abstract:The Scottsboro Boys were nine black teenage boys accused of rape in Alabama in 1931. The landmark set of legal cases from this incident dealt with racism and the right to a fair trial.
Last season, two warmly received shows from smaller New York theaters "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson" and "The Scottsboro Boys" floundered when they moved to Broadway.
Given the racial climate of the times, an era of lynchings and horrors such as the ScottsboroBoys' trial, Woodruff's images must be read as aspiring to an ideal future.