Comparing and Contrasting the Trials of To Kill a Mockingbird and The Scottsboro Boys
The Great Depression of the 1930s affected every race living in the United States but no race was hit harder than the African Americans. Africans Americans were usually the victims of injustices by the hands of white people. In courtrooms race was valued more than evidence when giving a verdict for an African America. This is similar to the fictional trial of Tom Robinson in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and the real life trials of the Scottsboro Boys. During both trials many of the main characters share the same background and attitudes towards the cases. In addition, some of the evidence was overlooked.
The Scottsboro Boys were accused of raping two
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While giving their testimonies, both girls seemed to have poor memory when describing the events of the alleged rape. While being questioned about the alleged rape Price responded with things such as “I ain’t sure” and “I wouldn’t say-I ain’t positive” (Haskin 56). When Atticus Finch asked Mayella if Tom Robinson had hit her in the face she responded saying, “No I don’t recollect if he hit me. I mean yes I do, he hit me” (Lee 248). Both of these girls used their ignorance to their advantage and pretended to not remember how the assaults happened. This should have hinted to the judges that something was wrong with their testimonies but since they were white their testimonies were believed to be true. Price and Ewell also shared bad reputations in their towns. A neighbor of Price described her as being “a common street prostitute of the lowest type” (Linder, “Victoria Price”). Atticus described the Ewells as being “a disgrace to Maycomb for three generations. None of them had done an honest day of work in his recollection…they were people but they lived like animals” (Lee 20). This show that they had every reason to want to accuse a black youth of rape since it would have redeemed their reputations. The Ewells were considered to be the worst but the town still believed in their incoherent testimonies because the African Americans were considered to be worse than them. Price and Ewell were venomous while giving their testimonies. During her cross-examination Price said that when she was being penetrated, her attacker told her that when he pulled his “thing” out, “you will have a black baby” (Linder, “The Trials of The Scottsboro Boys”). At the end of her cross-examination Mayella
Mayella vs. Victoria: To Kill A Mockingbird vs. Scottsboro Trial “He couldn’t get us to the chair fast enough.” Haywood Patterson a young black boy accused of raping two young girls named Victoria Price and Ruby Bates said this during his trial. Patterson said this about the judge of the case he was involved in. This was in the Scottsboro trial where a group of black boys was accused of raping the two young girls Victoria and Ruby. This same topic is brought up in the book To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee when a young lady named Mayella Ewell accuses a black man named Tom Robinson of raping her.
When Bob Ewell saw this, he beat Mayella, and forced her to file a lawsuit against Tom Robinson for raping her. Another relationship between these two cases is the verdict. Both of them were found guilty and put on death row, even though there was clear medical and logical evidence that no rape had occured, the all white, male jury had come to an idiotic conclusion that somehow
This shows that Mr. Ewell did not care much about her physical condition and wanted to get a point across for Tom Robinson. Bob convinced the jury to find Tom guilty without medical proof that he raped Mayella. The Scottsboro boys’ case was similar: "Their story did not match medical evidence or the stories of other witnesses, and he even got Ruby Bates to testify that the whole story had been made up. The defense seemed inarguable" (McBirney). The nine Scottsboro boys’ had been claimed as innocent only because Ruby Bates claimed that the story was made
TKAM/Scottsboro- Final Paper Racism has been a major social issue in our modern world. From many years ago to today, there has been discrimination among many. Nine young african american men were accused of rapping 2 white women in 1931 (Scottsboro Boys) and a black man was accused of rape in To Kill a Mockingbird. The men were falsely convicted due to the fact that they were black men and the victims were white women.
The alleged rape victims in To Kill a Mockingbird and The Scottsboro Trials share similarities in their backgrounds, testimonies, and personalities. The events surrounding the Scottsboro case began on March 25, 1931. While on a train from Chattooga to Memphis, Nine boys allegedly raped Ruby Bates and Victoria Price (Linder, “The Trial of the ‘Scottsboro Boys’”).
United States case and the Robinson v. Alabama case from To Kill A Mockingbird were very similar. Both Criminals received a verdict that they should not have. In the Robinson Case, Tom Robinson was charged with raping Mayella Ewell. He was found guilty and sentenced to death. In this case the jury was biased, instead of seeing a prosecution and a defence,they saw a black man and a white woman.
