Scottsboro Boys Play - West Coast,

Picture taken at Lyceum Theater, New York.

"Scottsboro Boys" play, west coast...The Old Globe - Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, San Diego-April 22-June 3, 2012 and American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco-June 19-July 15, 2012. http://www.playbill.com/news/article/150561-California-Bookings-of-Scottsboro-Boys-Confirmed-Seattle-Boston-Chicago-Being-Eyed  The article states: "The Scottsboro Boys tells the true story of nine black youths accused of raping two white women in the Depression-era South." The play "tells the true story," says the "Playbill" article, but their meaning of a "true story" is certainly different from my meaning of a true story.

The play is a modern minstrel depiction of one of the most tragic events in American legal history. The "Scottsboro Boys" play minstrel production does not tell the "true story" of this event which lasted for 45 years within the American justice system and destroyed the lives of the nine youths - beginning in March of 1931 and ending with the Pardon of Clarence Norris, "The Last of the Scottsboro Boys" in October 1976.

The "Scottsboro Boys" play is controversial in a positive way, it brings to light the historical significance of the Scottsboro Boys Trials. It cannot depict the sacrifice of African Americans subjected to a system of Jim Crow racial injustice nor depict the the sacrifice of blacks and whites united in a cause to see justice served. The play should spark an educational curiosity in the minds of the attendees and others to make an inquiry into the reality of Jim Crow Era America and why we can not afford to repeat the past mistakes of our history.

I wish all involved in the "Scottsboro Boys" play the best of luck in your west coast endeavor.