Similarities Between Scottsboro And To Kill A Mockingbird

There are many similarities between the Scottsboro trial and the trial of Tom Robinson in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. “No crime in American history—let alone a crime that never occurred—produced as many trials, convictions, reversals, and retrials as did an alleged gang rape of two white girls by nine black teenagers on a Southern railroad freight run on March 25, 1931” (Linder 1). The author of To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee, was a young girl during the Scottsboro trial and based the trial of Tom Robinson in her novel off of the Scottsboro trial of 1931. The three main similarities between the Scottsboro trial and the trial of Tom Robinson are the geographic settings, the portrayal of racism, and the specifics of the court

The Scottsboro Trials were among the largest legal injustices in the South. The events that started the trials began in the early spring of 1931, when nine young black men were falsely accused of raping two white women on a train. The cases were tried and appealed in Alabama and twice argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. The state pursued the case and all-white juries delivered guilty verdicts that initially carried the death penalty. Several of the accused were sentenced to prison terms and all had long stays in prison as the case made its way through the legal system. The case later was one of the inspirations for Harper Lee's book “To Kill A Mockingbird”

What do you know about the Great Depression? Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird takes place during this time, giving you more of an understanding of how life was. Lee took time using figurative language, characterization, and symbolism to help develop a theme. In To Kill a Mockingbird, symbolism creates the theme of, “It is wrong to hurt the innocent.”

To Kill a Mockingbird took place during the Great Depression. Although slavery was abolished by then, racism was still a big problem, especially in the courtroom. Tom Robinson was an African American

While in the book, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, a colored man named Tom Robinson was accused of raping a white woman named Mayella Ewell. In the Scottsboro Trial and the Tom Robinson Trial, there are many similarities/differences between them. Furthermore, the Scottsboro boys were 9 African American

During the years of the 1930’s, the Scottsboro Boys and Tom Robinson went to court due to an alleged rape of a white female. Throughout the events that took place in both cases, Harper Lee repeatedly presented examples of racism and prejudice. Between the court cases of both Tom Robinson and “The Scottsboro Boys,” many of the featured characters’ actions and reactions were similar in responding to the weak evidence.

In the Scottsboro Trials, there were 9 boys all accused falsely of a crime they did not commit. Knowing how much worse the racist back in the early 1900s was shows we have come a long way, but are still far from a completely non-racist world. To Kill A Mockingbird is also a great example on how things were back then, seeing as the two cases carry the nearly exact same things. Both were falsely accused by poor white women that had no medical evidence provided at the ‘crime scene’. Both of these things were horrible things, but have helped us move on from our past mistakes. In today’s world, most of the racism has moved on from blacks, but is still there, and onto the Middle Eastern population. Hopefully, people will learn from our mistakes

Hatred towards others grew rapidly in this period of time, and both trials were examples of the irritation of white people and their revulsion towards blacks. Atticus Finch, Tom Robinson's lawyer, and Judge Horton, the judge in the Scottsboro Trials, shared the same views in many senses. Both had strong opinions and fought for equality between blacks and whites, despite the wishes of the members of their communities, nearly all of whom were racist. Atticus confronted his children in the novel while Judge Horton addressed the jury, and both encouraged as many people as possible to follow in their lead of impartiality, and both men prevent the mobs that arose against the accused black men. Another significant parallel was the status of the accusers. Both were white working class women with things they desired to conceal from their past; in the novel, the accuser, Mayella Ewell, was constantly beaten, raped, and abused by Bob Ewell, her father, and to accuse Tom Robinson of rape was perfect to hide the things that her father had done to her. In the other trial the women were prostitutes and blaming

Back in the painfully segregated deep South of America, many blacks suffered from an actionless crime, that was the color of their skin. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch is a lawyer that defends everyone, including blacks and whites, in Maycomb County, Alabama. Situated on a case in which he defends Tom Robinson, a Negro accused of rape by a white woman, Atticus is able to display his leadership by teaching his two children, Jean Louise “Scout” Finch and Jeremy “Jem” Finch, that a community with prejudice and racism towards anybody is shameful, and therefore should not exist. In addition, the article, “The Scottsboro Boys”, written by Douglas O. Linder, and Martin Luther King Jr's “I Have a Dream” speech show audiences a point of view through the eyes of a Black American of the harsh reality of racial discrimination. During the early 1900’s, segregation and racial prejudice against blacks were both big issues that a majority of society failed to see as problems, but brave leaders were able to notice the fault in them, and help the reshape society for the good of both blacks and whites.

To Kill a Mockingbird took place in the 1930’s, during The Great Depression. The plotline was developed around people who were impacted during this time. Racial violence became more common, especially in the South. In To Kill a Mockingbird, racism sprouted most of the tension, and has

History can be a great influence in fictional stories and events. The character Tom Robinson from the book To Kill a Mockingbird has a very close resemblance with the real life event of the Scottsboro trial seeing as Tom Robinson was falsely accused of raping a white woman and the Scottsboro boys where a group of black teenagers who were also falsely accused of raping two white girls. There are many similarities as well as differences between these stories, but they both show the reality that is racism in the legal system. Many comparisons can be made between the two trials of Tom Robinson and the Scottsboro Boys. One comparison could be the fact that both Tom Robinson and the Scottsboro boys had everything they needed to be pronounced innocent,

In 1931, the Scottsboro case was the news in the South. The case is about how nine African American boys were falsely accused of raping two White women on a train. All nine boys, except for the younger twelve year old, were sent to court and sentenced to death. In Harper Lee’s depiction, Tom Robinson, who was a black man, was falsely accused of raping a white woman. Thus, he was sent to court, which also had a white jury, and was sentenced to death. Unfortunately, he never made his death sentence because he tried to escape, and got shot by the prison guard. Everyone realized, in both real life and in the novel, that blacks were being treated poorly. The case influenced new laws called, the Jim Crow laws. Jim Crow laws influenced the idea of “Separate but Equal.” Jim Crow laws never did fix hate on African Americans, because it still exists today.

The trial of Tom Robinson is a big event in To Kill a Mockingbird, where it clearly shows how African Americans are viewed as inferiors during the 1900s. This very trial was inspired by a real event when Lee was 10 years old, when a white women accused one African American man of raping her, leading the man to be convicted and sentenced to death. However, after

"To Kill a Mockingbird" shows its readers what it was like living with the economy caused by the Great Depression. For example, Scout says," He had probably never seen three quarters together at the same time in his life" (Lee 20). During the Great Depression most people were poor, but some were extremely poor. Mockingbird does a great job of showing us this by introducing us to the Cunninghams. Another example is when Atticus says," The Cunninghams are country folk... the crash hit them hardest" (Lee21). Even though pretty much everyone was experiencing some sort of poverty, farmers had it the worst. In this novel, Harper Lee does an amazing job of showing her readers how hard the Great Depression as on individual groups of people. After reading this book people will likely better understand what living with the economical struggles was like in that time period.

“To Kill a Mockingbird,” written by Harper Lee is set in the 1930’s during the Great Depression in a “tired old town” of Maycomb Alabama. It is seen through the eyes of a young, six-year-old girl called Jean Louise or Scout Finch. She delineates a story about growing up and learning to understand that the world is a complicated place with a lack of justice, destruction of innocence, racism and prejudice. One important symbol in the novel is the mockingbird which helps readers understand characters such as Boo Radley and Tom Robinson who are symbolically compared to mockingbirds as both of these men are a victim of society in different ways.