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9 boys get accused
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. -
trial begins
Trials begin in Scottboro before Judge A. E. Hawkins. -
NAACP and ILD
NAACP and International Labor Defense (ILD) battle for the right to represent the Scottsboro boys. -
NAACP and ILD
NAACP and International Labor Defense (ILD) battle for the right to represent the Scottsboro boys. -
Ruby bates
Ruby Bates, in a letter to a Earl Streetman, denies that she was raped. -
supreme court
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 leibowitz
Samuel S. Leibowitz, a New York lawyer, is retained by the ILD to defend the Scottsboro boys. -
postponed
Judge Horton postpones the trials of the other Scottsboro boys because of dangerously high local tensions. -
patterson vs. alabama
The U.S. Supreme Court overturns the convictions of Norris and Patterson because African Americans were excluded from sitting on the juries in their trials. Patterson v. State of Alabama, 294 U.S. 600 (1935); Norris v. State of Alabama, 294 U.S. 587 (1935) -
governor bentley
Alabama Governor Robert Bentley signs legislation officially pardoning and exonerating all nine Scottsboro Boys.