Ellen Feldman seamlessly weaves historical perspective into a myriad tapestry of the mores of a small Southern town that not only provides insight into black and white lives, but also how poverty alters truth as easily as racism.

As nine black youths travelled in the Alabama Great Southern Railroad freight cars on an early spring day in 1931, a historical event of reprehensible proportions was about to alter their lives forever. What began as a simple misunderstanding quickly exacerbated into an avoidable altercation with white men aboard. The train approaches Scottsboro, and already word has reached men ready with rifles waiting for its arrival. In an attempt to save their dignity, two young white women on the same freight car, fabricate a vicious tale of violence, torture, and rape by those nine black youths.

Alice Whittier, one of the fictional narrators utilizes her faultless skills as a liberal, early feminist New York City newspaper reporter to convey the individual life histories of each of the accused, in an audacious attempt to encourage those outside this provincial circle of life to protest the indecency of fallacious crimes inflicted upon the genuinely innocent victims. As the news reaches the world, the Scottsboro incident becomes a rancorous hornet’s nest of eminent lawyers, unpredictable judges, and an insidious competition between the liberal Communist organization and the conservative NAACP. Languishing in a repulsive jail, constantly assured that freedom is imminent, and lost in this muddled legal battle are the powerless defendants.

Meanwhile, the allegedly vanquished Southern young women, Victoria Price and Ruby Bates bask in the unwarranted limelight as the townspeople bestow new dresses and gifts as a way to soothe their own guilt. Conflicted and fearful of eternal damnation, Ruby Bates, the second fictional narrator recants in a pitiful attempt to aid the true victims.

Ellen Feldman’s considerable research and flawless writing creates a vastly invaluable source of knowledge about nine black men who unwillingly and tragically sacrificed dignity and freedom because poverty, ignorance ,sexism, fear, and injustice triumphed.

Undoubtedly, one of the most engrossing and unforgettable books I have read . ( )

On the long list for this year's Orange Prize.

The story has been well described already by many reviews so I won't repeat that here. I have purchased three of the books that she reports using as her facts for the novel to read more about this terrible event in recent (only the 1930's) American history.

Feldman's book made clear how people can continue to believe something when there is no evidence that it is actually true. There were four trials, with different juries, all coming to the same verdict but there never was any actual proof, one of the "victims" changed her story!! It reminds me of the current furor over health care reform - right wing hyperbole without any proof. ( )

I received Scottsboro as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.

In Scottsboro, by Ellen Feldman, Ruby Bates and Victoria Price - two cotton mill workers in Alabama - hop a freight train looking for some fun. When one of the white boys on the train jumps off after an altercation with a group of black boys, local farmers come looking for the "niggers" to put them in their place. When they find Ruby and Victoria amongst the hobos on the train, the white farmers immediately wonder if they had been "interfered" with. Victoria thinks she'll be sent to jail for "hustling" and crossing state lines without a husband. She whispers to the tongue-tied Ruby to follow her lead, then tells the farmers that she and Ruby had been raped by all the black boys on the train.

Based on a true story, Scottsboro follows the ensuing trials and eventual fame of the "Scottsboro Boys" and all the other players over the ensuing years. Feldman tells the story from two points of view - that of the fictional reporter Alice Whittier, and that of the real Ruby Bates. Alice's point of view makes up at least 3/4 of the book, so through her eyes we not only learn about the Scottsboro trials, but also the other historical events she covers throughout the 1930s. Feldman expertly weaves back and forth between the two womens' points of view, and also uses quotes from a variety of sources at the beginning of each chapter to give an idea of how widely the story was followed at the time. We also learn about the involvement of the Communist Party in the case, about the status of women at the time, and about the virulent antisemitism still present. Feldman shows how each person involved (besides the accused themselves) had their own agendas and how most of them profited in some way from their involvement in the case. My only minor quibble was with one subplot - Alice's relationship with her father. It seemed weak and not well-developed, and the book would have been just as rich without it.

