Remembering Scottsboro The Legacy of an Infamous Trial / James A. Miller.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Miller, James A.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Trials (Rape).

Law in literature.

Prozess.

Vergewaltigung.

Rassendiskriminierung.

Kultur.

Rezeption.

Scottsboro Trial, Scottsboro, Ala., 1931--Fiction.

Scottsboro Trial, Scottsboro, Ala., 1931.

Trials (Rape)--Alabama--Scottsboro.

Alabama--Scottsboro.

Scottsboro (Ala.).

United States.

Genre:

Fiction.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (296 p.) : 18 halftones.

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 2009.

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

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

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER ONE FRAMING THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS

CHAPTER TWO “SCOTTSBORO, TOO”

CHAPTER THREE STAGING SCOTTSBORO

CHAPTER FOUR FICTIONAL SCOTTSBOROS

CHAPTER FIVE RICHARD WRIGHT’S SCOTTSBORO OF THE IMAGINATION

CHAPTER SIX THE SCOTTSBORO DEFENDANT AS PROTO-REVOLUTIONARY

CHAPTER SEVEN COLD WAR SCOTTSBOROS

CHAPTER EIGHT HARPER LEE’S TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

EPILOGUE

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [263]-274) and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780691140476

0691140472

OCLC:

1263871444