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joeybee12

(56,177 posts)
Thu Nov 21, 2013, 02:48 PM Nov 2013

Alabama pardons Scottsboro Boys after 82 years

Alabama granted posthumous pardons on Thursday to three of the Scottsboro Boys, a group of black teenagers whose fight against false charges that they raped two white women in 1931 helped spur the modern civil rights movement.

The three men exonerated by the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles - Charles Weems, Andy Wright and Haywood Patterson - were among nine youths accused of gang-raping the two women aboard a freight train in Alabama, and convicted by all-white juries in the town of Scottsboro.

The group's legal journey to fight the convictions and win new trials sparked protests over racial injustice and two landmark rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court.

"Today, we were able to undo a black eye that has been held over Alabama for many years," said Eddie Cook, the board's assistant executive director.

http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/21/21563495-alabama-pardons-scottsboro-boys-after-82-years?lite

About freaking time...

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Alabama pardons Scottsboro Boys after 82 years (Original Post) joeybee12 Nov 2013 OP
See? Told ya Alabama was progressive! dixiegrrrrl Nov 2013 #1
Jeez la weez! The comments section on the story... countryjake Nov 2013 #2
Good on ya for going way out on that limb, Bama. TroglodyteScholar Nov 2013 #3

countryjake

(8,554 posts)
2. Jeez la weez! The comments section on the story...
Thu Nov 21, 2013, 06:46 PM
Nov 2013


Just looking at some of that crap people have posted illustrates how important it is that these pardons were finally handed down.

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