Ruby Bates

Ruby Bates, along with Victoria Price, falsely accused nine young African American men of rape on a train in Jackson County in 1931, a situation that developed into one of the most glaring examples of legal injustice in the Jim Crow South. Bates later recanted her testimony and advocated for the men, known in the media as the "Scottsboro Boys."

Portrait of Ruby Bates, key witness in the Scottsboro Boys trial
Photograph by the Brown Brothers
Portrait of Ruby Bates, key witness in the Scottsboro Boys trial