Alabama Grants Posthumous Pardons to Falsely Accused Scottsboro Boys

According to USA Today, the Alabama parole board just voted to grant posthumous pardons from a 1931 rape case that involved a group of men called the Scottsboro Boys- the case on which the 2010 Tony-nominated musical was based.

Haywood Patterson, Charlie Weems and Andy Wright are now conviction-free, along with the rest of the Scottsboro boys, who had already been given pardons.

After being declared innocent by an all-white jury in 1937, all but the youngest member of the group was sentenced to death. Eventually Alabama dropped the charges against five of the defendants, and one was given a pardon by the governer in 1976.

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THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS is the final collaboration by musical theatre giants John Kanderand Fred Ebb (Chicago, Cabaret). Based on the notorious "Scottsboro" case in the 1930s (in which nine African-American men were unjustly accused of a terrible crime) this daring and wildly entertaining musical explores a fascinating chapter in American history with brilliant originality.

The production is the winner of the 2010 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical and the 2010 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical and a 2010 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics.