Day 20

 Day 20-Monday, May 9

When we woke up this morning it had stopped raining, but the forecast was not good so we decided to pack up, cancel our third night at DeSoto State Park, and head west.

 

Our first stop today was Russell Cave National Monument, an archeological site with one of the most complete records of prehistoric cultures in the Southeast.  In the 1950s, archeologists uncovered a large quantity of artifacts representing over 10,000 years of use in a single place.  The actual caves at this site were first used by Native Americans as early 8,000 BC and continued to be used until the late 1600’s.

After reviewing the exhibits in the visitor center we hiked to the caves’ entrance and then continued along a fascinating and informative two mile nature trail that took us into the hills of northeast Alabama.

tulip poplar

This warning kept us on the trail.

 Leaving Russell Caves, we broke our fast food rule and had lunch at McDonalds in nearby Stevenson, Alabama.  Bad choice!

From Stevenson, our next stop was Scottsboro, a poor town in Jackson County that was the site of the infamous trial of the "Scottsboro Boys."  

 

“The Scottsboro Boys were nine Black teenagers, ages 12 to 19, accused of raping two white women in 1931.  The women were prostitutes who the police paid to claim they were raped.  All but one were convicted of rape and sentenced to death (the common sentence in Alabama at the time for Black men convicted of raping white women), even though there was no medical evidence to suggest that they had committed such a crime.  The convictions were appealed and multiple retrials took place.  During the retrials, one of the alleged victims admitted to fabricating the rape story and asserted that none of the accused touched either of the white women.  However the guilty convictions stood.  During the retrials the eight accused young men remained in prison.  

 

"The Scottsboro Boys", as they became known, and their case is now widely considered a miscarriage of justice, highlighted by the use of all-white juries. Black Americans in Alabama had been disenfranchised since the late 19th century and were likewise not allowed on juries. The case has been explored in many works of literature, music, theatre, film and television. On November 21, 2013, Alabama's parole board voted to grant posthumous pardons to the three Scottsboro Boys who had not been pardoned or had their convictions overturned.

Sadly there are no memorials nor plaques in front of the Scottsboro courthouse, maybe they wish to forgot this tragic time in their past, but we did find a mural in the back parking lot of Edward Jones brokerage firm which is opposite the courthouse.

Leaving Scottsboro, we drove to Huntsville where we’d booked a room at the Hilton Garden.  We needed to do laundry, and the evening forecast for rain convinced us to spend some extra bucks and have a night of comfort.  Between laundry loads we had dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant.  The food was great but it doesn't photograph very well, so I'm not including any photos.