Racism In To Kill A Mockingbird

In “To Kill a Mockingbird” Tom Robinson (African American) was accused of raping Mayella Ewell (Caucasian female) and was sentenced guilty. “No I don’t recollect if he hit me. I mean yes I do, he hit me.” (Harper pg. 248) Mayella was testifying that Tom was guilty when she stumbled and said the truth by accident and giving Atticus (Tom’s lawyer for the case) evidence to prove that Tom was not guilty. Sadly the jury had decided not to take any of the evidence into consideration and sentencing Tom Robinson to jail. This is because Tom is African American and at the time people were very racist and think that all African Americans are all bad. This happened in the “Scottsboro Trial” as well. There were 9 guys “Scottsboro Boys”(African American) on a train

Text 1: In To Kill a Mockingbird, the jury convicts a black man, Tom Robinson for the alleged rape of a girl. Despite having an accomplished lawyer Atticus, to defend him, the outcome of the trial was known from the beginning. It was understood through the evidence that it would have been truly difficult seeing Tom had an accident when he was “12 years old” this meant he could have used his “left hand”. As long as Tom was black, the jury found him guilty despite all the evidence put forward which showed that he didn’t do it.

The case of Tom Robinson was a case on whether he would be guilty for rape or not. Tom Robinson had the defendant, Atticus, with their opponents, the Ewells. Throughout the case you are able to see many different cases where Atticus made it obvious that Tom did nothing wrong and it would have been obvious that Bob Ewell would have been a likely suspect to commit the crime of rape against her daughter, Mayella. The trial showed that the justice system has flaws and doesn’t represent justice, people only make choices based on their racist views.

In this case, the jury is all white people that believe Tom is guilty. They believe that Tom is guilty for his crime of raping and harassing Mayella. Using the evidence provided, Tom has to try and prove that he is innocent in this crime and should be free. During this time, there is tons of segregation going on. In this case, it is a black versus white, or Tom Robinson versus the whites.

Imagine a world where everyone with blue eyes got to give orders to everyone with brown eyes. If you're born with blue eyes, you get the good jobs, the good schools, the good houses, and all the fair trials you could want. If you have brown eyes, then you would have gotten the crappy education, house, and life. That is how life was in Maycomb, Alabama as well as the rest of the south. The central idea of To Kill a Mockingbird is recognition on how unfair people are treated based on their race.

Tom Robinson’s trial was dictated on skin color and not evidence. Harper Lee shows that, "In our courts, when it's a white man's word against a black man's, the white man always wins." (220) This quote shows how bad it was, right when Tom stepped in the courtroom he was found guilty. Atticus did everything right, but no matter what he said, Tom would always be found guilty on the account of his

The unfairness of the trial that occurred when Tom was falsely charged with rape reveals people’s imprudent prejudice. It was clear that the case was evaluated unjustly–based on Tom’s race–yet there was enough evidence defending him, according to the book, “If her right eye was blacked and she was beaten mostly on the right side of the face, it would tend to show that a left-handed person did it.” (Lee 202). Undeniably, Atticus brought enough evidence to convince the reader that Ewells are dishonest. The final decision of the court can only be

This is just another example of how unjust the system truly was. Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird shares a similar story. Even though there is hard proof Tom Robinson isn’t even capable of hurting someone, the all-white jury decides that he is guilty simply because of the

During Tom’s case there were all white man on the trial. Tom Robinson had no chance winning the case because of this. In “How to Kill a Mockingbird” not everyone was racist, Atticus Finch agrees to defend a black man named Tom Robinson accused of raping a white woman. Atticus and his children receive much abuse because of the trial. Atticus gives clear evidence that Robinson did not rape the woman, but the all white jury convicts Tom despite the evidence, and Tom later tries to escape from prison and is shot.

The jury does not care about Tom Robinson, if he is right or wrong, only that he will be

During the Tom trial Tom was set up. He was never given a fair chance. The town people heard what happened and automatically assumed Tom was guilty because of his skin color. When Tom was accused they made sure the jury was all white. They believed Tom was guilty and they wanted to make sure everyone else did. "Tom Robinson's a colored man, Jem. No jury in this part of the world's going to say 'We think you're guilty, but not very' on a charge like that. It was either a straight acquittal or nothing." (Atticus). Tom was guilty without having to go to

names’s Tom Robinson”. Discuss the effects of racism on Maycomb citizens such as Tom and Helen Robinson,

One way the face of racism has changed is that there are now laws against it. Because racism was such a major problem back then, the 14th amendment was created, which

Racism from the 1930’s and racism from today has changed drastically. It has gone from every African American was like poison and if you touched or talked to them you were basically a dead a man. Most African Americans did not have money back then, but they still agreed to help out Tom Robinson’s family because they knew that the whites wouldn’t, but now all African Americans have to do is ask for the help and we will because we have changed how we treat them. Also the children don’t make fun of the other kids parents when they help an African American out like Cecil Jacobs did to Scout’s daddy. They

“Guilty...Guilty...Guilty...Guilty…” Even if a defendant was innocent without a doubt a prejudice jury will find him/her guilty Every time based off there race, religion, and color. In Tom Robinson's case this is shown by him being accused of rapeing a white woman when the jury had no evidence to convict him of that