THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS: DE-ROMANTICIZING AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS

Historic marker and courthouse where the Scottsboro Trials were conducted

I came to the United States as an overachieving teenager. I spent my first summer trying to catch up on all that was American History. I knew I would get along in Math and Sciences, but social studies and history would be what would take me from teacher's pet to just meh.

I read voraciously. My concerns over history are obvious; I would be behind my classmates by years. Social Studies was a different beast. My country was known for its corruption, and the U.S. was known for the integrity of its institutions. American institutions were so strong and incorruptible, it gave the entire country free reign to advise and intervene in the governance of other countries, whether or not by invitation. I was excited to learn about this way, maybe I could figure out how to take it home one day.

I read every word on every page in every textbook;  I thought books in the U.S were laid out the way ours were. In the margins of the chapters were information boxes; back home those were reminders of something you should have already learned and was relevant to the new content you were being introduced to.

I assumed they meant the same thing in the U.S. so whenever I would see those boxes, I would read them, then go to the library to learn more about the subject. I later learned those boxes weren't topics we were all supposed to have learned about American history or civics. They served to frame the main story, simultaneously signaling they shaped the main story, but were not themselves worth learning.

Amongst these boxes I found a reference to the Scottsboro Boys and their importance to America's notion of Due Process. I knew those values, they were one of the founding principles of the American Revolution, French Revolution, Haitian Revolution, OUR revolution. I had landed on a treasure, this was how Americans maintained the integrity of their institutions.

But I learned that American institutions are not infallible. I learned that in spite of an aspiration of equality, there was a time only the opinion of white male jurors mattered. I learned that there could be an entire trial where the outcome was predetermined. I learned that the words of some people mattered more than the words of others. I learned that a system could so favor one group over the other, the individual personalities and values could be overwhelmed. I learned that the integrity of institutions depended on the integrity of the people who guarded them and I learned that those boxes were essential to my understanding of the United States.

Visiting Scottsboro, AL reminded me of how few Americans know this story and its significance; how essential it is in understanding that our institutions can fail. The story eroded my naivete and reinforced the necessity of being involved in the institutions that affect our lives. I am grateful I took the time to read all of those boxes. I learned more about who we are as a nation from them than I did from the chapters.