Black Communists Speak on Scottsboro: A Documentary History

Black Communists Speak on Scottsborois an account of a neglected chapter in the story of the Scottsboro saga. The Alabama tragedy stands as a major event in North American and international race relations history during the 20th century. Understandably, then, many historians have written about it. Few scholars, however, have focused in any meaningful way on what African American Communists - who were intimately involved in the case - had to say about the incident. The voice of this segment of the African American community has been ignored or distorted.Black Communists Speak on Scottsborowill ensure that the role of African American Communists in the noted Scottsboro case will no longer be ignored by any serious student of American, Southern, or African American history, and will make a valuable contribution to the documentary record of one of the great injustices of 20th century American race relations.

Walter T. Howard is Professor of American History at Bloomsburg University in northeastern Pennsylvania.