of the behavior of clients, judges, and attorneys. It seems that time may have changed some things in criminal justice but people are still people and they have a tendency to be consistent. I have had cases in today's urban justice system in which the prosecutors and I both knew my client was innocent but he was prosecuted anyway. I have been in courts where the judge was an active participant in the prosecution and openly hostile to the defense. So you can read the travesty of justice depicted in this book and think well that was 80 years ago in the South and you'd be right. However, don't for a second think such things don't occur in courts today all over this country. I have done over 100 felony juries, most of them murder cases, and while I believe most jurors invariably ignore their legal instructions and their oaths they do have one virtue that I have counted on. American jurors believe in fundamental fairness. Jurors want to see the judicial process executed fairly and thoroughly. The jurors of Alabama of 80 years ago did not share this virtue. Maybe that much has changed. I wish it was more.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this impeccably researched account, Dan Carter has authoritatively shone the light on the woeful period of Southern American race relations in the first half of the twentieth-century. In 1931, nine black youths were pulled from a train in Paint Rock, Alabama, and accused by two white female hobos of rape. Narrowly escaping a lynching, they were moved to nearby Scottsboro where they were plunged into the swirling vortex of "justice" in that state at that time. The last of the nine "Scottsboro Boys" wouldn't be released from prison for nineteen years and in that time, the nine young men became a symbol not only of Southern whites' worst fears, but also of lost innocence and, strangely, of Marxist revolution.

Carter's narrative is not easy to read--those interested in a more digestible summary should refer to the PBS American Experience documentary Scottsboro: An American Tragedy--but it delves fully into the depth of the fear that governed the decisions made by ordinary citizens and elected officials in Alabama. There are few heroes in this story; almost every one of the Boys' supporters had an ulterior motive and used the notoriety of the case for their own gain. There are, however, villains: notably Judge William Callahan whose blatant prejudice and obstruction in the later trials stands as sickening a miscarriage of justice as I have read.

This is the case that inspired much of the Tom Robinson plot in Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird and anyone wishing to understand the real context of her fictional case must read Dan Carter's masterful retelling. It does not offer the same hope as Lee's novel, but for anyone who believes that a person's value comes not from his race but from the "content of his character", it is a necessary, if disturbing, reminder of what can happen when we allow our prejudices to cloud our judgment.

[Ailecia Alabama · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carter opens his book describing the events that took place in rural Alabama on March 25, 1931 when nine black youth were pulled from a freight train and accused of raping two white women. Astonishingly the youth were not lynched by the mob of 500 who gathered to make their arrest, but instead found themselves later that night guarded in jail by National Guardsmen. The youth, who would later become known as “the Scottsboro boys,” and their string of cases would cause the nation to focus on race relations in the South and whether or not the legal system could be fair in regards to race. The defense of the Scottsboro boys caused years of squabbles between reformists and radicals when two organizations, the NAACP and the International Labor Defense (ILD) of the Communist Party, would come to fight over who would represent the youth before the Alabama courts and later the Supreme Court of the United States.

Written in 1969 from the dissertation research of now esteemed historian, Dan T. Carter, Scottsboro: A Tragedy of the American South remains the most thorough historical study of the legal cases of the Scottsboro boys. Carter offers details about the first trial that took place before the NAACP and ILD got interested in the case and then gives almost a day-by-day exploration of how the NAACP and ILD got involved in the case and later how they would have to work together to keep the boys off death row. Carter offers a scathing review of the NAACP and the ILD and how each organization used the boys’ case for their own agendas. The reader is left with a bitter understanding of the NAACP and its less-than-radical perspective in the 1930s, as well as, a tarnished view of American radicalism and Communists who used the case to unsuccessfully try to unite two unsympathetic groups: white and black working-class Southerners.

