The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
November 22, 2013

Alabama Pardons Last 3 of "Scottsboro Boys" 
--------------------------------------------


 
Alabama has granted posthumous pardons to the remaining three
African-American men who had yet to be exonerated for false allegations
of rape 80 years ago. The Scottsboro Boys were nine black Alabama
teenagers convicted by all-white juries of gang-raping two white women
in 1931. Five of the teens were exonerated in 1937 after one of the
accusers recanted her story. The Scottsboro Boys' legal appeals sparked
protests against racism and landmark Supreme Court rulings establishing
the right to effective legal counsel and barring the systematic
exclusion of blacks from juries. Alabama's Scottsboro Boys Museum and
Cultural Center, which opened in 2010 to honor their legacy, says it
will display the pardon certificates beginning next month.

 

.