logo
episode-header-image
Oct 2013
8m 53s

The Scottsboro Boys: A Miscarriage of Ju...

Bbc World Service
About this episode

In 1931, nine black teenagers were convicted of raping two white girls in the southern US state of Alabama.

Eight were sentenced to death by an all-white jury; but after years of campaigning, all eventually went free.

We hear from the daughter of Clarence Norris, one of the accused.

Picture: Police escort two recently freed "Scottsboro Boys" New York, 1937, Credit: Associated Press

Up next
Dec 2023
The funeral of Nelson Mandela
On 15 December 2013, South Africa held the funeral of Nelson Mandela who led the struggle in defeating apartheid and became the country’s first black president. His ancestral home in the village of Qunu in South Africa’s Eastern Cape hosted 60 world leaders including four United ... Show More
15m 32s
Aug 2023
The Bristol bus boycott
Sixty years ago, there was a boycott of local bus services in the English city of Bristol. The bus company had specified that it did not want to employ black bus drivers. The boycott ended on 28 August 1963 and the campaign helped to bring about Britain's first laws against racia ... Show More
9m 58s
Sep 2024
Emperor Haile Selassie in Bath
In 1936, Haile Selassie came to Bath in the west of England to escape Mussolini and the fascists who had invaded Ethiopia.He bought a property – Fairfield House - and moved his entire family and staff there. He quickly became the talk of the town.The local paper ran daily updates ... Show More
9m 54s
Recommended Episodes
Mar 2024
Episode 545: The Career Girl Murders (Part 2)
While the tragic loss of two young lives was particularly shocking, the Career Girl Murders is better remembered as one of the most egregious cases of police coercion and abuse in the state’s history. Eight months after the murder, investigators arrested nineteen-year-old George ... Show More
53m 20s
Feb 2021
S1 Ep15: The Landmark Case of the Scottsboro Boys
In 1932, a group of white men rushed to police to report a group of Black men had roughed them up on as they sneaked a ride on a train. Authorities soon descended and soon even more heinous allegations were lodged: Two women on the train said the group of nine young men had sexua ... Show More
37m 25s
Jun 2024
Closings in Karen Read's trial. Teens charged with first degree murder. And a half-confession complicates a prosecution.
Hundreds of people in pink shirts are on verdict watch in Dedham, Mass., where a jury is considering three charges against the woman accused of killing her police officer boyfriend with her SUV. In Arizona parents are demanding answers after a 16-year-old was beaten to death. The ... Show More
24m 13s
Jun 2020
Rodney King and the LA riots
People took to the streets of Los Angeles in fury after police, who had assaulted a black driver called Rodney King, were acquitted in 1992. His assault had been captured on video and played repeatedly on US television. In 2012 Nina Robinson spoke to Rodney King about the beating ... Show More
8m 59s
Oct 2021
131: The Alabama Axe Murderess
In June of 1959, the torsos of two men were found in a rural part of northeast Alabama. The gruesome discoveries sparked a media firestorm as locals feared they had a mad man stalking their homes. These kind of gruesome murders just didn’t happen in rural areas where folks didn’t ... Show More
53m 56s
Jun 2021
E252: Harry & Harriette Moore Pt. 1
For nearly two decades, a Black couple in Florida took on some of the state’s most insidious civil rights violations. Leveraging the political power of the NAACP, Harry T. Moore advocated for fair elections, equal pay, and on behalf of the Groveland Boys in the notorious rape cas ... Show More
48m 11s
Mar 2023
S2E34: GUILTY: Alex Murdaugh found guilty of murdering wife, son
After less than three hours of deliberations, a jury found Alex Murdaugh guilty on all counts Thursday evening for the June 7, 2021 murders of his wife, Maggie, and youngest son, Paul, in a trial that spanned more than five weeks and drew attention from across the nation to rural ... Show More
17m 57s