American Experience

Scottsboro: An American Tragedy

Following the 17-year struggle to free nine blacks falsely accused of raping two white women in Alabama in 1931. The struggle, which involved communist activists and laid the groundwork for the civil-rights movement, is chronicled involvingly in vintage stills and clips, comments by historians and readings by actors (including Stanley Tucci and Frances McDormand). "In the end, the state of Alabama bowed to reason," says narrator Andre Braugher, "and to exhaustion."