BLACK IN TIME: A Moment In OUR History - Clarence Norris (421 hits)
Clarence Norris
On October 25, 1976, Alabama Governor, George Wallace, Granted A Full Pardon To Clarence Norris.Who Had Been Sentenced To Death On A Rape Charge 45 Years Earlier.
Norris' Legal Troubles Began On March 25, 1931, When As A Young Man, He And Eight Other Black Boys Were Pulled Off A Westbound Train At Paint Rock, Depot, Near Scottsboro, AL, Taken To Jail And Accused Of Raping Two White Women.
The Boys Were Convicted Of Rape By The All-White Alabama Courts, Even Though Doctors Who Examined The Women Testified They Had Not Been Raped. All But One Of The Defendants Had Were Sentenced To death During What Was Called A "Legal Lynching."
The Scottsboro Trial, As It Became Known, Was The Most Notorious Legal Case Of The 1930's, And Involved A Series Of Trials That Went On For Years. . The Nine Defendants Were Supported By Northern Liberals And Radicals, Who Recognized That They Had Been The Victims Of Racism.
In 1937, Four Of The "Scottsboro Boys" Were Released From Prison. The Other Five Were Freed Over The Next Decade, With Norris Being Released In 1946.
Norris Died On January 23, 1989, In Bronx Community Hospital. He Was 76 Years Old.
"In Order For Black History To Live, We Must Continue To breathe Life Into It." --Hubert Gaddy, Jr.
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