Scottsboro Boys Trial

is in many ways a reflection of the 1930’s and the Great Depression. Many of the characters represent the ideas and values of that time - such as racism, prejudice, and injustice. During the Great

Depression, people faced poverty and struggled to get by with what little they had.

Southern states such as Alabama, where the novel is set, were hit the hardest. They had to come together and support each other and that often meant sacrificing something to help one another. Harper Lee’s novel represents the hardships of life in the South during Depression and the tensions felt during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s. It remains relevant because of the African American inequality that still exists in the United States. Advocacy

This stirs up a lot of controversy In the small town of Maycomb,

Alabama where the court case is held. In the end, the defense loses the case and Tom

Robinson is executed due to the intense racism at the time, despite there being no physical evidence to convict him. This can connect to the historic court case of the

“Scottsboro Boys” trial where eight African American boys were accused of raping, two white women on a train heading to Scottsboro Alabama in 1931. A documentary about the case states that “ the Scottsboro boys trial was one of the worst American tragedies.” It is clear that Lee drew inspiration from the historic trial when she was writing the book. Another article from picturethis.museumca.org comments on the racism during the Depression saying this ”Oakland's black population suffered from racist attacks by white labor unions, but there was often not a large enough group of blacks in any occupation to focus white racist hostility.”(Depression-era 1930’s) The

Jim Crow laws and the racism of the 1930’s are also present in the novel. Lee gives us quotes like “you aren't really a nigger-lover are you” (107) and " but around here once you have a drop of Negro blood, that makes you all black." (78) as examples of

The Novel was a huge success because even though there was such intense racism at the time main characters such as Scout Jem and Atticus Finch are able to overcome it and bring good to the world.

The novel can also connect to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s when the novel was published. Throughout the novel, we see main characters like Scout and Jem having to overcome challenges like bullying or harassment from peers. Just as Civil

Rights leaders such as Martin Luther King jr had overcome oppression from the white community for so many years. For example, towards the middle of the novel, the scout has to overcome harassment from other family members due to her father's court case.

Scout's cousin says this to her at a family dinner, “Uncle Atticus is a nigger-lover besides, but I'm here to tell you it certainly does mortify the rest of the family." (98) The novel was published in the 1960’s in the middle of the civil rights movement and had a huge impact on the way people thought about the movement and inequality at the time. An article published on Jun 26, 2015, by Time Magazine

states that In “1960 when To Kill a