Overall, Scottsboro is an excellent book that does an outstanding job of not only humanizing an important aspect of American history, but also paints a stark picture of the poverty and racism that led to the events that took place. ( )

In 1930's Alabama, two poverty-striken young girls looking for a little fun and a little money are hobo-ing on a freight train when a fight breaks out between some young and white black men. The black men won, throwing some of the white men off the train. When the train pulls into the next station, the black men are arrested. Caught being on the train illegally, the officers easily accept the accusations of rape the two young women threw out. The boys were quickly tried and sentenced to death.

Reporter Alice Whittier covers the story for the small liberal-leaning-Communist paper she works for in New York. She follows the case from its beginnings, through the first trial, through its many appeals and re-trials. She takes one of the girls, Ruby, under her wing and gets her to renounce her charges, although it did little to gain the boys' freedom and cost Ruby the love of her family. As Alice writes other stories and follows other historic events, she continues to follow the characters through her life and theirs. In the end, we find that nothing good really came from the lies told that day in Alabama.

Excellent high-caliber historic novel that speaks to the poverty of the 1930's, the horrendous prejudices of the time, particularly in the deep South, and the movements for social change that were taking place in America. Plenty of drama, both in and out of the courtroom. All in all, a fine read. ( )

One summer day, during the 1930s at the Scottsboro, Alabama train station, police officers wait to apprehend several black men on the inbound train after word of a fight between them and some white passengers was reported. When the train stops, two females dressed in overalls haul tail away from the police but are soon caught. During interviews with the police, the women accuse the nine “boys” of rape. The men were convicted on sight and were lucky to survive the wait for the trial without being lynched. Many people, mainly those from the liberal North, do not believe that the Scottsboro Boys received a fair trial. For Alice Whittier, who, as a female reporter and near-Communist Party member, was a minority herself, this case was the breakthrough her career needed. She was able to gain access to the female victims and the Scottsboro Boys that others were not able to because they lacked her temperament and finesse. While most suspected it, it was she who got Ruby Bates to admit that the Scottsboro Boys never raped her or her companion. Alice’s articles about and interviews with Ruby are enlightening in other ways. Alice learns that she is not free of prejudice and that the poor are not always innocent, noble victims of the capitalist world.

When I first met Alice, I wasn’t sure that I was going to like her. She came off as overly self-righteous and, because she was certain she was in the right, assured of her vast superiority as she made her way down to Scottsboro. That combination is a turn off. Yet along the way there was a glimmer of something else. Alice wasn’t blinded by her moral superiority to see her own faults, especially when she saw herself through Ruby's eyes and gave thought to Ruby's questions. The woman who set off to Scottsboro to help correct “their” problem discovered that she and those like her had some work of her own to do. She took those moments to heart and in doing so became a well-rounded character that I could embrace.

Although Scottsboro involves the events surrounding the real-life trials of the nine Scottsboro boys, it is a novel that can be read and enjoyed by those familiar and unfamiliar with these historical events. Given the quotes at the beginning of each chapter as well as illusions made throughout the novel by either of the novel’s narrators, the end of the story is not a mystery. It’s not completely spelled out, either. For me, someone who either didn’t know or couldn’t remember the specifics of these trials, this worked very well. I felt as though I understood the ultimate outcome from afar and then enjoyed it as all the pieces of the story fit together to get me there.

Despite the slow start, I enjoyed Scottsboro. In the human condition there is very rarely a sharp distinction between hero and villain when get close enough to examine the details. In her novel, Ellen Feldman is very open about how both sides of the aisle used those unfortunate Scottsboro Boys and their female accusers as pawns to further their own causes. Be they Southern “good ol’ boys” or Communist Party member working for the common man, everyone has an agenda and often it is the people they are protecting or for whom lobbying who pay the price. Feldman brought this experience to life and created an interesting and intelligent character in Alice. I may have been put off by her in the beginning, but I'm curious about the woman she becomes after the book closes. This is a good novel to use to open a discussion on the Civil Rights Movement, the media, and political parties and their motivations. ( )