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Farming For A Better Future, page 114
(Top) Excerpt of 1900 Census Record Showing John
H. Matthews Owning a Farm (National Archives and Records Administration via Ancestry.com) (Above) Excerpt of 1920 Census Record Showing Henry Campbell Owning a Farm (National Archives and Records Administration via Ancestry.com)
Ben Sterns. The Campbells both owned their farm in 1920 and were joined by Henry, Jr. John Sterns either passed away you moved away and only Ben Sterns owned a farm in 1920. That year, four of six owners previously owned in 1910. However, none of them
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owned by 1930 and all four owners in 1940 did not own in 1930. It appears that the retention of African American landowning farmers around Scottsboro in the early 20th century was likely to be less than 10 years.
Scottsboro's African American Neighborhood
The town of Scottsboro has always been divided, as many southern towns are, by the railroad. The African American community established itself on the
north side of the railroad tracks. Today, the majority of the town is situated to the south, but there are a few pieces of the African American community still in Scottsboro. The neighborhood centered around present-day Martin Luther King, Jr. Street and North Houston Street was established in the early 20th century. It contains St. Paul's African Methodist Episcopal Church, which may have been established in Scottsboro well before the church was built on North Houston Street sometime between 1936 and 1950. An unnamed school located in the community in 1936
was most likely a school for African American children. It was located at the north end of MLK Street. A circa 1970 addition to the school still stands, but the original school and its 1950s replacement are both torn down.
The Scottsboro Boys Museum and Cultural Center
Scottsboro remained under the radar until 1931 when the city, as the county seat, was the site of the first trials of what would become known as the Scottsboro Boys. Nine young African American men were accused of raping two white women while they all traveled on the train from Chattanooga through Jackson County. A fight between the boys and some white men occurred somewhere near Scottsboro, but the conductor was not notified of any incident until further down the tracks. The train stopped in Paint Rock and a search for the boys began. When they were found, the nine boys were brought to Scottsboro for trial. The media deemed them the “Scottsboro Boys.” Regardless of their innocence, there would be years of trials and theatrics ahead for the nine young men, ages 12 to 19 years old. While only the first trials happened in Scottsboro and the rest in Decatur, Morgan County, the name stuck with them.
(Far Left) Aerial Photograph of the African American Neighborhood in North Scottsboro, 1958 (University of Alabama, Historical Map Collection, Online) (Left) St. Paul AME Church in Scottsboro (Google Street View, 2014) - (4642)