The Scottsboro Trials and To Kill a Mockingbird In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the famous father named Atticus says “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it (Judith 2). This quote is said during a time of intense racism. “Not long after Obama took office, the National Urban League released its 2009 State of Black America report. The findings showed that racial inequities continued in employment, housing, health care, education, criminal justice, and other areas” (Buckley 1). This essay will primarily focus on the criminal justice area of this when discussing the Scottsboro trials and comparing the trials to the famous novel To Kill a Mockingbird.
Tom Robinson is accused of a crime he claims he did not do; yet the jury has a different opinion. To Kill a Mockingbird, a historical fiction novel by Harper Lee, is set in the 1930’s and the town they are in is Maycomb, Alabama which is based off of the town of Monroeville, Alabama. The book was written for young adults at the time, but was written over 50 years ago and i still relevant to modern readers today because of how school systems want to teach about The Great Depression, it read to or is being read by students because it teaches cultural and moral lessons. Throughout this novel you will meet many different type of people, with all kinds of personality. Harper Lee wrote To Kill a Mockingbird for readers to know more about what
In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the story is set in the 1900’s, Maycomb, Alabama. During this time there was racism in the south and segregation which separated the whites and blacks from everything. There was also the Great Depression, the whole country was poor and people living in the country had to trade and do other jobs for people to either pay them off or to buy something from them. The trial in this book is about Mayella and Bob Ewell, two white people, claiming and arguing that Tom Robinson, a black person, raped Mayella Ewell. This trial is really important because at that time in the south, white people took advantage of black people and their kindness and thought they would take that or shut up just because they were black.
The trial scene in the novel and the movie adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee are both powerful depictions of racism and injustice in the American South during the 1930s. Both the novel and the movie present the trial of Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman. Though the trial scenes in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee and the movie To Kill A Mockingbird are similar, they have some differences. One similarity the novel and the movie have is Tom Robinson’s testimony. In the novel and the movie, Tom Robinson says the same thing almost word for word.
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Mayella Ewell claimed she was raped after requesting Tom Robinson's help. Her dad ran in after the alleged rape; they told the sheriff, and Tom Robinson was put in jail. In the Scottsboro trials and in To Kill A Mocking, the African American men were taken from jail to
To Kill a Mockingbird To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, takes place in the fictional town of Maycomb Alabama during the Great Depression. All of the story is an allusion to the Scottsboro Trial where 9 black kids were wrongfully accused of rape only off of the word of a few white girls. The story centers around Atticus who is a lawyer, and his children Scout, and Jem. They are a poor white family who has it better off than most during the depression. Scout is the narrator and her brother Jem is the one whom she hangs out with most throughout the book.
Hannah Strathmeyer Mr. Morton English II 8 April 2016 Essay While reading To Kill a Mockingbird and the "Report on the Scottsboro, ALA. Case,” The Scottsboro Trial and the trial of Tom Robinson are extremely bias toward Negros; Bob Ewell, Ruby Bates, and Victoria Price show a great amount of being biast in both accounts of reading. Bias is shown throughout both cases, which took place in the same time period which is around the 1930's which effects the authors purpose in both stories. One of the main elements is setting in the trial and book. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper writes her book based on the Scottsboro trial to show her side of how she feels.
The whites don’t accept the Ewells because they live like pigs. The blacks don’t accept the Ewells because they are white. Scout stated, “... Mayella Ewell must have been the loneliest person in the world… When Atticus asked had she any friends, she seemed not to know what he meant, then she thought he was making fun of her… Tom Robinson was probably the only person who was ever decent to her.
In a trial the closing argument is the most critical addresses made in court. Generally an emotional plea, this closing argument can be the deciding factor to a court case. To Kill a Mockingbird is a 1962 film based on the award-winning novel written by Harper Lee. During an era of racial inequality, lawyer, Atticus Finch, contravenes the unwritten social code to defend a black man against an underserved rape charge. In a racially charged atmosphere, “white trash” Mayella Ewell ignores the morality and conventions of the community, and makes a sexual advance on Tom Robinson.