The Scottsboro Boys Museum invites everyone to commemorate the 95th anniversary of the Scottsboro Boys arrests on Saturday, March 28, from Noon CST to 1:30 p.m. at The Scottsboro Boys Museum, located at 428 W. Willow St.
The program will begin with a candle lighting ceremony and biographical reading for each of the Scottsboro Boys.
Afterwards, a keynote address will be given by three speakers from nonprofit Alabama Appleseed Executive Director Carla Crowder, Director of Second Chances Ronald McKeithen, and Alabama Appleseed Client Carl Green.
“The museum always looks to honor the Scottsboro nine through intentional programming that bridges their story with current topics.
This event promises to be incredibly special and we hope everyone can join us,” said Scottsboro Boys Museum Assistant Director Katherine Carroll.
The event’s collaborating organization Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice was founded in 1999 and is part of a larger national Appleseed Network.
According to Alabama Appleseed’s website, the organization’s mission is to “confront unjust systems through research, bridge building, and advocacy to create an Alabama that prioritizes justice and opportunity.”
The organization’s primary focus is on confronting the failures of mass incarceration in one of the toughest states to do so.
One of the event’s guest speakers is Carla Crowder, a native Alabamian and graduate of the University of Alabama School of Law, who has more than 30 years of experience, both as a journalist and attorney, in public policy research, advocacy and litigation.
Carla leads Appleseed’s reform agenda centered at the intersection of poverty and the criminal justice system.
She is a frequent speaker on the human rights crisis in Alabama prisons and has contributed to statewide and national publications on the topic.
“Appleseed is honored to be part of this important event.
We hope to shed light on the unjust punishments that continue to trap too many Alabamians in the same system that harmed the Scottsboro Boys 95 years ago, but also to provide hope that everyday Alabamians can be part of the solution to these problems,” said Carla Crowder.
Ronald McKeithen and Carl Green, both formerly incarcerated in Alabama, offer a personal perspective of the state’s legal and prison systems.
Ronald is an artist, advocate and writer who focuses on assisting Appleseed clients as they transition from incarceration to lives of freedom.
Additionally, he speaks widely about the experiences of long-term incarceration in Alabama’s prisons and the need for criminal justice reform to address the injustices he has experienced first-hand.
Carl was connected with Alabama Appleseed through Ronald, who has known him since they were teenagers in Birmingham.
Carl was in Donaldson Correctional Facility from felony convictions – none of which involved physical harm of another person that resulted in a mandatory sentence of life without parole.
In 1993, Carl began providing medical care to injured incarcerated people, learning from another incarcerated man.
He helped save countless lives while incarcerated before being released from Donaldson in December.
The museum’s Executive Director Dr. Thomas Reidy finds parallels between today’s state prison system and the one experienced by the Scottsboro Boys.
“The Scottsboro case remains an example of the harmful nature of unjust incarceration, not just to the inmate but to society in general,” said Reidy.
The Scottsboro Boys became international symbols of race-based injustice after they were arrested on March 25, 1931 under false sexual assault allegations by two white women.
The young men spent a combined 102 years in prisons for a crime that never happened.
Join the museum in remembering this impactful anniversary.
The event is FREE and open to the public. More information about the event and museum is available at www.thescottsboroboysmuseum.com.
