PBS History Detectives Season 7, episode 11, with air date of September 7, 2009 included a story about the origin of the Scottsboro Boys fundraising seal. Issued in 1932 for the defense of 9 innocent black youth falsely accused of rape. At the time, it was the case of the century; a decades long ordeal for the accused. This seal is listed in the Miscellaneous section (10) of Mosbaugh's All Fund Catalog #850.01. The catalog states that this seal, with a 1 cent denomination, was issued by the International Labor Defense, 800 E. 11th St., NY, NY. and that 2 million were printed. History Detectives goes into a lot of detail about this Communist/ anti Fascist organization, but I wanted to include a few things they left out.
The ILD issued a second scarcer Scottsboro Boy seal with a 5 cent denomination, #850.02 in 1934, with 500,000 printed, as well as many other fundraising seal issues for other causes, also listed in section 10 #850. In January 2009 CS&CSS member John Denune Sr. was contacted by the show, and the producer asked for information. Denune loaned them a full sheet of 850.01x which is pictured briefly (at 31 min, 52 sec.) in the show. Included here, is an ILD Scottsboro Boys fundraising letter, as well as a seal tied on cover, both from the collection of John Denune, Sr.
Watch the entire episode here: http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/video/1242407331/