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Scottsboro, Alabama: A Story in Linoleum Cuts
In 1931, nine black youths were falsely accused of raping two white women on a freight train traveling through northern Alabama. They were arrested and tried in four days, convicted of rape, and eight of them were sentenced to death. The ensuing legal battle spanned six years and involved two landmark decisions by the Supreme Court. One of the most well known and controversial legal decisions of our time, the Scottsboro case ignited the collective emotions of the country, which was still struggling to come to terms with fundamental issues of racial equality.
Scottsboro, Alabama, which consists of 118 exceptionally powerful linoleum prints, provides a unique graphic history of one of the most infamous, racially-charged episodes in the annals of the American judicial system, and of the racial and class struggle of the time. Originally printed in Seattle in 1935, this hitherto unknown document, of which no other known copies exist, is presented here for the first time. It includes a foreword by Robin D.G. Kelley and an introduction by Andrew H. Lee. Mr. Lee discovered the book as part of a gift to the Tamiment Library by the family of Joe North, an important figure in the Communist Party-USA, and an editor at the seminal left-wing journal, the New Masses.
A true historical find and an excellent tool for teaching the case itself and the period which it so indelibly marked, this book allows us to see the Scottsboro case through a unique and highly provocative lens.
Scottsboro, Alabama, which consists of 118 exceptionally powerful linoleum prints, provides a unique graphic history of one of the most infamous, racially-charged episodes in the annals of the American judicial system, and of the racial and class struggle of the time. Originally printed in Seattle in 1935, this hitherto unknown document, of which no other known copies exist, is presented here for the first time. It includes a foreword by Robin D.G. Kelley and an introduction by Andrew H. Lee. Mr. Lee discovered the book as part of a gift to the Tamiment Library by the family of Joe North, an important figure in the Communist Party-USA, and an editor at the seminal left-wing journal, the New Masses.
A true historical find and an excellent tool for teaching the case itself and the period which it so indelibly marked, this book allows us to see the Scottsboro case through a unique and highly provocative lens.
147 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 17, 2009
Lin Shi Kahn and Ralph Austin were enlisted by the American Communist Party (ACP) to author an account of the 1931 arrest and trial of nine African-American youths accused of raping two white women in Scottsboro, Alabama. A handmade 1932 edition, Scottsboro: A Story in Block Prints, contains 60 mostly wordless linocuts. This reprint of the more polished 1935 edition nearly doubles that number with the addition of relief-cut captions that add clarification to the illustrations.* Doubtless the creators’ hearts were in the right place in wanting to confront the blatant racism in Alabama’s judicial system, but there were ulterior motives as well. The ACP’s legal arm, the International Labor Defense (ILD) had secured the Scottsboro Nine’s lawyer, meaning that a win for the defendants was a win for the Communist Party. It was a case that easily won the sympathies of northern liberals and this book was full of communist slogans and logos aimed at winning the ideological allegiance of these sympathizers. Though the cover bears the name of two authors (one of which mysteriously changes between the two editions), the book is clearly the work of the ACP, who even went so far as to make changes between the two editions, omitting a Sambo-esque jab at the NAACP and toning down the implication that the two girls who’d framed the Scottsboro Nine to avoid being charged with vagrancy were, in fact, prostitutes. Other changes included a toning down of the communist propaganda in a few panels which improved the book overall.
Where contemporaries such as Lynd Ward succeeded on every level in the mastery of the wordless woodcut novel, the ACP artists tried to cash in on this vehicle for Ward’s success in pursuit of a worthy cause. Their initial attempt was a stylistic failure, improved slightly in the edition reprinted by NYU. Meanwhile the lengthy series of Scottsboro trials ascended to two rounds of Supreme Court hearings, resulting in the defendants each serving between 6 and 19 years in prison rather than the death sentences clamored for by the Alabama court and its all-white jury. It is unlikely that the Scottsboro linocut book had any hand in the trial’s outcome, as there was no noted record of its existence until nearly 70 years after its publication. This book had had clear goals which could not realistically be met, whereas other author-artists in the genre had goals that were in some ways more achievable: to make provocative art and see what happened.
* The captions in later edition are presumably by Tony Perez, who replaces Ralph Austin as Lin Shi Kahn’s co-author on the cover of the 1935 edition and the 2002 reprint. The Wolfsonian Library’s copy of the 1932 edition also bears captions, handwritten in pencil script overleaf from each picture, perhaps used as a working draft for the later edition’s clarified narrative. See http://www.wolfsonian.org/collections... for the online edition.
Where contemporaries such as Lynd Ward succeeded on every level in the mastery of the wordless woodcut novel, the ACP artists tried to cash in on this vehicle for Ward’s success in pursuit of a worthy cause. Their initial attempt was a stylistic failure, improved slightly in the edition reprinted by NYU. Meanwhile the lengthy series of Scottsboro trials ascended to two rounds of Supreme Court hearings, resulting in the defendants each serving between 6 and 19 years in prison rather than the death sentences clamored for by the Alabama court and its all-white jury. It is unlikely that the Scottsboro linocut book had any hand in the trial’s outcome, as there was no noted record of its existence until nearly 70 years after its publication. This book had had clear goals which could not realistically be met, whereas other author-artists in the genre had goals that were in some ways more achievable: to make provocative art and see what happened.
* The captions in later edition are presumably by Tony Perez, who replaces Ralph Austin as Lin Shi Kahn’s co-author on the cover of the 1935 edition and the 2002 reprint. The Wolfsonian Library’s copy of the 1932 edition also bears captions, handwritten in pencil script overleaf from each picture, perhaps used as a working draft for the later edition’s clarified narrative. See http://www.wolfsonian.org/collections... for the online edition.
February 22, 2008
i loved this book in three different ways... the texture and intonation of the linoleum cuts - the visual metaphors and adamant intensity. the political righteousness of the original text - a social communal people's manifesto linking the history of african american oppression to the struggle and disenfranchisement of the workers of the world: UNITE! the academic commentary by historian robin kelley and archivist andrew lee registers this work as a cultural artifact and archival text. it is a member of a larger body of writing, art and song about the scottsboro case and the arrest of nine black men and boys on a train, on their way to alabama to find a job in 1931. but, still a story that rings true today: whether it is about being a person of color, being unemployed, or being wrongfully incarcerated. a powerful read.
April 8, 2008
The block prints are chilling and beautiful. There is a ghost-like quality to the images, putting them just out of reach, a dream shadow lying on the edges of comprehension. Such is the case with the events of the Scottsboro nine. The event that shocked the world, only when its horror was illuminated by the intervention of the International Labor Defense. The accompanying narrative transforms the iconic case into a parable, even amidst its very unfolding. The message brings up torrid emotions of sadness and inspiration: to know the power of the united, to remember the brief successes, to realize how far we have moved away from that beautiful ideal.
October 7, 2012
This book is a jewel. The prints are loaded and the captions precise and apropos. The symbolic imagery is potent, a hammer and sickle and a pigs' head under the boot of a worker starkly juxtaposed by a swastika, klansman, and American flag. So it's a bit heavy handed but it does the trick, and its all placed within historical context of race and worker strife by the wonderfully written introduction and foreword.
February 23, 2016
An excellent choice to read during Black History Month. I had never heard about the Scottsboro Boys before. Very enlightening. The linoleum cuts, done quite crudely, were perfect to communicate the anger and frustration of a people long oppressed.
January 12, 2017
purchased in library book sale: woodcuts done by slaves and former slaves, brutal, sad, shameful.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews