Crowd gathers in Scottsboro during first trials
| March 25, 1931 | Posse stops Southern Railroad train in Paint Rock, Alabama. Scottsboro boys are arrested on charges of assault. Rape charges are added against all nine boys after accusations are made by Victoria Price and Ruby Bates. |
| March 26, 1931 | Scottsboro boys are nearly lynched by crowd of over 100 gathered around Scottsboro's jail. |
| March 30, 1931 | Grand jury indicts the nine Scottsboro boys for rape. |
| April 6, 1931 | Trials begin in Scottboro before Judge A. E. Hawkins. |
| April 7-9,1931 | Clarence Norris, Charlie Weems, Haywood Patterson, Olen Montgomery, Ozie Powell, Willie Roberson, Eugene Williams, and Andy Wright are tried and convicted, and sentenced to death. The trial of Roy Wright ends in a mistrial when some jurors hold out for a death sentence even though the prosecution asked for life imprisonment. |
| April -Dec., 1931 | NAACP and International Labor Defense (ILD) battle for the right to represent the Scottsboro boys. |
| June 22, 1931 | Executions are stayed pending appeal to Alabama Supreme Court. |
| July 10, 1931 | On the date first set for their executions, the Scottsboro boys listen to the execution of Willie Stokes, the first of ten blacks to be executed at the prison over the next ten years. After hearing gruesome reports of the execution, many of the boys report nightmares or sleepless nights. |
| January, 1932 | NAACP withdraws from case. |
| January 5, 1932 | Ruby Bates, in a letter to a Earl Streetman, denies that she was raped. |
| March, 1932 | Alabama Supreme Court, by a vote of 6-1, affirms the convictions of seven of the boys. The conviction of Eugene Williams is reversed on the grounds that he was a juvenile under state law in 1931. |
| May, 1932 | The U. S. Supreme Court announces that it will review the Scottsboro cases. |
| November, 1932 | The Supreme Court, by a vote of 7-2, reverses the convictions of the Scottsboro boys in Powell vs. Alabama. Grounds for reversal are that Alabama failed to provide adequate assistance of counsel as required by the due process clause of the 14th Amendment. |
| January, 1933 | Samuel S. Leibowitz, a New York lawyer, is retained by the ILD to defend the Scottsboro boys. |
| March 27, 1933 | Haywood Patterson's second trial begins in Decatur before judge James Horton. |
| April 9, 1933 | Haywood Patterson found guilty by jury and sentenced to death in the electric chair. |
| April 18, 1933 | Judge Horton postpones the trials of the other Scottsboro boys because of dangerously high local tensions. |
| May 7, 1933 | In one of many protests around the nation, thousands march in Washington protesting the Alabama trials |
| June 22, 1933 | Judge Horton sets aside Haywood Patterson's conviction and grants a new trial. |
| October 20, 1933 | The Scottsboro cases are removed from Judge Horton's jurisdiction and transferred to Judge William Callahan's court. |
| Nov.-Dec., 1933 | Haywood Patterson and Clarence Norris are tried for rape, convicted, and sentenced to death. |
| June 12, 1934 | Judge Horton, who had faced no opposition in his previous race, is defeated in his bid for re-election. |
| June, 1934 | Alabama Supreme Court affirms the convictions of Haywood and Norris. |
| October, 1934 | Two lawyers are charged with attempting to bribe Victoria Price in order to change her testimony. |
| January, 1935 | The U. S. Supreme Court agrees to review the most recent Scottsboro convictions. |
| April 1, 1935 | The U.S. Supreme Court overturns the convictions of Norris and Patterson because African Americans were excluded from sitting on the juries in their trials. Patterson v. State of Alabama, 294 U.S. 600 (1935); Norris v. State of Alabama, 294 U.S. 587 (1935) |
| December, 1935 | The Scottsboro Defense Committee is organized. |
| January 23, 1936 | Haywood Patterson is convicted for a fourth time of rape and is sentenced to 75 years in prison. |
| January 24, 1936 | Ozzie Powell is shot in the head by Sheriff Jay Sandlin while attacking Deputy Sheriff Edgar Blalock. |
| December, 1936 | Thomas Knight meets with Samuel Leibowitz in New York to discuss a possible compromise. |
| June 14, 1937 | Conviction of Haywood Patterson is upheld by the Alabama Supreme Court. |
| July, 1937 | Clarence Norris is convicted of rape and sentenced to death. Andy Wright is convicted and sentenced to 99 years for rape. Charlie Weems is convicted and sentenced to 75 years. Ozzie Powell pleads guilty to assaulting the sheriff and is sentenced to 20 years. |
| July 24, 1937 | Roy Wright, Eugene Williams, Olen Montgomery and Willie Roberson were released after all charges were dropped against them |
| June, 1938 | Alabama Supreme Court upholds the death sentence for Clarence Norris. |
| July 5, 1938 | Clarence Norris's death sentence is reduced to life in prison by Governor Graves. |
| August, 1938 | Alabama Pardon Board declines to pardon Patterson and Powell. |
| October, 1938 | Pardon Board denies the pardon applications of Norris, Weems, and Roy Wright. |
| October, 1938 | Governor Graves interviews Scottsboro boys. |
| November, 1938 | Governor Graves denies all pardon applications. |
| September, 1943 | Charlie Weems is paroled. |
| January, 1944 | Norris and Andy Wright are paroled. |
| September, 1944 | Norris and Wright leave Montgomery in violation of their paroles. |
| October, 1944 | Norris is returned to prison. |
| June, 1946 | Ozzie Powell is paroled. |
| September, 1946 | Norris, paroled again, leaves Alabama. |
| October, 1946 | Andy Wright is returned to Kilby prison. |
| July, 1948 | Haywood Patterson escapes from prison. |
| June, 1950 | Andy Wright is paroled. FBI arrests Patterson, but Michigan's governor refuses extradition to Alabama. |
| December, 1950 | Patterson is involved in a barroom fight resulting in the death of another man. Haywood is charged with murder. |
| September, 1951 | Patterson is convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 6 to 15 years. He dies of cancer less than a year later. |
| October, 1976 | Clarence Norris is pardoned by Alabama Governor George Wallace. |
| July, 1977 | Victoria Price's suit against NBC for its movie "Judge Horton and the Scottsboro Boys," which she claimed defamed her and invaded her privacy, is dismissed. Price dies five years later. |
| Jan. 23, 1989 | Clarence Norris, the last surviving Scottsboro boy, dies at age 76. |
| April 19, 2013 | Alabama Governor Robert Bentley signs legislation officially pardoning and exonerating all nine Scottsboro Boys. |