On this day, October 25, in 1976

Alabama's Governor George Wallace finally pardoned Clarence Norris who was one of the young men convicted in the 1931 Scottsboro trial. The Scottsboro Boys were a group of nine black youths, from age 13-19, who despite the weak evidence and the contradictory witnesses were convicted of raping two white women in Scottsboro, Alabama. Throughout the long and infamous trials of The Scottsboro Boys, Clarence Norris was sentenced to death a total of three times. His death sentence was later commuted but Norris spent 15 years in prison and spent another 30 as a fugitive after fleeing Alabama before the Alabama Pardon and Parole Board unanimously found him innocent.