Scottsboro and Its Legacy

This book offers students and scholars an examination of the media coverage of the trials of the Scottsboro Boys, nine black youths accused of raping two white women on an Alabama train in 1931. Drawing on trial transcripts and other court records, newspaper and other media accounts and the perspectives of social commentators offering their interpretations about them, the author examines the alleged crimes, their legal aftermath, and their immediate and lasting social significance as evidenced in media portrayals and other forms of popular culture. In particular, the text explores what the Scottsboro case and its legacy reveals regarding America's hopes and fears about race relations, class distinctions, regional mores and cultural traditions, political divides, and about the media and its representation of social and legal injustices.

• Author: James R. Acker
• Publisher: Praeger
• Published: 2008