The International Labor Defense, the legal arm of the Communist Party of the United States of America, was formed in 1925 to counter groups like the Ku Klux Klan.
Because of his impeccable record, criminal defense attorney Samuel Leibowitz was hired by the International Labor Defense to defend the young black men accused at Scottsboro.
By the time the NAACP made an effort to become involved in the legal defense of the accused, the International Labor Defense had already staked a claim to the case.
Cinematographer Tom Hurwitz talks about documentary filmmaking and his unique experience filming in Scottsboro, Alabama where his father, documentarian Leo Hurwitz, had shot nearly 70 years before.
