“Scottsboro”–The Inexcusable
“Scottsboro: An American Tragedy” is a 2001 PBS documentary in the American Experience series about the notorious trials of nine black teenage boys accused of rape in Scottsboro, Alabama in 1931. The landmark trial magnified rampant racism, denial of a fair trial, and the continued North-South animosity that existed almost 70 years after the Civil War had ended. The miscarriage of justice on the part of several judges, jurors, and witnesses belies the assumption that justice will prevail in the face of truth and obviously false testimony, including the recanting by one of...