This program is in conjunction with The Scottsboro Boys Museum and Du Bois Freedom Centers collaboration to bring The Scottsboro Boys Travel Exhibit to Great Barrington, MA from February 9 to April 30, 2026. The travel exhibit will be present and open for viewing at this event.
The exhibit opens at 5 p.m. EST along with refreshments and the moderated conversation begins at 6 p.m. EST. This program features Dr. Thomas Reidy, Scottsboro Boys Museum executive director, in conversation with Dr. Whitney Battle-Baptiste, director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Center at UMass Amherst. Marcus P. Smith, History and Archival fellow at the Du Bois Freedom Center will be moderating.
The discussion centers on one of the most notorious legal injustices in U.S. history—the 1931 false accusation of nine Black teenagers known as the Scottsboro Boys—and reflects on the legacy of the late Sheila Washington, founder of the Scottsboro Boys Museum. The discussion will examine Washington’s pivotal role in securing the men’s posthumous exoneration through the 2013 Scottsboro Boys Act, as well as the museum’s ongoing work addressing public memory, accountability, and justice.
You can reserve tickets to attend here: https://mahaiwe.org/event/du-bois-freedom-center-presents-reflections-on-justice-w-e-b-du-bois-the-scottsboro-boys-and-legacies-of-injustice/