The Scottsboro Boys were nine black teenage boys accused of rape in Alabama in 1931. The landmark set of legal cases from this incident dealt with racism and the right to a fair trial. The case includes a frameup, all-white jury, rushed trials, an attempted lynching, angry mob, and miscarriage of justice.

On March 25, 1931, several people were hoboing on a freight train traveling between Chattanooga and Memphis, Tennessee. Several white boys jumped off the train and reported to the sheriff they had been attacked by a group of black boys. The sheriff deputized a posse, stopped and searched the train at Paint Rock, Alabama, arrested the black boys, and found two white girls who accused the boys of rape. The case was first heard in Scottsboro, Alabama in three rushed trials, where the defendants received poor legal representation. All but the twelve-year-old Roy Wright were convicted of rape and sentenced to death, the common sentence in Alabama at the time for black men convicted of raping white women. But with help from the American Communist Party, the case was appealed. The Alabama Supreme Court affirmed seven of the eight convictions, and granted thirteen-year-old Eugene Williams a new trial because he was a juvenile. Chief Justice John C. Anderson dissented however, ruling that the defendants had been denied an impartial jury, fair trial, fair sentencing, and effective counsel.

Colman Domingo (born November 28, 1969) is an award-winning American actor, playwright and director.

Domingo graduated from Temple University where he majored in journalism. Soon thereafter he moved to San Francisco, California where he started acting, mainly in theatre productions.

One of the first films for Domingo was in 1999 in the movie Around the Fire as Trace, where he worked with Eric Mabius and Tara Reid.

Colman starred as the closeted Baptist church choir director, Mr. Franklin Jones, Amsterdam naturist, Joop, and West Berlin protest artist, Mr. Venus, in the critically acclaimed rock musical Passing Strange, which, after a successful 2007 run at The Public Theatre, opened on Broadway on Feb. 28, 2008. Colman Domingo received an Obie Award in spring 2008 as part of the ensemble of Passing Strange Off-Broadway. Colman reprised his roles in the film version of Passing Strange directed by Spike Lee, which made its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2009.

In 2010, Domingo's self-penned play "A Boy and His Soul" premiered Off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theater, for which he won GLAAD Award: Outstanding New York Theater: Broadway & Off–Broadway and a Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Solo Show. He was also nominated for a Drama Desk Award and a Drama League Award.

Susan Stroman (born October 17, 1954) is an American theatre director, choreographer, film director, and performer. She has won the Tony Award for both her choreography and direction, notably for the stage musical The Producers.

Stroman was born in Wilmington, Delaware, to Frances and Charles Stroman. She was exposed to show tunes by her piano-playing salesman father. She began studying dance, concentrating on jazz, tap, and ballet at the age of five. She studied under James Jamieson at the Academy of the Dance in Wilmington. She majored in English at the University of Delaware. She performed, choreographed and directed at community theaters in the Delaware and Philadelphia area. After graduating in 1976, she moved to New York City. Her first professional appearance was in Hit the Deck at the Goodspeed Opera House in 1977. Her first Broadway credit was as an ensemble member in the 1979 musical Whoopee!. In 1980 she was assistant director, assistant choreographer, and dance captain for Musical Chairs. Wanting to direct and choreograph instead of perform, Stroman concentrated on creating for the theater. She worked in small venues as a director and choreographer in various industrial shows, club acts and commercials.

Julian Wyatt Glover (born 27 March 1935) is a British actor best known for such roles as General Maximilian Veers in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, the Bond villain Aristotle Kristatos in For Your Eyes Only, Walter Donovan in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Brian Harcourt-Smith in The Fourth Protocol.

Glover was born in Hampstead, the son of Honor Ellen Morgan (née Wyatt), a BBC journalist and a close friend of novelist Barbara Pym, and Claude Gordon Glover, a BBC radio producer. His younger half-brother is the musician Robert Wyatt. Glover has been twice married to actresses: Eileen Atkins and Isla Blair, with whom he has a son, actor Jamie Glover. In 2006, he held the role of Edward Alleyn Club President.

Glover attended Bristol Grammar School in Bristol, England, where he was in the same class as actors Timothy West and Darth Vader actor David Prowse, and also Alleyn's School in Dulwich. Glover trained at the National Youth Theatre and performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company. In the early 1950s, he appeared in several shows at Unity Theatre, London. During the 1960s and 1970s, Glover frequently appeared in British television shows, including The Avengers, Doctor Who, The Saint, Strange Report and Blake's 7.