Browse Items (63 total)

Inspired by a religious dream, Norma H. Hargrave begs Governor Miller in God's name not to persecute the Scottsboro Boys unless he is absolutely positive of their guilt. She describes her dream, and asks him to examine his conscience to make sure…

Pearl Aline Blancha, a distant relative of Robert E. Lee, is ashamed to have any relationship to the South at all, as she abhors "injustice and oppression of any kind." She writes that education and culture do great things for any race, and that the…

Percy W. Powles condemns the "framed-up evidence," convicting the Scottsboro Boys to death. He continues that he cannot believe such great athletes as the Crimson Tide, whom he saw play a game against the Cougars, represent an unjust state. He asks…

Albert W. Kauffman, the minister of Plymouth Methodist Protestant Church, writes that, given the evidence, the Scottsboro case seems to be a miscarriage of justice and that cases like it undermine public confidence in the justice system. He hopes…

Rev. A. V. Pierce, a World War I veteran, wonders why African Americans in the United States may fight for justice but receive none at home. He asks Governor Miller to give justice to African Americans.

Rev. Allan W. Johnson, a Los Angeles minister, demands the release of the Scottsboro Boys and the enforcement of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, which, the writer states, have not been upheld by the "Southern Ruling Class," including Governor…

Rev. Burckhardt writes that he believes in "justice and fair play for all men" and hopes that Governor Miller will treat the Scottsboro Boys as innocent until proven guilty, or else there will be "a black mark" on his administration and the state of…

Tuskegee Institute president Robert R. Moton writes to the Governor of Alabama on the school's letterhead, applauding the orderly punishment of crime, but stating that he hopes the courts will be equally just with African Americans as with whites.

Rose Garland Rivers, a university acquaintance of Governor Miller, encloses and explains a clipping that reports of African Americans being lynched or burned "down there." She asks Governor Miller to take this up and correct this false impression of…

Ruth Pointer, a woman born in Alabama, writes that she dislikes Alabama's motto, "Here We Rest," and that Alabama will not only "rest" but go backward if it allows the execution of the Scottsboro Boys. She offers that Alabama should change its motto…