Scottsboro Trial Research Paper

This caused many rallies, riots, peaceful protest. This case informs us now because it also tells us how bad they were treated back then, the people believed the girls because they were white, and mostly overlooked the boys because they were black. So to end this long unfair trial, they were cleared.The latter mentioned in the book To kill a Mockingbird, by author Harper lee.

In Maycomb, Alabama, Mayella Ewell accused an African American man, Tom Robinson with allegations of rape. Mayella was powerful back in the 1930 because of the Jim crow laws, considering that she was a white woman. Although Mayella was so poor that she lived behind the town dump. Mayella was just about as poor as the African Americans, it quotes “White people wouldn't have anything to do with her because she lived among the pigs.” ("DBQ: Is Mayella Powerful?" 21). That explains that Mayella could not afford to live and also have many of the things she wanted. On the other hand, Mayella was an white woman going to court against an African American man.

Unfortunately sometimes a disastrous situation must occur for changed to take place. The Scottsboro trials can be a great example of just that. On March 25, 1931 nine young black men ranging in ages from twelve to twenty were arrested and were convicted of allegedly raping two women on a freight train traveling from Alabama to Tennessee. Accused by two white women Victoria Price and Ruby Bates the men were brought to trial. The trials lasted up to almost six years and were named The Scottsboro Trials. It can be said that the trials were prominent and necessary to take place to shape the future lives for the African American people.

The Scottsboro Boys were nine African American teenagers accused of raping two White American women on a train in Alabama in 1931. These were landmark legal cases due to this incident dealing with racism and the right to a fair trial. The cases included a lynch mob before suspects had even been indicted, all-white juries, rushed trials, and hostile disruptive mobs. It is often regarded as a grave example of a miscarriage of justice in the U.S. legal system.

The Scottsboro trial of the 1930’s is still one of the most famous racial cases today. It impacted the legal system and changed the course of history for years to come. It has even influenced and inspired literary work such as Tom Robinson’s case in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. The similarities between the Scottsboro case and Tom Robinson’s case heavily outweigh the differences. Thus it can be concluded that without the Scottsboro case To Kill a Mockingbird would not have the storyline readers know today.

Ruby Bates decided to confess the truth about her story to the courtroom officials. An example of the evidence of the truth is when “Bates said that there was no rape that none of the defendants touched her or even spoke to her and the accusation of rape was made afar Price told her to ‘frame up a story’ to avoid moral changes” (Linder, “The Scottsboro Boys”). Lee shows evidence of the truth by describing that “Atticus tried to show that Mr. Ewell could beat up Mayella ... If Mayella was mostly beaten on the right side of the face, it would tend to show that a left-handed person did it” (Lee 238). The defendants showed proof of not being able to have raped the female(s) by presenting truthful evidence. Besides the fact about Tom Robinson’s arm, Bob Ewell took the money Mayella and the family received from the relief checks and drank it up anyway stating “he sometimes went off in the swamp for days and came home sick.” Which can only reveal his negative drunken actions that can be an explanation for Mayella’s bruises. (Lee 244). There was physical evidence that showed the truth such as when “Dr. R. R. Bridges ‘examined the girls less than two hours after the alleged rapes’ and became a prostitute witness.” Also, “The semen that Bridges examined was non-motile, even though sperm generally live from twelve to forty-eight hours after intercourse.” (Linder, “The Scottsboro

Society forced them into being accusers because they felt as if it was the only way they had to change the way people looked at them. They wanted to do something about their lives and they saw the trials and accusations as their only way to do that. Mayella was more trapped than Ruby and Victoria in that the abuse she was facing was directly at home and she couldn’t get out of her house. Ruby and Victoria were also trapped because they had to do whatever to keep their families secure. Society made Mayella an accuser by not doing anything about the abuse her father gave her and by letting it continue. Not only did she think she had no option, they almost forced her to stick with her story, and lock her to what she said so she couldn't back out of it. This is the case too with Ruby and Victoria. Ruby seemed to want to back out as the trial

In 1931 the Scottsboro Boys (9) were accused of rape by Victoria Price and Ruby Bates. The accident happens on a train going to Chattanooga and Memphis, Tennessee. When the boys got into the fight with the two white men the chargers were atomically changed to rape. This happens because the Scottsboro deputies found two white women and pressure them to accuse the boys of rape. Most of the boys left school in elementary and worked to help their family to survive so you could imagine what happened to those families who didn't have anyone to support them. Nothing happens to Victoria Price or Ruby Banks. In 1936 Prosecutors told Price that she could retract her charges on four of boys out of 9 then she wouldn't be charged with perjury. But she refuses the offer. Price was a prostitute and she had sexual activities with Jack Tiller two days before charges. Ruby Banks, she was also a prostitute she eventually told the truth she said she was sorry for those boys and the pain she caused them. And she also said she did it because she was scared of the Scottsboro ruling table. The Scottsboro Boys were falsely accused some were lucky to be released from charges but some were not. There was lack of evidence, they found to prove they were innocent, the girls were prostitutes, Willie Roberson had a serious case of Syphilis and couldn't leap to railroad cart to railcard but he still spent 6 years in prison, the girls also had a poor

