Browse Items (17 total)

Viola Montgomery—the mother of one of the Scottsboro Boys, Olen Montgomery—writes to Governor Miller to plead with him for a retrial for her son. She has prayed to God, raised money, and does not know what else to do in order to prevent her son's…

David H. Pierce, president of the Cleveland Branch of the NAACP, writes that he has collected a large file on the Scottsboro case, and given all the information, does not believe the boys to be guilty. He insists that if the Scottsboro Boys are…

C. H. DuVall, a former slave, writes to ask Governor Miller to stay the Scottsboro Boys' execution. He also requests to have the case further investigated as a favor to the weeping mothers and ex-slaves, as he has heard a lot of doubt about the…

An African American, Levi G. Byrd of Cheraw, South Carolina, writes to Governor Graves, who had already been succeeded by Governor Miller. Byrd urges the Governor to look into the case thoroughly, given the enlightening information he has found in…

An African American county jail chaplain from Missouri, Rev. Capt. G. Thomas, proclaims the innocence of the Scottsboro Boys and asks the Governor to show mercy.

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.

Though he had never traveled South, a 24-year-old African American in Illinois explains to Governor Miller that he understands how to reason with the "Southern point of view." He offers to travel to Alabama to argue for the Scottsboro Boys' sentence…