Remembering Scottsboro: The Legacy of an Infamous Trial

by James A. Miller

Overview

How one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in the United States continues to haunt the nation’s racial psyche

In 1931, nine black youths were charged with raping two white women in Scottsboro, Alabama. Despite meager and contradictory evidence, all nine were found guilty and eight of the defendants were sentenced to death—making Scottsboro one of the worst travesties of justice to take place in the post-Reconstruction South. Remembering Scottsboro explores how this case has embedded itself into the fabric of American memory and become a lens for perceptions of race, class, sexual politics, and justice. James Miller draws upon the archives of the Communist International and NAACP, contemporary journalistic accounts, as well as poetry, drama, fiction, and film, to document the impact of Scottsboro on American culture.

The book reveals how the Communist Party, NAACP, and media shaped early images of Scottsboro; looks at how the case influenced authors including Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, and Harper Lee; shows how politicians and Hollywood filmmakers invoked the case in the ensuing decades; and examines the defiant, sensitive, and savvy correspondence of Haywood Patterson—one of the accused, who fled the Alabama justice system. Miller considers how Scottsboro persists as a point of reference in contemporary American life and suggests that the Civil Rights movement begins much earlier than the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955.

Remembering Scottsboro demonstrates how one compelling, provocative, and tragic case still haunts the American racial imagination.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691140476
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	05/10/2009
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

James A. Miller was professor of English and American studies and chair of the American Studies Department at George Washington University.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 Framing the Scottsboro Boys 7

Chapter 2 "Scottsboro, Too": The Writer as Witness 52

Chapter 3 Staging Scottsboro 85

Chapter 4 Fictional Scottsboros 118

Chapter 5 Richard Wright's Scottsboro of the Imagination 143

Chapter 6 The Scottsboro Defendant as Proto-Revolutionary: Haywood Patterson 169

Chapter 7 Cold War Scottsboros 197

Chapter 8 Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird: The Final Stage of the Scottsboro Narrative 220

Epilogue 235

Notes 243

Bibliography 263

Index 275

What People are Saying About This

McDowell

With vigor, thoroughness, and creativity, Miller traces the treatment of Scottsboro in a variety of media—journalism, poetry, fiction, drama, and film. He demonstrates how each medium and moment constructed its own 'Scottsboro' and developed its own lexicon for a case that commanded the public's attention for roughly half a century.
— Deborah E. McDowell, author of "Leaving Pipe Shop: Memories of Kin"

Mary Helen Washington

Readers will find riveting new perspectives on one of the most important cases in our national history. I have read many books on Scottsboro, but until I read this one, I had no idea of the many and varied representations of this case.
— Mary Helen Washington, University of Maryland

From the Publisher

"Readers will find riveting new perspectives on one of the most important cases in our national history. I have read many books on Scottsboro, but until I read this one, I had no idea of the many and varied representations of this case."—Mary Helen Washington, University of Maryland

"With vigor, thoroughness, and creativity, Miller traces the treatment of Scottsboro in a variety of media—journalism, poetry, fiction, drama, and film. He demonstrates how each medium and moment constructed its own 'Scottsboro' and developed its own lexicon for a case that commanded the public's attention for roughly half a century."—Deborah E. McDowell, author of Leaving Pipe Shop: Memories of Kin

Editorial Reviews

"A well-written, carefully constructed narrative that makes effective use of photos and cartoons."—-P.J. Galie, Choice

"[M]emory's battles continue, and Miller ably traces their paths. . . . The Scottsboro Boys live on."—-Jerald Podair, American Communist History

"Miller's book uses an exceptional range of primary source materials . . . both to burn away the accreted mythification of Scottsboro and to produce a Rashomon-like rendering of the event as a enduring template of American racism, radical politics and cultural production."—-Bill V. Mullen, Against the Current

"Remembering Scottsboro offers details not found in earlier publications, and greatly contributes to an understanding of the Scottsboro case and historical memory. Miller's study is a captivating, informative, and fitting analysis for a court case that attracted the nation's attention for decades."—-Janira Teague, Journal of African American History

"[A]bly documented and engagingly written. . . . The strengths of Remembering Scottsboro are many. Miller writes a translucent, jargon-free prose, and his generous textual quotations enable nonspecialist readers to follow the thread of his argument. . . . Remembering Scottsboro is a valuable contribution to the growing body of scholarship that documents repression, resistance, and representation in and of the Jim Crow South. This important book should be widely read and taught."—-Barbara Foley, African American Review

"In the remarkable proliferation of books coming out of the 'memory mill' in American studies and history for the past two decades, this is one of the best because it is not only about memory and 'mis-remembering'. . . it is about indirect parallels as well as patterns of influence, explicit and implicit."—-Michael Kammen, European Legacy

From the Publisher

In the remarkable proliferation of books coming out of the 'memory mill' in American studies and history for the past two decades, this is one of the best because it is not only about memory and 'mis-remembering'. . . it is about indirect parallels as well as patterns of influence, explicit and implicit.

European Legacy - Michael Kammen

[A]bly documented and engagingly written. . . . The strengths of Remembering Scottsboro are many. Miller writes a translucent, jargon-free prose, and his generous textual quotations enable nonspecialist readers to follow the thread of his argument. . . . Remembering Scottsboro is a valuable contribution to the growing body of scholarship that documents repression, resistance, and representation in and of the Jim Crow South. This important book should be widely read and taught.

African American Review - Barbara Foley

Remembering Scottsboro offers details not found in earlier publications, and greatly contributes to an understanding of the Scottsboro case and historical memory. Miller's study is a captivating, informative, and fitting analysis for a court case that attracted the nation's attention for decades.

Journal of African American History - Janira Teague

Miller's book uses an exceptional range of primary source materials . . . both to burn away the accreted mythification of Scottsboro and to produce a Rashomon-like rendering of the event as a enduring template of American racism, radical politics and cultural production.

Against the Current - Bill V. Mullen

[M]emory's battles continue, and Miller ably traces their paths. . . . The Scottsboro Boys live on.

American Communist History - Jerald Podair

A well-written, carefully constructed narrative that makes effective use of photos and cartoons.

Choice - P.J. Galie

In the remarkable proliferation of books coming out of the 'memory mill' in American studies and history for the past two decades, this is one of the best because it is not only about memory and 'mis-remembering'. . . it is about indirect parallels as well as patterns of influence, explicit and implicit.
— Michael Kammen

European Legacy

[A]bly documented and engagingly written. . . . The strengths of Remembering Scottsboro are many. Miller writes a translucent, jargon-free prose, and his generous textual quotations enable nonspecialist readers to follow the thread of his argument. . . . Remembering Scottsboro is a valuable contribution to the growing body of scholarship that documents repression, resistance, and representation in and of the Jim Crow South. This important book should be widely read and taught.
— Barbara Foley

African American Review

Remembering Scottsboro offers details not found in earlier publications, and greatly contributes to an understanding of the Scottsboro case and historical memory. Miller's study is a captivating, informative, and fitting analysis for a court case that attracted the nation's attention for decades.
— Janira Teague

Journal of African American History

Miller's book uses an exceptional range of primary source materials . . . both to burn away the accreted mythification of Scottsboro and to produce a Rashomon-like rendering of the event as a enduring template of American racism, radical politics and cultural production.
— Bill V. Mullen

Against the Current

[M]emory's battles continue, and Miller ably traces their paths. . . . The Scottsboro Boys live on.
— Jerald Podair

American Communist History

A well-written, carefully constructed narrative that makes effective use of photos and cartoons.
— P.J. Galie

Choice