This paper was originally written in January of 2020 for Professor Lawrence Raful’s course “The Scottsboro Boys: Racism and American Law” at Touro Law Center.

By Georgia D. Reid, Online Editor of the Touro Law Review

The Scottsboro case is one that changed the landscape of American jurisprudence forever.  It is a case that highlights extreme divides between races, genders, and territories in America.  While the events that led to the trials took place in 1931, there are still many pressing issues brought up in Scottsboro that remain important today, nearly a century after the fact.  There is still a racial divide in the American justice system, as well as a class divide.  And the unique history and culture of the American South creates an environment where this divide exists at its widest. 

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