Darrow, the legendary criminal defense attorney, to
defend the nine accused. WALTERWHITEof the
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCE-
MENT OFCOLOREDPEOPLE(NAACP), however,
advised Darrow to withdraw from the case. The
NAACP found itself in conflict with the COMMU-
NISTPARTY, which wanted to lead the defense.
The latter prevailed and hired Samuel Leibowitz to
chair the defense team.
The Alabama Supreme Court upheld the con-
viction of seven of the nine, but in 1932, the U.S.
Supreme Court reversed the convictions on the
grounds that the state of Alabama had failed to
provide adequate counsel to the accused. Addi-
tional upheaval in the case, however, led to Al-
abama courts imposing death sentences for
Patterson and Norris. In 1935 the U.S. Supreme
Court again intervened, this time noting that the
two had been denied a trial by their peers because
African Americans had been prohibited from serv-
ing as jurors. Four of the nine Scottsboro Boys saw
the charges against them dropped. The others
began serving lengthy sentences that ranged from
75 years to 99 years. Weems, Norris, Wright, and
Powell were paroled in the 1940s. Haywood Patter-
son, who escaped from prison in 1946, was later
captured and eventually died in jail. The last sur-
vivor of the group, Clarence Norris, died in 1989
at the age of 76.
Leading publications of the Harlem Renais-
sance era covered the trial and the plight of the
nine young men, one of whom was almost blind
and all of whom were subjected to violence and
abuse from their jailors. The AMSTERDAMNEWS
and the Daily Workerwere two of the newspapers
that offered consistent coverage of the case. Noted
international academics, writers, and professionals
protested the unjust treatment of the Scottsboro
Nine. Among those who called for justice were Al-
bert Einstein, Edna St. Vincent Millay, George
Bernard Shaw, and Virginia Woolf.
Poet LANGSTONHUGHEScrafted one of the
most notable creative responses to the Scottsboro
Case. SCOTTSBOROLIMITED(1932), a collection of
four poems and a verse drama, rallied supporters
and further outraged protestors. In addition, COUN-
TEECULLENcomposed “Scottsboro, Too, Is Worth
Its Song,” and playwright John Wexley wrote They
Shall Not Die(1934), a one-act verse play that ran
on BROADWAY. Additional works included NANCY
CUNARD’s “Scottsboro—and Other Scottsboro,” a
documentary-style work with quotes derived from
the events that appeared in her 1933 anthology
Negro Anthology Made by Nancy Cunard,
1931–1933. Cunard’s work prompted poet Kay
Boyle to publish “A Communication to Nancy Cu-
nard” in the June 1937 THENEWREPUBLIC,shortly
after the Scottsboro Boys were scheduled for yet an-
other trial.
The Scottsboro case and the literary responses
to it illuminated the tragic nature of southern racial
injustice and the volatile nature of social and sexual
dynamics in the South and throughout the nation.Bibliography
Carter, Dan. Scottsboro: A Tragedy of the American South.
Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1979.
Goodman, James. Stories of Scottsboro: The Rape Case
That Shocked 1930s America and Revived the Struggle
for Equality.New York: Vintage Books, 1994.
Norris, Clarence, and Sybil Washington. The Last of the
Scottsboro Boys: An Autobiography.New York: Put-
nam, 1979.
Wexley, John. They Shall Not Die: A Play.1934; reprint,
New York: French, 1950.“Sealed Pod, A”Marita Bonner(1936)
A short story about betrayal by MARITABONNER.
One of several stories that Bonner published in
OPPORTUNITY, “A Sealed Pod” appeared in the
March 1936 issue of the NATIONAL URBAN
LEAGUEperiodical.
The story is set, as many of Bonner’s works are,
in the CHICAGOneighborhood of Frye Street. The
multiethnic neighborhood is home to Ma Davis, a
very dark-skinned woman, and her daughter Vio-
lette, a young woman who was “kitten-soft with the
golden flesh and golden hair that marks the mixed-
blood female.” Violette entertains many men while
her mother works at a night job cleaning offices in
downtown Chicago. One night, her fugitive lover,
Joe Tamona, an Italian man sought in a bar murder,
returns to claim his sweetheart. Unfortunately, he
finds her with Dave Jones, a married man with two
children. Tamona hides inside the apartment in a
closet all night long until Jones finally leaves. Ta-
mona emerges and kills Violette in her bed. No one“Sealed Pod, A” 475