The Scottsboro Boys Case

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African Americans in the 1930's were undermined and faced injustice every single day. The right to a fair trial was not even granted; yes it was inhuman and yes, it was a major issue, but certain cases brought these obstacles to light and allowed people to see the problems of their time and change them. The painting by Hideo Noda, Scottsboro Boys, 1933 and the painting by Hugo Gellert, Bourgeois Virtue in Scottsboro, June 1931, are depictions of the Scottsboro Boys case. Nine African American young men were accused of raping two white women in Alabama on a train in 1931. It all started on the freight train when a fight was generated between the boys and a group of white homeless men. After the homeless men were thrown off the train they reported…show more content…
The power of the boys is being manifested even though it looks as though they are being electrocuted and hung at the same time, however their stands and positions depict courage and strength. The shading on the boys makes them look stronger and defined. Their faces are black, but their clothing and head pieces are white, even their hands are white and the purpose of that is to dehumanize them. They don’t come across as individuals, but as a representation of all African Americans during that time period, which allows the public to connect with the past events of African Americans and see how things have not evolved prior to the Scottsboro case. The fact that this painting is in black and white which shows the rawness of the painting and allows the audience to focus on the bigger picture at hand which is the cruel and harsh acts towards African…show more content…
Thus the jury who convicted the men were all white. This verifies the plain disregard for African Americans in a political circumstance. All but the youngest were sentenced to death. The announcement of the verdict was devastating, people began to rally together to protest against the court’s decision. The communist took the lead on the case and fought until the case was overturned due to the fact that the defendants had not received adequate legal counsel in a capital case. Noda apparently returned to Japan to work underground for the communist in the 1930’s could be insight on what his painting was innately meant to represent. Both of the paintings, whether if they were created to be a good representation of the case or bad they still bring awareness into the case itself. This case is important because it marks the realization of hate crimes and injustice law that was taking place during the

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