University of Alabama - Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility and the Scottsboro Boys Museum - Questions, Change of Focus Needed?

Photo of Scottsboro Boys Museum and Cultural Center by G. Morgan

Photo of the Scottsboro Defendants guarded by National Guard Troops. (Fair Usage rights for non-profit news reporting.)

Sep. 11, 2014 - Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility

Article by Olivia Grider

Headline - "UA students play crucial roles in raising awareness of – and rectifying – an 80-year-old case of injustice"

Byline - Through the Scottsboro Boys Museum University-Community Partnership and service-learning courses, students contribute to the museum and history in numerous ways.

Excerpts from article (Fair usage for non-profit news reporting) "In 2010, when Jennifer Barnett, a UA graduate student in women’s studies, mentioned to one of her professors an oral-history interview she was doing with Shelia Washington, the chairperson of the newly formed Scottsboro Boys Museum & Cultural Center, she was unaware she was setting in motion a series of events that would reignite the decades-old case... Tom Reidy, a student who was working toward his doctorate degree in history, played a crucial role in achieving the pardons. Spears invited him to join the team partnering with the Scottsboro Boys Museum in early 2011. While working on the travel guide and the history section of a grant proposal, he became friends with Washington, whose dream was to procure pardons for the Scottsboro Boys...Spears said students shaped history in two ways. “They dug up research and helped to write the history, producing usable contributions to remembering this iconic moment of Jim Crow history in the American South,” she said. “They also helped facilitate a legal change – the real, practical, public-policy effect of clearing these men’s names in the legal record...Reidy and Washington met multiple times with members of the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles and with state senators and representatives, eventually negotiating legislation that would make that dream a reality.”  http://cesr.ua.edu/ua-students-play-crucial-roles-in-raising-awareness-of-and-rectifying-an-80-year-old-case-of-injustice/

Dr. Ellen Spears makes presentation at the Scottsboro Boys Museum (photo by G. Morgan)

The understanding of racial prejudice, racial and sexual discrimination, institutional racism and how it affects our nation then and today is necessary if we are to overcome the sickness of racism and its debilitating economic consequences. The Scottsboro Boys Museum and Cultural Center may be utilized as an institution to accomplish that goal, but will it?

Students at U of A have contributed much and are recognized, but until there is an effort to place forward educational programs in our public school system the sickness of racism will not be resolved in our nation, state or locally.

Is the mission of the foundation, museum and the University of Alabama's New School recognition and glory; or serve and assist as an educational facility to participate in resolving the age old sickness of racism? Maybe the current goal is to build educational resources for the needed mission, if that is the current goal it is not stated as such and should be stated publically. That is not saying recognition is not important, it is, particularly when there is a need for financial backing for programs.

Scottsboro Boys Museum Mission Statement from their web-site: "The Scottsboro Boys Museum and Cultural Center commemorates the lives and legacy of nine young African Americans who, in the 1930s, became international symbols of race-based injustice in the American South, and celebrates the positive actions of those of all colors, creeds and origins who have taken a stand against the tyranny of racial oppression. We are committed to advancing reconciliation and healing, and promoting civil rights and an appreciation of cultural diversity worldwide." http://www.scottsboro-boys.org/aboutus.html  The last sentence is important as this is where education enters into the museum's mission.

Thus far, it seems recognition and glory have been the primary focus, when will the focus change to addressing personal and institutional racism in our local, state and national culture? If the goal of the University of Alabama's participation in the museum is to build it into an educational facility to assist in overcoming years of racism and Jim Crow Practice it should be stated directly and publically.

Personally, I think the underlying sickness of the disease prevents meaningful change. An opportunity was missed in the pardon act process to fund race relations education in Alabama or to increase indigent legal defense funding. The Republican administration was "drooling all over themselves" to prove they are not bigots with the pardon, this was a missed opportunity to facilitate change instead of supporting political glory seeking. Missed opportunities should be a lesson learned, but is that the case?

Adequate legal defense of the poor in our courts has never been an expressed goal of our Alabama Justice System. Prison slavery is needed to continue the prison industry. The majority of prisoners in Alabama's correctional facilities are black. It is evident racial discrimination is practiced in our communities and justice system in Alabama. The problem with Alabama Corrections: http://www.vice.com/read/the-horrific-state-of-alabamas-prisons  Alabama prison slavery is a problem for another day. Ending racial/sexual discrimination via education is a problem with solutions for the here and now.

Will the University of Alabama New School learn THEIR lessons of history?

Many people have participated to insure the museum's successful beginnings, notable participants and founders are Mrs. Kim Spears and Dr. Gary Spears, far right in photo.  (photo by G. Morgan)

 

"The Nature of Historians" and Alabama Methodist Leadership

"It is well known that historians rewrite the past in light of the present and that current concerns inspire the subjects they choose, the questions they ask, and often the answers they provide. However acute their self-awareness, however well developed their methodological introspection, historians cannot banish the influence of time and place and the unconscious. Thus, writing about the past is always, in Ismar Schorsch's phrase, 'a refraction of the present.' "
Dr. Todd M. Endelman, Professor of Modern Jewish History, University of Michigan

Dr. Ellen Spears, Assistant Professor, University of Alabama, Assistant Professor of American Studies introduces our distinguished guest lecturers for today's events at the Scottsboro Boys Museum and Cultural Center.


