My research process started off with the database of FBI records on civil rights activists, where I was looking at records of Frank Marshall Davis where i saw that he had cited the "Herndon case" as reason for joining the communist party. I had never heard of this case before and was intrigued so I looked it up and immediately found  out about the case. I thought it was interesting as this was very similar to the Scottsboro case except more deliberate and more communist. You see Herndon use his notoriety from the case to launch his carer in the communist party after the case.  I ultimately chose these two specific examples as one shows Herndon's life and why he ultimately joined the communist party as well as life in the south and the picture shows Herdon during his time in jail while he fought the case all the way to the supreme court.

I arrived at both of these sites trough google. History as a weapon seeks to compile history is order to drive forward progressive ideas by focusing on american resistance history, this does bring into question their bias. Thew site as a whole overtly says it is "leftist" but the site offers a lot of primary sources from the time period. I also don't see their bias affecting the sources due to their minimalist aesthetic but it is important to know they do focus on his communist ties in what they add to the source.  The other source, "Black Then" witch says its goal is to bring to light history of black violence focuses less on the communist ties of Herndon. Instead its focuses on the civil rights implication of the case and Herndon himself. The source focuses on the achievements of black individuals within America, with at strong emphasis on the page "first", referring to "the first black person too..." So the biases I see from this source are more pro-american universalism but focusing on the celebration of culture. 

The Herdon case has a strong connection to the scottsboro case, they both helped expose the deep injustice in the jim crow south. The two cases differ in the role of the communist party, the key difference being in the scottsboro case the scottsboro boys were not communists but Herdon was.  The 2 cases resulted from very different circumstances as well, one from active demonstration and one from being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Herndon case was more driven by the communist as a direct attack but the start of the scottsboro case rested on the justce system. 

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