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Nine African American boys are arrested after getting off a train in Paint Rock, Alabama for defending themselves against a group of seven White males and two white females. They were charged with raping the two women.
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The Nine boys weer nearly lynched by a crowd of over 100 people who gathered outside the jail the boys were being held in.
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The grand jury indicts (approves the trial) of the Scottboro boys for rape
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Clarence Norris, Charlie Weems, Haywood Patterson, Olen Montgomery, Ozie Powell, Willie Roberson, Eugene Williams, and Andy Wright are tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. When Roy Wright was tried the result was a mistrial because the jury ruled death sentence while the prosecutors asked for life imprisonment.
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The executions of the boys are stayed pending appeal to the Alabama Supreme Court.
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Ruby Bates, one of the girls on the train, sends a letter to Earl Streetman. In the letter, she denies that she was raped.
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Haywood Patterson is found guilty and is sentenced to death in the electric chair.
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In one of many protests around the nation, thousands of protestors gather in Washington, marching against the Alabama trials.
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The cases of the nine boys were removed from Judge Horton's jurisdiction and transferred to Judge William Callahan.
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Haywood Patterson is convicted of rape for the fourth time (not the 4th offense just the 4th court to convict him) and a sentenced to 75 years in prison.
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Ozzie powell is shot in the head by sheriff Jay Sandlin while he was attacking Deputy Edgar Blalock. Miraculously, he survived.
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Haywood Patterson's conviction is upheld by the Alabama Supreme Court.
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The charges were dropped against Roy Wright, Eugene Williams, Olen Montgomery, and Willie Roberson and they were released
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The U.S. Supreme Court denies to review the convictions of Patterson and Norris.
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The death sentence of Clarence Norris is reduced to life in prison.
