Michael wrote a private note to me after I posted the obit:
What the Hell is the matter with the person who wrote this article.
Both Haywood Patterson and Clarance Norris (think that was his
name)ESCAPED FROM JAIL -- and Patterson did that in 1948 after serving
17 years. Tragically, even after Michigan refused to extradite him and
he wrote the book SCOTSBORO BOY with Earl Conrad in 1950 he died quite
young. Norris came out of hiding in the 1970s to be pardoned at that
time ---
Unbelievably, one of the accusing women went to her death still telling
the lie about her "attackers" --- (and imagine the courage of the other
accuser Ruby
Bates to come before a Southern Court and recant her testimony!)
How could the writer not have mentioned that --- Patterson and Norris
might have DIED in jail if they hadn't escaped ...
----
I forwarded his note to the reporter who replied:
Dear Mr. Meeropol,
There are numerous facts about the Scottsboro Boys and their case that I
left out of the obituary, for several reasons. The chief reason is that
this was an obituary about Ms. Washington and her efforts on behalf of
the boys, and I wanted to keep the focus on her. Also, I had a limited
amount of space, which I already exceeded.
Since there were nine boys, each with his own unique story, it would
have been way too wordy to detail the fate of each one of them. You'll
find that most summaries of the case,like this one from the
African-American Museum of History,
<https://nmaahc.si.edu/blog/scottsboro-boys#:~:text=On%20March%2025%2C%201931%2C%20nine,freight%20train%20in%20northern%20Alabama.>
omit most of these details as well.
I tried to compensate for my inability to go into those details by
linking to an excellent PBS article
<https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/scottsboro-boys-who-were-the-boys/>
that gave a rundown of their individual stories. Alas, I now see that
this link was eliminated because of a typographical miscommunication in
the final version.
But I couldn't agree with you more, that each story is incredibly
dramatic and meaningful. Hopefully people who are learning about the
case for the first time will do some extra reading and come to
appreciate the boys' full story.
Thanks for letting me say my piece!
Kit Seelye
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