Three Acts of Racial Terrorism" tells the true story of three cases of official and judicial violence that occurred both in and out of the courts in South Florida in 1933, 1934 and 1935. It faithfully recreates the 1933 trial of the “Little Scottsboro Boys” which led to the Supreme Court’s ruling to outlaw the use of confessions obtained by torture and required that blacks be seated on juries. The resulting outrage by South Florida’s white supremacists lead them to take their revenge by railroading Walter “Doc” Williams into the electric chair in 1934 and then lynch a black man named Ruben Stacy in 1935. Much has changed since then, but much has remained the same.

 

This production is based on Crime History Inc.'s original research and on Chris Mancini's 44 years of experience as a Public Defender, as a chief in the Miami Division of the United States Department of Justice and as a civil rights attorney and advocate.

 

Our goal is to work with South Florida community leaders and law enforcement agencies and schools to create a positive theatrical experience which sheds light on the ways in which the actions of the Broward County Sheriff of 80 years ago still shape our police, courts and classrooms of today.