Dr. Spears was formerly the associate director of the Southern Regional Council, the Atlanta-based civil rights research institute, a contributing writer for “The Case for Extending and Amending the Voting Rights Act.” She has taught urban ecology and environmental ethics as a visiting assistant professor in the Institute of the Liberal Arts and in the Department of Environmental Studies at Emory University. Her research is broadly interdisciplinary, combining civil rights and environmental history, social justice theory, and studies of science, technology, and public health. http://web.as.ua.edu/amstud/faculty_and_staff/Spears/

Dr. James A. Miller, Professor of English and American Studies; Chair, American Studies Department, George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Dr. Miller's recent book, "Remembering Scottsboro: The Legacy of an Infamous Trial" follows the trajectory of the notorious case and its aftermath as it circulated in fiction, poetry, drama, and film, from the 1930s until recent times. http://www.gwu.edu/~amst/community/faculty/core/miller.htm

Dr. Miller's lecture today focused on the history of the Scottsboro Boys relating to "truth and reconciliation, reconciliation begins with truth." "We must embrace the truth of the Scottsboro Boys case before reconciliation may begin." This is what the Scottsboro Boys Museum is about.

"In investigating history, you do not know where you are going until you get there. We must ask, where are we now, where do we go now??"

Very timely comment Dr. Miller, "where do we go now?" What will the Scottsboro Boys future be on the 15th of April? Will today's event be the last in this historic church?

The United Methodist Church of Alabama, Northern District has given notice to the Scottsboro Boys Museum they must pay $75,000 by the 15th of April or get out of the church. The museum has raised $40,000, the Methodist leadership has refused to negotiate or provide more time. It is important to note there are no written contracts, only prior verbal agreements which are not clear in content.

It seems "business" is more important than religious and historical cultural values to the Alabama United Methodist Church Leadership. Joyce Chapel is the oldest standing African American Church in Scottsboro and Jackson County Alabama. "Where do we go now" is the question of the month for the Scottsboro Boys Museum and Cultural Center. Will the Methodist leadership sell this religious, historical and cultural institution of Scottsboro for the value of money to a business venture, ignoring the religious and cultural values of our community's African Americans and the healing process the museum involves? Will the museum raise the remaining $35,000 in time?

Stories of Jesus in the Temple come to mind driving out the money changers, Matthew 21:12, Mark 11:15, Luke 19:45. I wonder if Jesus would approve of selling the church for a business proposition instead of celebrating the Civil Rights connection to the church and freedom of African Americans. Worship services are being conducted in Joyce Chapel on the 2nd and 3rd Sundays at 3PM.

The Methodist leadership has stated to the museum and multi-cultural board members, "we have a business buyer with a $75,000 check." I asked of the District Superintendent, "will you partner with us to make this vision successful for Scottsboro?" The District Superintendent and his cohort's answer, "you have until the 15th of April or we will sell the church."

God willing, this Historian for the Scottsboro Boys Museum and Cultural Center will be present to write the history of this event along with my commentary on this subject in a revealing and truthful manner.

The truth will be embraced in this case, reconciliation is to be determined at a future date, particularly for the Alabama Methodist leadership, who by all appearances place money over religious and cultural values of a community.

Dr. Susan D Pennybacker, Professor of European History, Trinity University, Hartford, Connecticut. Dr. Pennybacker is a modern British and European specialist, who has taught at Trinity since 1983, and as a visitor at Wesleyan University, New York University, The City College of New York, and the University of the Western Cape (South Africa). Her book, From Scottsboro to Munich; race and political culture in 1930s Britain (Princeton University Press), appeared this summer, 2009. http://internet2.trincoll.edu/facProfiles/Default.aspx?fid=1000652

"Historians are an overpaid detective. We bring the events of history together to reveal the truth."

"The Scottsboro Boys case is a world event. Is the world prepared to come to Scottsboro?" Another question, is Scottsboro prepared to accept the world coming to town? Will the Scottsboro Boys Museum continue to exist 15 days from now?

"Jim Crow is a tragedy of the South, it is the story of America. The struggles of the families involved in the case is a very important part of the story."

"Mrs. Ada Wright, mother of Roy and Andy Wright, traveled all over Europe in the attempt to win her sons freedom."

The Ada Wright story: http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ahr/106.2/ah000387.html

Dr. Pennybacker pointed out that original telegrams sit in libraries in the Russian Federation related to the Scottsboro Boys case.

Mr. McDaniels graces Joyce Chapel once again with his harmonica playing "America" and "Amazing Grace."

The Scottsboro Boys Museum and Cultural Center in conjunction with the University of Alabama and Auburn University sponsored (photo left to right) Dr. Ellen Spears, University of Alabama, Assistant Professor of American Studies; Dr. Susan D Pennybacker, author of "From Scottsboro to Munich," Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut, Professor of European history; Ms. Sheila Washington, Scottsboro Boys Museum and Cultural Center, Scottsboro/Jackson County Multi-Cultural Heritage Foundation, Chairperson; Dr. James A. Miller, author of "Remembering Scottsboro: The Legacy of an Infamous Trial," Professor of English and American Studies, Chair of American Studies Department, George Washington University, Washington D.C.