Clarence Norris Letter to his Attorney, 1934

I received a letter from my mother today. I did not answer it because I would have to send it in care of the I.L.D. and you said for me not to write them.
The I.L.D Norris referred to was the International Labor Defense, a legal arm of the Communist Party that came to the aid of the Scottsboro boys and hired Liebowitz to represent them. The attorney had a falling-out with the I.L.D. after it attempted to bribe one of the witnesses.

Clarence Norris Letter to his Attorney 1934

Clarence Norris wrote this letter to his attorney, Samuel Liebowitz, from prison after his conviction in 1934. The Supreme Court later overturned Norris’s sentence. He was retried and resentenced to death, but the Governor granted him a stay of execution.

National Archives, Records of the Supreme Court of the United States