Accused!Accused!

"In 1931, nine teenagers were arrested as they traveled on a train through Scottsboro, Alabama. The youngest was thirteen, and all had been hoping to find something better at the end of their journey. But they never arrived. Instead, two white women falsely accused them of rape. The effects were catastrophic for the young men, who came to be known as the Scottsboro Boys. Being accused of raping a white woman in the Jim Crow south almost certainly meant death, either by a lynch mob or the electric chair. The Scottsboro boys found themselves facing one prejudiced trial after another, in one of the worst miscarriages of justice in U.S. history. They also faced a racist legal system, all-white juries, and the death penalty. Noted Sibert Medalist Larry Dane Brimner uncovers how the Scottsboro Boys spent years in Alabama's prison system, enduring inhumane conditions and torture. The extensive back matter includes an author's note, bibliography, index, and further resources and source notes."--Amazon.
1931. Nine black teenagers were arrested as they traveled on a train through Scottsboro, Alabama after a fight; two white women then falsely accused them of rape. Such accusations in the Jim Crow south almost certainly meant death, either by a lynch mob or the electric chair. The Scottsboro boys found themselves facing one prejudiced trial after another, a racist legal system, all-white juries, and the death penalty. They spent years in Alabama's prison system, enduring inhumane conditions and torture. Brimner shows that the trials and the two Supreme Court verdicts they produced left a lasting imprint that continues to this day. -- adapted from jacket and perusal of book