Dublin Core
Title
Letter from A. E. Merriam in Denver, Colorado, to Governor B. M. Miller in Montgomery, Alabama.
Subject
Scottsboro Trial, Scottsboro, Ala., 1931; African Americans--Civil rights--Alabama; African Americans--Imprisonment--Alabama; Miller, Benjamin Meek, 1864-1944
Description
A. E. Merriam writes to Governor Miller that his purpose is to bring to light the undeserved hatred of "Negro People South of the Mason and Dixon's line," and details some of the atrocities committed against African Americans in the South since slavery. He writes that the governor should have ordered the Scottsboro Boys' trial to be moved to Birmingham instead of Decatur, and that if he continues to do nothing to keep them from the death sentence, he will be guilty of conspiracy to kill the Scottsboro Boys.
Creator
Merriam, A. E.
Source
Alabama Governor, Scottsboro Case appeals to the Governor, SG004238, Folder 16, Alabama Dept. of Archives and History
Date
1933-04-12
Format
Letter
Language
English
Coverage
United States--Colorado--Denver
Text Item Type Metadata
Transcription
A. E. Merriam
2461 16th Street
Denver, Colorado
DENVER
1 APR 12
6 PM
1933
COLO.
Governor B. M. Miller,
Montgomery, Alabama.
[Stamp in the lower left corner depicts a group of men sitting behind bars, whilst two arms branded with the initials ILD pry those bars apart. The inscription reads ëSAVE THE SCOTTSBORO BOYSí.]
2461 16th Street,
Denver, Colorado,
April 12, 1933.
Governor B. M. Miller,
Montgomery, Alabama,
Dear Sir:
My purpose in writing you, Governor Miller, is to
call your attention to the undeserved hatred of the Negro
People South of Mason and Dixon's line, by the white people
in the same locality.
Hated, because the white people of the south, have,
for more than three hundred years enslaved them, persecuted
them, tortured them, and brutally robbed them of every humane
right, financially, morally, politically and lawfully, lynched
them without redress, on the popular southern frame-up charge
of raping a white woman or girl. While at the same time, as
the vast number of mulattos in the South prove, the white
men of the South think nothing of raping the wives, mothers
and daughters of Negro Parentage. If they oppose the white
man's vicious animalism they are brutally murdered without
redress.
The Scottsboro Case, wherein nine innocent Negro
Boys have been framed on the charge of raping a white pros-
titute, whom these Negro boys never met until they faced her
in the Court, has attracted the attention of the whole world
to the criminal attitude of Alabama against the Negro People.
2--
You could have ordered the removal of the frame up
case of these nine innocent Negros to be tried in Birmingham,
where the K.K.K. (favorite sons of the white man of the South.)
does not rule so prominently as in Decator.
This you have not, as yet, done, Governor Miller.
Hence, if one of these innocent Negro Boys are con-
victed on the perjured testimony of Victoria Price, or are
lynched by the white mobs, who want to kill them, whether inno-
cent or guilty, because they are Negros and they hate them,
the whole world will spit on you, ---will hold you guilty of
conspiracy to take the lives of the <u>nine innocent Negro Boys</u>.
Respectfully,
A.E. Merriam
2461 16th Street
Denver, Colorado
DENVER
1 APR 12
6 PM
1933
COLO.
Governor B. M. Miller,
Montgomery, Alabama.
[Stamp in the lower left corner depicts a group of men sitting behind bars, whilst two arms branded with the initials ILD pry those bars apart. The inscription reads ëSAVE THE SCOTTSBORO BOYSí.]
2461 16th Street,
Denver, Colorado,
April 12, 1933.
Governor B. M. Miller,
Montgomery, Alabama,
Dear Sir:
My purpose in writing you, Governor Miller, is to
call your attention to the undeserved hatred of the Negro
People South of Mason and Dixon's line, by the white people
in the same locality.
Hated, because the white people of the south, have,
for more than three hundred years enslaved them, persecuted
them, tortured them, and brutally robbed them of every humane
right, financially, morally, politically and lawfully, lynched
them without redress, on the popular southern frame-up charge
of raping a white woman or girl. While at the same time, as
the vast number of mulattos in the South prove, the white
men of the South think nothing of raping the wives, mothers
and daughters of Negro Parentage. If they oppose the white
man's vicious animalism they are brutally murdered without
redress.
The Scottsboro Case, wherein nine innocent Negro
Boys have been framed on the charge of raping a white pros-
titute, whom these Negro boys never met until they faced her
in the Court, has attracted the attention of the whole world
to the criminal attitude of Alabama against the Negro People.
2--
You could have ordered the removal of the frame up
case of these nine innocent Negros to be tried in Birmingham,
where the K.K.K. (favorite sons of the white man of the South.)
does not rule so prominently as in Decator.
This you have not, as yet, done, Governor Miller.
Hence, if one of these innocent Negro Boys are con-
victed on the perjured testimony of Victoria Price, or are
lynched by the white mobs, who want to kill them, whether inno-
cent or guilty, because they are Negros and they hate them,
the whole world will spit on you, ---will hold you guilty of
conspiracy to take the lives of the <u>nine innocent Negro Boys</u>.
Respectfully,
A.E. Merriam