Letter from Frank A. Spaulding in Springfield, Illinois, to Governor of Alabama, Executive Office in Montgomery, Ala.

Dublin Core

Title

Letter from Frank A. Spaulding in Springfield, Illinois, to Governor of Alabama, Executive Office in Montgomery, Ala.

Subject

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

Description

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 to be commuted to life imprisonment.

Creator

Spaulding, Frank A.

Source

Alabama Governor, Scottsboro Case appeals to the Governor, SG004234, Folder 14, Alabama Dept. of Archives and History

Date

1931-04-11

Format

Letter

Language

English

Coverage

United States--Illinois--Springfield

Text Item Type Metadata

Transcription

13 1931
MONTGOMERY, ALA.
Spec. Del
eturn {Frank H. Spaulding
5 {1110 E. Reynolds St.
Days {Springfield, Ill.


SPRINGFIELD
APRIL
9 PM
ILL. 1931 FEE CLAIMED OFF
Governor of Alabama OF FIRST ADDRESS
Executive Office
Montgomery,
Ala.
Important

Frank H. Spaulding
1110 E. Reynolds St.
Springfield, Ill.
April 11, 1931.
Governor of Alabama
Executive Office

Dear Sir;
In the behalf of good judgement, for your
State and the whole United States, I ask you
to consider the commutative of the sentences of
the eight Negroes, confered at Scottville the 9th.
While their trial and conviction, without
mob violence, is a great plume in the cap of
Alabama towards justice and modern progress,
the victory would be complete with a more jus-
tiful sentence.
I'm a Northern Negro, 24 yrs of age. Although never
having been over the line, I've always been able to
see and reason with the Southern point of view.
And to prove that all the above is'nt so much thrash,
because I'm in the security of Illinois, I volunteer, with
expenses paid, and the proper authority, even at the risk
violence towards myself, to come to Alabama and plead
their case for life-imprisonment, if possible.
yours truly,
Frank H. Spaulding