In 1929, the Great Depression devastated the United
States. Hard times came to people throughout the country,
especially rural blacks. Cotton prices plunged from
eighteen to six cents a pound. Two thirds of some two
million black farmers earned nothing or went into debt.
Hundreds of thousands of sharecroppers left the land for
the cities, leaving behind abandoned fields and homes.
Even "Negro jobs" -- jobs traditionally held by blacks,
such as busboys, elevator
operators, garbage men,
porters, maids, and cooks - were sought by desperate
unemployed whites. In
Atlanta, Georgia, a Klanlike group called the Black Shirts paraded carrying
signs that read, "No jobs for niggers until every
white man has a job." In other cities, people shouted
"Niggers back to the cotton fields. City jobs are for
white men." And in Mississippi, where blacks
traditionally held certain jobs on trains, several
unemployed white men, seeking train jobs, ambushed and
killed the black workers. The only group in the early years of the Depression that
concerned itself with black rights of rural blacks was the Communist Party. The Party
successfully fought to save the lives of the "Scottsboro Boys," nine black youths
falsely charged with rape in Alabama. Eight were sentenced to death. The Communists
also organized interracial unions and demonstrations for relief, jobs, and end to
evictions.
Between Roosevelt's election in 1932 and throughout most of his first term, neither
the president nor the Congress paid much attention to the suffering of blacks. The
President did not want to antagonize the Southern Senators who controlled the Senate
and who could block his efforts to end the Depression. By the end of Roosevelt's first
term, the president's thinking began to change thanks, in part, to the efforts of his
wife, Eleanor Roosevelt. Mrs. Roosevelt became profoundly aware of the injustices
suffered by African Americans. She began to speak out publicly on behalf of blacks and
against race prejudice. She became a go-between between civil rights activists and the
President. As a result, Roosevelt began to publicly speak out against lynching and
granted influential black leaders such as Mary McLeod Bethune access to the White
House; these advisors were known as the "Black Cabinet." Federal agencies began to
open their doors to blacks, providing jobs, relief, farm subsidies, education,
training, and participation in a variety of federal programs. The United States
Supreme Court began to hand down decisions favoring black challenges to segregation.
For the first time since Reconstruction, the federal government actively supported
blacks and made a concerted effort to incorporate them into the mainstream of American
life. Black voters responded to the change of heart of the Roosevelt administration by
switching their political allegiance from the Republican Party to the Democratic. And
black civil-rights organizations began to increase their activity and demands for
their rights as citizens of the United States.
During the 1930s, much of the world's attention was
riveted on the "Scottsboro Boys," nine black youths
falsely charged with raping two white women in Alabama.
This case, more than any other event in the South
during the 1930s, revealed the barbarous treatment of
blacks. The case began on March 25, 1931, when a number
of white and black youths were riding on a freight
train, traveling to see if they could find work. A
fight broke out between a group of black and white
hobos, and the whites were thrown off the train. They
reported the incident to a stationmaster, who wired
ahead for officials to stop the train at a town called
Paint Rock. Dozens
of armed men
rounded up nine
black youths and
took them to jail. They were about to be
charged with assault when two white women,
dressed in boys clothing, were discovered
hiding on the train. Although there was no
evidence connecting the youth to the women,
the nine youths were charged with raping the women. The women -- who had had sexual
relations with some of the white men thrown off the train and fearing prosecution for
their sexual activity with the white men -- agreed to testify against the black
youths. The trial was held in the town of Scottsboro, Alabama. The all-white jury
convicted the nine, and all but the youngest, who was 12 years old, were sentenced to
death.
The announcement of the verdict and sentences brought a roar of protest in the North.
The Communist Party USA took charge of the case and carried out a two-fold battle -in the courts and on the streets. In 1932 the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the
convictions (Powell v. Alabama) on the grounds that the defendants had not received
adequate legal counsel in a capital case. The state of Alabama then retried one of
the accused, Haywood Patterson, and once again convicted him. But the trial judge,
James Horton, set aside the verdict on the grounds that he did not believe the
defendant committed the crime. That decision caused him to be defeated in the next
election. The state then retried Clarence Norris to see if the Supreme Court would
again intervene. Norris was sentenced to death, but in 1935 decision the U.S. Supreme
Court (Norris v. Alabama) overturned this conviction, ruling that the state had
excluded blacks from juries.
Alabama again tried and convicted Haywood Patterson, this time sentencing him to 75
years in prison. Further trials of the rest of the defendants resulted in more
reconvictions and appeals until, after persistent pressure both Northern and Southern
groups, Alabama freed the four youngest defendants (who had already served six years
in jail) and later paroled all but Patterson. Patterson escaped in 1948 and fled to
Michigan, where, three years later, he was convicted of manslaughter and died in
prison. The last known surviving member of the group, Clarence Norris, fled to the
North after his parole in 1946 and was granted a full pardon by the Governor of
Alabama in 1976.