Scottsboro: A Tragedy of the American South

Although Scottsboro disappeared from the nation's headlines after 1937, it returned with the telecast of the 1976 "docudrama," Judge Horton and the Scottsboro Boys. Based on Dan Carter's Bancroft Prize-winning account of the controversial Alabama incident and its aftermath, the television production served as a catalyst for the return to public life of three key individuals in the case. In a chapter written especially for this revised edition of his modern classic, Carter recounts the latest turns in the case. Included are the surprising story of the last surviving Scottsboro defendant and the vivid description of Victoria Prices' libel suit against the network that televised the drama and the subsequent trial -- presumably the last of the Scottsboro trials. Along with this new material Carter provides fresh personal and historical insights into the case and reflects on the way the South has changed since Scottsboro first claimed the nation's attention.