American Experience: Scottsboro: An American Tragedy

In the spring of 1931 nine black teenagers riding a freight train across northern Alabama were arrested and charged with raping two women on board the train. The two-decade struggle to prove the "Scottsboro Boys'" innocence would reach the Supreme Court and prove to be both a landmark in the civil rights movement and a shameful chapter in U.S. legal history. Vintage film footage, interviews, and letter and newspaper accounts tell the story in this "American Experience" program. 90 min. Standard; Soundtrack: English.