Pilgrimage for racial healing held in remembrance of Scottsboro Boys trial

Story by Katie Hightower

On April 5, a crowd gathered at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church for a pilgrimage to observe the 94th anniversary of the Scottsboro Boys Trial. A solemn group gathered in the courtyard of the church united in prayer then followed a route on foot while singing hymns and stopped only to observe important historical landmarks on a pilgrimage of remembrance that ended at the Scottsboro Boys Museum. 

On March 25, 1931, the nine Scottsboro Boys were arrested in Paint Rock on false rape accusations and were then brought to Scottsboro’s jail. Only days later, on April 9, eight of the nine boys were sentenced to death. It wasn’t until April 19, 2013, that the boys were pardoned by the Governor Bentley. The landmark case paved the way for due process which ensured fair legal procedures upheld by the Fifth, Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. 

The first stop of the journey was the site of where the jail that first held the boys once stood. With the jail long gone, a Garden of Hope now grows next to that site. The Garden of Hope was created as a catharsis for those going through the Jackson County Drug Court. The garden provided hope to those who worked to overcome addition and at the same time, it provided hope to those with food insecurity. The theme of hope played throughout the journey as the crowd walked not only in remembrance of injustice but for hope of a better future for all people.

The Scottsboro Boys Museum Director, Dr. Tom Reidy, spoke at the old jail’s grounds. There he said it was important to remember the history so that the heroes can also be remembered. Then he spoke of Sheriff Matthew Wann who bravely stood up to a lynch mob who demanded he hand over the boys. 

The crowd then proceeded to the site of the Scottsboro Boys mural on the square. There, Don Howard, the artist who painted the mural, spoke about how honored he was to have had the opportunity to paint the mural. He said he was impressed with the City of Scottsboro’s approach to commission the painting which embraced the past as a way to move towards the future and he appreciated the leaders’ decision to pick a person of color to paint the picture. The key word he used to describe the city’s progress was, “tremendous.”

At the procession, large pictures of the nine Scottsboro Boys were carried by crowd members. As they reached the Jackson County Courthouse, they lined up in front of the crowd while Judge John Graham spoke about the importance of upholding the rights defined in our nation’s law. The courthouse was the site of the first Scottsboro Boys trial which sentenced them to death. 

“If we do not remember the past and learn from it, we are condemned to repeat it,” Graham said in a statement about the remembrance. “Although it was 94 years ago, the Scottsboro Boys’ cases remain important in American jurisprudence. The rules of law laid down in those Supreme Court precedents are still used by the US today ensuring equal justice for everyone who comes before the court.”

After the stop at the courthouse, the crowd made their way to Joyce Chapel which houses the Scottsboro Boys Museum. There, the crowd gathered into former chapel and rested on pews while they listened to Bishop Brian Prior. He compared the injustice of the Scottsboro Boys to the injustice of Jesus and said history was remembered because it was passed down from ancestors who would not let the story go away and said, “Friends, your witness today continues to do that for the Scottsboro Boys.”

Dr. Thomas Reidy gave credit for the Racial Healing Pilgramage to the Rev. Polly Robb of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. He said it was her idea to honor the boys with the procession to visit the historical places that marked the events that happened 94 years ago. 

“My hope is that this small act of love commemorating the trial of the Scottsboro Boys shows our solidarity with those who have endured the many legacies of slavery and continues in a path of racial healing so needed in the world today,” Robb said. “Healing was Jesus’s work and it is ours too.”