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March 7-9
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 -
Boys arrested
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. -
Publicity
Scottsboro boys are nearly lynched by crowd of over 100 gathered around Scottsboro's jail. -
Jury thinks the boys raped the girls.
Grand jury indicts the nine Scottsboro boys for rape. -
April- December
NAACP and International Labor Defense (ILD) battle for the right to represent the Scottsboro boys -
Trial Begins
Trials begin in Scottboro before Judge A. E. Hawkins -
Executions
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 -
Pending Appeal.
Executions are stayed pending appeal to Alabama Supreme Court. -
Ruby Bates Confesses
Ruby Bates, in a letter to a Earl Streetman, denies that she was raped -
NAACP leaves.
NAACP withdraws from case -
6-1
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. -
REVIEW CASES!
The U. S. Supreme Court announces that it will review the Scottsboro cases -
7-2
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 -
Samuel Retained
Samuel S. Leibowitz, a New York lawyer, is retained by the ILD to defend the Scottsboro boys -
Second Trial Begins
Haywood Patterson's second trial begins in Decatur before judge James Horton -
Haywood found gulity
Haywood Patterson found guilty by jury and sentenced to death in the electric chair -
Postpones
Judge Horton postpones the trials of the other Scottsboro boys because of dangerously high local tensions -
Protest!
In one of many protests around the nation, thousands march in Washington protesting the Alabama trials. -
NEW TRIAL
Judge Horton sets aside Haywood Patterson's conviction and grants a new trial -
1934
June 12: Judge Horton is defeated in his bid for re-election. Courtroom crowdJune 28: The Alabama Supreme Court unanimously denies the defense motion for new trials. Leibowitz had argued that qualified blacks were systematically kept off jury rolls, and the names that were currently in the rolls had been forged after the fact. October 1: Nashville police arrest two lawyers associated with the I.L.D. for allegedly intending to bribe Victoria Price with $1,500 to change her testimony. The lawyer -
1935
ebruary 15: Samuel Leibowitz makes his first appearance before the Supreme Court of the United States. He describes the absence of blacks in Jackson County juries and presents the justices with the jury rolls with forged names. The justices use magnifying glasses to determine the overlay of inks on the page. Clarence NorrisApril 1: In Norris v. Alabama, the United States Supreme Court finds the exclusion of blacks on jury rolls deprived black defendants of their rights to equal protection under -
1937
May: Thomas Knight dies. June 14: The Alabama Supreme Court upholds Patterson's conviction. July 12-16: The third trial of Clarence Norris ends in a death sentence. Pressure from his community, and his defeat in this case, causes Watts to fall ill, leaving Leibowitz to lead the defense. July 20-21: The trial of Andy Wright ends in conviction and a sentence of 99 years. July 22-23: The trial of Charley Weems ends in conviction and a sentence of 75 years. July 23-24: Ozie Powell pleads guilty -
1944
January: Andy Wright and Clarence Norris are released on parole. September: Wright and Norris leave Alabama, in violation of their parole. Chalmers persuades them to return to the South and, despite promises to be lenient, both are returned to jail, Norris in October 1944, Wright in October 1946 -
1946
June: Ozie Powell is released on parole. September: Clarence Norris is paroled again. -
1948
July: Haywood Patterson escapes from prison. -
1950
June 9: Andy Wright is paroled. He finds a job in Albany, New York. June: Patterson is arrested by the FBI in Detroit; Michigan Governor G. Mennen Williams refuses to sign the extradition papers to return him to Alabama. Alabama abandons attempts to return him to prison. December: Patterson is charged with murder after a barroom brawl -
1951
September: Patterson is convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 6 to 15 years -
1976
October: Clarence Norris is pardoned by Alabama Governor George Wallace. -
1936
anuary 23: Patterson is found guilty and sentenced to 75 years in prison. The sentence is a compromise between the foreman, who thought the defendant innocent, and the rest of the jury. January 24: While being transported back to Birmingham Jail, Ozie Powell pulls a knife and slashes Deputy Edgar Blalock's throat. Sheriff Jay Sandlin stops the car and shoots Powell in the head. Both Blalock and Powell survive. Governor Thomas KnightDecember: Prosecuting attorney Lieutenant Governor Thomas Knig -
1938
June: The Alabama Supreme Court affirms the sentences given Norris, Andy Wright and Weems. July: Governor Graves commutes Norris's death sentence to life imprisonment. August: An Alabama parole board recommends a denial of parole for Patterson and Powell. October: An Alabama parole board recommends a denial of parole for Norris, Weems and Andy Wright. October 29: Governor Graves meets with the convicted Scottsboro defendants in his office to consider parole. November 15: Governor Graves den