One of the women even confessed that the two were not raped but instead made a false lie due to fear of being caught because they were prostitutes. In the short article called,” Historical Context: The Scottsboro Trials” is stated,” …local judge James Horton effectively overturned the conviction of the jury and, in a meticulous analysis of the evidence that had been presented, ordered a new trial on the grounds that the evidence presented did not warrant conviction” (Johnson). This excerpt informs readers that the Judge had told the plaintiff that there was not enough sufficient evidence to support the conviction. The similarities between To Kill a Mockingbird and the Scottsboro trial are uncanny. The book only had one accuser and one black boy on trial unlike the Scottsboro boys where nine African American men were on trial.

In the Scottsboro Case, there are nine black teenage boys that were falsely charged as rapists. The court case ended with a judgment against nine black teenage boys who were accused of raping two white women (Ruby Bates and Victoria Price), (Sandbox Networks, Inc., 2015). Two groups of men were traveling on the train a group of whites and a group of blacks. The white men attempted to force the black men off the train. The white men reported to the sheriffs that they were attacked by nine black men. Two women on the train falsey accused the black men of rape. All but one of the black men were sentenced to death for the crime (Wormser, 2002).

In 1931, nine African American boys were accused of raping two white women. The boy’s ages ranged from 12-20 years old. The names of the black boys were Roy Wright 12, Eugene Williams 13, Charlie Weems 16, Ozie Powell 16, Willie Roberson 16, Olen Montgomery 17, Haywood Patterson 18, Andy Wright 19, and Clarence Norris 19. The trial is notoriously known as The Scottsboro Boys Trial. While the trial is considered a key trial in America’s criminal justice system, it showed the injustice in the Jim Crow south legal system.

Through Atticus, she expresses how the color of their skin should not at all affect the verdict, that they are just as human and deserving of a fair trial as any other person. That societal views and prejudices need to be put aside in the courtroom, that Tom Robinson needs to be looked at from a perspective where racism is not involved. Atticus even says, “It has relied instead upon the testimony of two witnesses whose evidence has not only been called into serious question on cross-examination, but has been flatly contradicted by the defendant. The defendant is not guilty, but someone in this courtroom is,” (Lee 231). Atticus is explaining to the jury and the spectators strictly facts, facts that should remain in their mind as they make their decision. A factor like skin color, although it always will, should not matter, that hard evidence is the only way to come to a verdict. Otherwise, the jury is focusing solely on their biases, what they think, not what is actually there. When Atticus mentions someone being guilty, he indirectly references Mayella Ewell. Mayella has done something unspeakable. Lied about everything, trying to cover up the tracks of her faults, a strict code she broke with the care of a child. A code that is unacceptable to break during this time period. The Ewells have already been outcast by Maycomb, they Ewells only a step above the people of color. But conversing with people of color puts them over the line, makes

Victims, Victoria Price and Ruby Bates, displayed no signs of gang rape, including bruises, emotional distress, or open wounds. The nine boys were arrested and tried twelve days after the allegation. Because they could not be tried individually nor all together, groups of two and three from the nine were tried at a time. Six out of the nine boys claimed the event of rape never took place while the other three hesitantly agreed that the event took place due to the threats they had received (Linder). Consisting of four trials, the lawsuit resulted in the conviction and death sentences of seven of the boys. Roy Wright and Eugene Williams, the youngest of the convicted boys—at the ages of twelve and thirteen, respectively—were not given death sentences due to their young age and inability to be tried as adults. Months after the conviction, alleged victim Victoria Price admitted to fabricating the dispute to cover her violation of the Mann Act (Linder): a law that prohibits the interstate transportation for the purpose of prostitution (PBS). The Scottsboro Boys’ lawsuit draws similarities to the litigation Atticus defends in the novel. An all-white jury judged each of the four litigations belonging to the case, resulting in an indisputable bias among them all. Bias of an all-white jury parallels to the Robinson v. Ewell dispute due to the faulty conviction of an innocent, African American man. The presence of the all-white jury led to a bias in the results and continued to exist throughout the 1950s and 1960s as all-white juries remained in effect for crimes with African American

Mayella Ewell has just accused Tom Robinson of rape in a little town of Alabama called Maycomb. Mayella is a white teenaged female while Tom is a black male. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper will display if Mayella has power or no power related to her trial, with the help of class, race, and gender.

During the trial of the Scottsboro boys, the people on the boys side were making death threats against Lebowitz, who was cross examining Victoria Price. Though when the verdict of being guilty was read, Lebowitz was stunned he had lost this one. Lebowitz was dedicated to the trial as it seems, but no doubts that Atticus was far more dedicated and somewhat emotionally involved. Although Finch was emotionally involved, he was not as stunned as Lebowitz as Robinson was announced guilty. Samuel and Atticus do have hard jobs to defend black males accused of rape against white women, but what makes the cases different is the evidence between both. Evidence was key when Tom was accused of raping Mayella, because she had visible injuries to