Letter from Pearl Aline Blancha in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Governor Miller in Alabama.

Dublin Core

Title

Letter from Pearl Aline Blancha in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Governor Miller in Alabama.

Subject

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

Description

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 North feels the rumblings of a revolution from African Americans in the South who have endured too much. She continues that she hopes to never live in the South again until African Americans are free.

Creator

Blancha, Pearl Aline

Source

Alabama Governor, Scottsboro Case appeals to the Governor, SG004238, Folder 12, Alabama Dept. of Archives and History

Date

1933-04-17

Format

Letter

Language

English

Coverage

United States--Ohio--Cincinnati

Text Item Type Metadata

Transcription

Newport, KY.
Apr 18 630 pm 1933

Governor Miller
Montgomery, Alabama.

Cincinnati, Ohio.
April 17, 1933.
Scottsboro
Governor Miller,
Alabama.

Dear Sir:
I am taking time to do something I have intended doing for several weeks
but other duties and obligations always interfered. Or perhaps, like
thousands more, it has been negligence on my part. I have been intense-
ly interested in the Scottsboro case and the terrible injustice those in-
nocent boys have had to suffer the past two years. Practically, every-
one believes they are innocent. What a stain of the state of Alabama
and the whole South! I can scarcely conceive of a jury of humans, pro-
nouncing a verdict of "Guilty" after the evidence presented at the trial
in Decatur. And they probably call themselves "Christians" and permit
their race prejudice to justify their action!

I have been closely following reports of the trial in Cincinnati papers
and just noticed in this morning's Enquirer, that the trial of the second
boy begins to-day, unless the Defense is successful in its attempt to
seek a change of venue. It stands to reason that the second trial will
prove no more fair than the first, in such a lynch atmosphere.

My grandmother was a "Lee" and a cousin of Robert E., whom the South re-
veres. Many times I have heard my father boast of this relationship.
As for myself, I am ashamed to have had any connection with the South.
I abhor injustice and oppression of any kind and always have as long as
I can recall. I have attended school with and met many fine members of
the negro race. Education and culture do wonderful things for any race
regardless of color. I can truthfully say that I know of only one per-
son who is not sympathetic toward the Scottsboro boys. He is a man of
only average intelligence, comes from the South and boasts that the "Ni-
gra" boot-blacks always recognize him as a "Southerner" and call him
"Boss-man" which probably satisfies his silly vanity tremendously. But
let him Beware when the Revolution comes! And I feel it is not far a-
way. It is a terrible thing to crush a race as the South has done. I
pity the Aristocracy of the South when the storm breaks loose. When an
oppressed race reaches the limit of endurance and begins to think, noth-
ing can hold it back. This is just a gentle hint to Southern Aristocra-
cy. We in the North hear the rumblings.

I am back in Cincinnati, visiting, after having spent five years in Texas
and fifteen years elsewhere. I hope I shall never have to live in the
South again until the negroes are free in every sense of the word.

I appeal to you to send this letter to Judge Horton and the Prosecuting
Attorney. They should know the opinion of northerners and I an sure I
am expressing the belief of many thousands of men and women, who cry for
justice for these innocent boys. How cruel to keep them in a peniten-
tiary for two whole years! I wish I could feel that they will be freed
(and carefully protected from lynchers if they are set free) before the
summer months are here again. They have suffered too long already.
Passion should not blind the eyes of Justice!
Very sincerely,
Pearl Aline Blanchard