Attorney Samuel Leibowitz shows the Statue of Liberty to the four freed Scottsboro boys visiting New York from Alabama, July 26, 1937. Eugene Williams sits at left; the defendants clustered at right are Willie Roberson, Roy Wright, and Olen Montgomery.
In proceedings that lasted from 1933 to 1937 Liebowitz, serving without a fee, argued the case all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. It ruled that a Black person cannot be assured a fair trial in a community where they are systematically excluded from jury service. The Court ordered a retrial, with Black people included on the jury.
Charges (of raping two white women) were dropped against the men in the photo. The other five were convicted; three served prison sentences. The ones in prison all escaped, but two were caught, subsequently charged with other crimes, and convicted. The only one sentenced to death jumped parole and went into hiding for 30 years. He was found in 1976 and pardoned by Governor George Wallace.
Photo: Associated Press