This book, filled with important archival evidence from court transcripts, newspapers, NAACP and ILD organizational files, and interviews, is an exceptional history of the Scottsboro cases and would work well in undergraduate and graduate seminar classes on Southern history, African American history, or legal studies. Where the author fails in this endeavor is to provide a compelling narrative to pull the reader through the day-by-day struggle to free these nine youth (later men) for a crime the evidence showed they did not commit. In light of Whiteness Studies, Critical Legal Studies, and Critical Race Studies, the case of the Scottsboro boys could use a new theoretical overhaul—looking at the ways in which whiteness reared its ugly head and allowed two prostitutes of low community standing to tell a tail of sexual exploitation with no physical evidence or credible witnesses to affirm their story. Carter, who wrote the book 30 years after the incident, could have also explained to the readers why this case holds such relevance today. Until another scholar attempts to correct some of this book’s failings, Scottsboro: A Tragedy of the American South remains the most well-researched book that tells the story of this important legal struggle.

[Mike Goldstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is really good, like a scholarly "In Cold Blood" with the drama rendered a little less dramatic and all of the inaccuracies removed. Very well-researched and authoritative, while remaining very human and very very readable.

More importantly, the story itself is fascinating and infuriating. There's so much here, from the struggles over tactics and ideology between the Communists and their liberal counterparts to the all-encompassing nature of Southern anti-black racism. I find that my favorite history books take topics I already feel I know well and pull them out into the light in a way I didn't anticipate. This book did that with the twisted racial logic of the Jim Crow south, exposing the tortured intellectual underpinnings of violent segregation in a way that would make its proponents look childish and pitiful if they weren't doing so much harm. It's a bleak read, but it's a worthwhile one.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent, and well-told, account of a terrible injustice in American history. I think every person interested in Southern history should read this book, if not all Americans. It is a wonderful insight into the limits of Southern liberalism, the rush to racial judgement and racism in general, and the way certain groups were willing to use innocent lives for their own purposes.

[Murphy Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

My professor at Emory, now in NC somewhere I think. Nice guy.

[Tianna Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was good. I had to skim through some parts though because it was really long. I'm more into African American fiction.

[Brent Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book on the infamous Scottsboro case. It is a "scholarly work" that is thoroughly researched with extensive footnotes.

[P · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty boring TBH

[Jarred Goodall · Rating 5 out of 5]

I opened this book hardly knowing anything about the Scottsboro men, and Dr. Carter provides an excellent resources, with regard to this sorry episode in American History. At the same time, however, Dr. Carter produces an excellent work, born out of a thesis. He provides ample evidence to the fact that the Scottsboro men receive a grave miscarriage of justice, and said miscarriage, still to this day, remains relevant in a country that continues to grow with regard to race relations. Fortunately, we have grown a lot since this tragedy, but still can improve, immensely.

[Rachel Mayes Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me: I guess I should probably read a little bit about the Scottsboro trial for my thesis.
Dan Carter: Let me tell you everything!

I have to give the man credit; this book is very thorough. It just wasn't all that engaging for me, and the sheer amount of information coupled with the inherent complexity of the trial was overwhelming at times. If, however, you really love legal history and have a burning desire to know everything about this case, this is definitely your book.

[randy · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book is analogous to whats happening at this time. racism is in the news a lot now but has improved a lot since the 1930's. this story shows how racism can blind people to the truth and their judgement is blurred. this book shows how people or groups use it to promote ideology or a cause for their self interest.

[Bonie Schrupp · Rating 5 out of 5]

A troubling look back at the prejudices accepted in the 30's & 40's in Alabama, this book covers many contributing aspects of the lengthy and unbelievable (today) miscarriages of justice which deprived these individuals of their freedom for much, much too long.

[Kelsei Farmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75

It’s a 400 page account of actual historical events so it’s obviously a little dense. It was fun to learn how much things haven’t changed in terms of racial rhetorics and learn more about all of my hometowns.

[Ashley]

not rating because I read this for a semester research paper but super detailed, would definitely recommend

[Jon Michael]

Did not actually read past the first 10 pages so idk

[Tony Britt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thorough examination of racial injustice in the name of justice in 1930s Alabama. Fascinating narrative of legal & political maneuvering, some in the best interests of the accused & some in the name of conflicting causes & flawed personalities. A sad & ugly stain on the American South that continues today in the Republican party.