The Last of the Scottsboro Boys

New York, NY: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Very Good in Near Fine dust jacket. 1979. 1st Edition; 1st Printing. Hardcover. 0399120181 . B&W Illustrations; This book is in Very Good condition and has a Near Fine dust jacket. The spine ends and corners of the book covers have some light bumping and wear. There is a thin strip of fading/ discoloration on the trop and bottom edges of the rear cover. The text pages are clean and bright. "The Scottsboro Boys were nine African American male teenagers accused in Alabama of raping two white women in 1931. The landmark set of legal cases from this incident dealt with racism and the right to a fair trial. The cases included a lynch mob before the suspects had been indicted, all-white juries, rushed trials, and disruptive mobs. It is commonly cited as an example of a legal injustice in the United States legal system. On March 25, 1931, two dozen people were "hoboing" on a freight train traveling between Chattanooga and Memphis, Tennessee. The hoboes were an equal mix of blacks and whites. A group of white teenage boys saw 18-year-old Haywood Patterson on the train and attempted to push him off, claiming that it was "a white man's train". A group of whites then gathered rocks and attempted to force all of the black teenagers from the train. Patterson and the other black teenagers were able to ward off the group. The humiliated white teenagers jumped or were forced off the train and reported to a nearby train master that they had been attacked by a group of black teenage boys." (from Wikipedia) .