Haywood Patterson
Haywood Patterson | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 12, 1912 Elberton, Georgia, U.S. |
| Died | August 24, 1952 (aged 39) |
| Known for | One of the nine members of the Scottsboro Boys |
Haywood Patterson (December 12, 1912 – August 24, 1952) was an American author and one of the Scottsboro Boys. He was accused of raping Victoria Price and Ruby Bates.[1] He wrote a book about his experience, Scottsboro Boy.[2]
Patterson was 18 when he and eight other young black men and boys were accused of raping a white woman and a 17-year-old white girl on a train in 1931. Patterson was given the death sentence three times, but after appeals and retrials he was eventually sentenced to 75 years in prison.
At Atmore Prison Farm, Patterson admitted to becoming a sexual predator to deter fellow inmates from attacking him. He kept a "gal-boy" and once attacked a fellow inmate with a knife for having sex with "his kid". Patterson once said, "I had faith in my knife. It had saved me many times." He was disliked by guards, fellow inmates, and even the other Scottsboro defendants. Clarence Norris once swore that given the chance, he would kill Patterson.[3]
In February 1941, Patterson was stabbed 20 times, puncturing his lungs, by an inmate paid by a guard to kill him. He recovered from his injuries.[3]
In 1948, Patterson escaped from prison and fled to Detroit. He was arrested by the FBI a few years later but was not extradited to Alabama. In December 1950, Patterson was charged with murder after he stabbed a man to death during a bar fight. After his first trial ended in a hung jury and his second trial ended in a mistrial, he was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to six to 15 years in prison. Patterson died in Jackson State Prison of cancer in 1952, at the age of 39.[1][3]
In 2013, the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles posthumously pardoned Patterson along with two other Scottsboro boys, Charles Weems and Andy Wright. They were the last men whose convictions had not yet been overturned or pardoned.[4]
Joshua Henry played Patterson in the original Broadway cast of The Scottsboro Boys musical.[5]
References
- ^ a b "Haywood Patterson". law2.umkc.edu. Archived from the original on 15 May 2012. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
- ^ Patterson, Haywood; Conrad, Earl; Hirsch, Joseph (1950). Scottsboro Boy. Doubleday. ISBN 1597401021.
{{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) - ^ a b c "Who Were the Scottsboro Boys? | American Experience | PBS". www.pbs.org. Retrieved 2025-12-09.
- ^ "Alabama pardons 'Scottsboro Boys'". BBC News. 2013-11-21. Retrieved 2018-02-04.
- ^ Gans, Andrew (9 December 2010). "Tony Rulings: Brief Encounter and Long Story Are Best Plays; Daisy and Life Are Revivals". Playbill. Archived from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
Resources
- "Long Journey." Time Magazine Published 10 July 1950. Accessed 30 April 2008.