Letter from Agnes Inglis in Ann Arbor, to Governor B. M. Miller in Montgomery, Alabama.

Letter from Agnes Inglis in Ann Arbor, to Governor B. M. Miller in Montgomery, Alabama.

Scottsboro Trial, Scottsboro, Ala., 1931; African Americans--Civil rights--Alabama; African Americans--Imprisonment--Alabama; Miller, Benjamin Meek, 1864-1944

Agnes Inglis asks that Governor Miller move the Scottsboro Boys' trial to Birmingham so that they may be given a fair trial. She includes a copy for Alabama Attorney General Thomas E. Knight, Jr.

Inglis, Agnes

Alabama Governor, Scottsboro Case appeals to the Governor, SG004237, Folder 18, Alabama Dept. of Archives and History

1933-03-23

Letter

English

United States--Michigan--Ann Arbor

<u>Special</u> ANN ARBOR

MAR 23

6 PM

MICH 1933

ANN ARBOR

MAR 24

6 PM

MICH 1933








From Agnes Inglis
809 South Division Street
Ann Arbor, Michigan,
Governor B.M. Miller

Montgomery,

Alabama.

RECEIVED
MAR 26 A.M.
MONTGOMERY,
(SPEC. DEL.)

CIN & NASH

TR. 1

MAR

25

1933


Ann Arbor, March 25-1933

809 South Division Street.

Governor B.M. Miller.

Montgomery, Alabama.

Dear Sir: -

If I could in words express to you my deep feeling and strong sense of the injustice

of having the re-trial of the Scottsboro boys take place in another small, provincial,

an prejudiced center I should do so.

Men in political positions hold in their hands the life and death of others. It is

so in this case. In your hands lies the fate of these boys. But all the people all ovr

over the world who stand by them hold, too, in their hands their fate! It is a word;

a written word ,- as this from me to you that matters. I think much of this case .

It is to speak, then, -to take this little time, this very little time , to write this

to you ,- to let you know that I am thinking of them , and to express to you the

feeling I share with the many . It is a deep conviction that we share.

I demand for these boys an unconditional fair trial,- such an one as, when over,

will leave no traces of bitterness in regard to those in whose hands it rests.

I demand that you grant a change of venue and that you, in all fair play, have the

trial take place in the city of Birmingham , as thousands are insisting shall be the

case.

So few have the gift of speech! So few the gift of the written word ! Believe me when

I say that to pen even these few lines means much deep feeling and much concerN. It is

an effort to write to unknown people , as you are unknown to me. I say this to tell

you that you may well believe that for every letter that you receive there are

thousands ,- no one knows how many thousands,-indeed, I believe that there are

hundreds of thousands who uphold the boys in their right to a fair and unprejudiced

trial in this re-trial.

I do not know you . I know nothing of your outlook upon life, of your training in

thought, of your values. But I know you value your life, as I value mine. And in such

case I would hope for response from another for my life. I ask, then, that this

response be given in the case of the lives of these boys.

Sincerely, Agnes Inglis

Ann Arbor, March 23, 1933

-Copy- 809 South Division Street.

Thomas E. Knight Jr.
Attorney-General.
Montgomery,
Alabama.

Dear Sir:-

In behalf of the boys concerned in what is known as the Scottsboro Case I address

you. This I do, adding my word to that of thousands of others who are interested

in this world-renouned case . I ask for a change of venue for the setting of the

re-trial , so that it may be held in Birmingham in an atmosphere not charged with

prejudice , I do assure you that this step is of utmost importance . Small

centers , with local prejudices are not the place to insure fair play and justice

as all know who have had experience in such cases..I am sure you must realize this .

I am inclosing for your perusal the letter -a copy of it, at least,- which I am sending

the Governor of Alabama . It is, in its contents, such a letter as I would write to you.

I am therefore sending this copy to you . I believe that the matter of this change of

venue rests with you both and I urge that you agree in this matter , - so that the

case will be tried in Birmingham, Alabama.

Sincerely,
Agnes Inglis