On This Day In Alabama History: Nine Young Black Men Arrested On False Rape Accusations

Alabama News Center | March 25, 2017 @ 7:00 am

By Graydon Rust
Alabama 200

March 25, 1931

Local law enforcement arrested nine young black men ranging in age from 13 to 20 under false accusations of raping two white women on a train in Jackson County. Despite overwhelming evidence of the Scottsboro Boys’ innocence, the arrests sparked a long series of trials that included multiple death sentences and two U.S. Supreme Court cases that improved black legal rights in court. Ultimately, all nine men served at least six years in prison, with the last surviving defendant serving until his pardon in 1976. In 2013, Gov. Robert Bentley signed legislation at the Scottsboro Boys Museum and Cultural Center exonerating the men of all guilt.

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