Red Alabama: Jim Crow, Communism, and the Scottsboro Case

Presenter Tom Reidy will describe the unique circumstances that drove national and international communist organizations to the Scottsboro case.  It asks what were the benefits/liabilities of hiring the International Labor Defense (ILD), the legal arm of Communist International, to represent the Scottsboro Boys in court?  More broadly, by committing to use the ILD to represent their sons, did the families of the Scottsboro Boys put an enduring stain on future civil rights activities?

This February, the museum brings its travel exhibition to Huntsville-Madison County Library Downtown Branch.  The exhibit tells the complex story of the arrests, trials, and the case’s global impact.  It also discusses Huntsville’s connections to the case, including the lives of Ruby Bates and Victoria Price, the two Huntsville mill workers who claimed they were attacked by the nine African Americans.  A special section on Clarence Watts, the local attorney who defended the Scottsboro Boys during the latter part of the trials, is displayed as well.