Scottsboro Trial Book Report

superb book “To kill a mockingbird”, but it can be argued about whether Harper Lee answered questions as to whether or not she based the book off the historical Scottsboro incident. I feel that because of the similarities between the fictional and historical female characters, the fictional and historical male characters,and also the similarities between the evidence given in the fictional and historical trials, all point to how Harper Lee certainly based her novel off of the Scottsboro trial.

racial problems. Jim Crow Laws, Scottsboro Trial, and African American Church Burning were some reasons why Harper Lee decided to write her book about the injustices and discrimination black people faced back in the 1900s. Jim Crow Laws were laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States, these laws

fictional events occurring in the novel are closely related to actual historical events that took place in the South during the time period in which the book is set. Most importantly, the trial of Tom Robinson illustrates how life was for a black man in a world dominated by white men. Tom Robinson’s trial can be paralleled to the trials of the Scottsboro boys, the horrific lynching that occurred in the South, and the general attitude of white society towards black society during the time period.

Tom Robinson is Proved Guilty Before Trial In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Tom Robinson, the black man falsely convicted of rape, had absolutely no chance of a fair trial. There is proof of this in the time period in which it occurred as well as evidence from the novel itself. Tom Robinson had an unfair trial because it was his word against the Ewell’s, a white, trashy family. To Kill A Mockingbird took place in the 1930’s, a time that was enormously charged with

for one person to stand alone and effectively fight. To further this, the Scottsboro Trials show the unfairness that people of color experienced in this time. For example, the Ransdell Report, written by a young teacher, journalist, and activist named Hollace Ransdell sent by the American Civil Liberties Union states, “The International Labor Defense, which had representatives on the scene at the time of the trial in Scottsboro, and whose attorney, George Chamlee, of Chattanooga, later made investigations

We live in a society where African Americans used to be treated with no respect. What if you had to experience the same things that they dealt with? They faced racial discrimination and injustice in court. Mostly in the Jim Crow South, certain groups of white people during this time made it impossible for African Americans to receive justice. Even if they were innocent, blacks could be brutally punished and were subjugated by violence. In court whites would generally win even if they did not have

many racial injustices (such as the Scottsboro trial), and had seen no change in the frequency or severity of these said injustices. There had been little change in society, and the pent up frustration as a cause of this fact is likely what angered Harper Lee. She took all this aggravation and expressed it in To Kill a Mockingbird through the character of Atticus Finch. This becomes clear throughout the course of the book, especially during Tom Robinson’s trial with Atticus’ closing arguments. Throughout

how well known the person is and how willing the people in the community are to fight with that person. If a person is well known in the community, more people would be encouraged to help fight against Jim Crow racism with them. For example, in the book To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus, helps defend a black male named Tom Robinson who was accused of raping a white woman named Mayella Ewell. During this time, defending a black person was frowned upon, so a bad lawyer would usually be defending them.

unjustness of negative race relations, and it also gives a good idea of how these race relations were in the early twentieth century. Additional examples of these negative race relations both in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries include the trials of the Scottsboro Boys from 1931 to 1937,

smelling of whiskey and pigpen who went up to the jail to cart away Robinson. Even though they are stopped in the book, because Scout Finch shames them, many real incidents went unchecked. Mockingbird paralleled at least three cases that were objects of disagreements in the Monroeville of her childhood. Lee once commented how, in the novel, “the trial, and the rape charge that brings on the trial, are made up out of a composite of such cases and charges.” Seven years before Harper’s birth, the senior Lee