Convictions of Color
Nelle Harper Lee demonstrates an excellent representation of a harsh time period in her novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, which took place in the South between 1925 and 1935. This period was very important in the construction of the South’s economy, although it proved to be exceptionally challenging for African Americans. They had special laws to abide by, were not given the rights that white people held, and were badly mistreated because of the whites’ resentment that black slaves were now free. One primary example of this mistreatment is the case known as the Scottsboro Trials, in which injustice was served on eight black men for a crime that never happened. The following will include factual and fictitious literature and will utilize them with historical evidence to prove that a black person’s fair trial was improbable in the court system of the young south.
In the 1930’s, the southern life was rigid for African Americans. After the civil war, slaves were given freedom and were in the process of emerging into the struggling economy. Times were rough for everyone because of the economy’s depression. A Berea student stated in her report, “All over America it was common to see unemployed men and women riding the rails, looking for work, shelter, and food-for anything that offered some means of subsistence, some sense of dignity.” Many people lost their jobs and whites took this time to torment black communities. A special clan was formed, called the Ku Klux Klan, that encouraged white dominance and used violence and intimidation to try to undo all that the blacks had recently gained (Snodan). In October of 1926, in Due West, South Carolina, a typical lynching by the KKK took place (Enzler). Lynching is defi...
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...d these white jurymen possibly not convict a black man and still be able to go home to their wives? Even in the midst of two wonderful men, Judge Horton and Atticus Finch, these opinions could not be swayed. In this racial climate, it was simply inevitable for these two men to be presumed anything but guilty.
Works Cited
Enzler, C. J. Some Social Aspects of the Depression. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms Limited, 1971.
Johnson, Claudia Durst. " Understanding To Kill A Mockingbird." 02 January 1999. Think Quest. 09 March 2002. <http://library.thinkquest.org/12111/scottsboro/scottsbo.htm>.
Lee, Harper. To Kill A Mockingbird. New York: Warner Books, Inc., 1960.
Snodan, Kelly M. "Historial Background." Background of Author and Time Period. 1 September 1996. 11 March 2002. <http://www.madison.k12.ky.us/co/oot/msa/Southern/Lee.htm>.
“[T]here is one way in this country in which all men are created equal- there is one human institution that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller; the stupid man the equal of an Einstein, and the ignorant man the equal of any college president. That institution, gentlemen, is a court” (Lee 233). These are the words uttered by Atticus Finch, an important character in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Atticus is a lawyer, and at this point in the novel, he is trying to defend Tom Robinson, a black man who was accused of raping a white woman. This reflects upon how society was in the 1930’s, when the color of your skin affected your chances of winning a trial. In fact, it is speculated that To Kill a Mockingbird is loosely based off of the trials of the Scottsboro Boys, a famous case from this time period. Most of the main characters associated with both trials share similar traits, experiences, and backgrounds.
The Scottsboro Trials, Brown v. Mississippi, and trial of Tom Robinson in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. The purpose of this essay is to compare three very similar cases, the Scottsboro Trials, Brown v. Mississippi, and the fictional trial of Tom Robinson in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird; and to prove why the defendant in the third trial never had a chance. Each took place in the rural South in the 1920’s and 30’s and involved the unfair conviction of young black males by all-white juries pressured by the threat of mob violence.
The Moore’s Ford lynching shows that the Ku Klux Klan was still very powerful in Georgia just after the Second World War. Blacks who lived in these areas which were overwhelmingly rural and contained large plantations owned by white men were regularly browbeaten into submission by the white minority and sporadic outbreaks of violence were not uncommon. There was a wealth of evidence against several white men who were prominent citizens of the county, but no prosecution was ever conducted and the murderers went to their graves without having paid for their crime....
A few years ago, my mother told me something thought provoking: we had once lived on the same block as the leader of the local Ku Klux Klan chapter. That had been in Charlotte, North Carolina, around 1994. The Ku Klux Klan, according to Blaine Varney in Lynching in the 1890’s, used to “…set out on nightly ‘terror rides’ to harass ‘uppity Negroes’….” They are far more infamous, however, for their “lynching”—nightly “terror rides” that included murder—of African Americans. Varney tells us lynching levels reached their pinnacle in 1892, with 161 recorded murders that year. In modern times, most Americans would agree that the Klan, along with any form of white supremacy, has no place in society—and pointing out its survival is a good way to imply that we, as a people, are still not perfect.
The population of African Americans from 1865 to 1900 had limited social freedom. Social limitations are limitations that relate “…to society and the way people interact with each other,” as defined by the lesson. One example of a social limitation African Americans experienced at the time is the white supremacy terrorist group, the Ku Klux Klan or the KKK. The KKK started as a social club formed by former confederate soldiers, which rapidly became a domestic terrorist organization. The KKK members were white supremacists who’s objective was to ward off African Americans from using their new political power. In an attempts to achieve their objective, Klansmen would burn African American schools, scare and threaten voters, destroy the homes of African Americans and also the homes of whites who supported African American rights. The greatest terror the KKK imposed was that of lynching. Lynching may be defined via the lesson as, “…public hanging for an alleged offense without benefit of trial.” As one can imagine these tactics struck fear into African Americans and the KKK was achiev...
One of the major events in Harper Lee’s award-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird is Tom Robinson’s trial. It is based on the Scottsboro Case that took place in 1931 in Alabama, in which several black men were accused of raping two white women. Both the Scottsboro Boys and Tom Robinson are unfairly judged, however, because of prejudice against colored people. The racial discrimination makes whites’ testimony more believable even when it contradicts itself. The same happens in To Kill a Mockingbird. As we delve deeper into the case and get increasingly closer to the truth, it is quite suprising to see that Mayella Ewell is the true villain rather than a victim. She shall and must bear full responsibility for her actions because she makes the decision to tempt Tom Robinson, gives false testimony in court that directly leads to Tom’s death, and has been well aware of the consequences of her behaviors.
Richman, Sheldon. "The Seen and Unseen in Gun Control." The Freeman 1 Oct 1998: 610-611
“I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks” (Lee 304). Harper Lee is the renowned author of To Kill a Mockingbird which was inspired by the real events of the Scottsboro Trials. Throughout her novel, Lee indirectly references the case by creating characters, events, and symbols that resemble and contrast the case. These elements allow the novel to emerge with a more realistic and historic plot. In particular, the similarities and differences between Judge Horton and Judge Taylor, Victoria and Mayella, and the atmosphere of the courtroom are most prevalent. By examining these components one will be able to respect the historical features present in Harper Lee’s fictional literary phenomenon, To Kill a Mockingbird.
The Scottsboro Trial and the trial of Tom Robinson are almost identical in the forms of bias shown and the accusers that were persecuted. The bias is obvious and is shown throughout both cases, which took place in the same time period. Common parallels are seen through the time period that both trials have taken place in and those who were persecuted and why they were persecuted in the first place. The thought of "All blacks were liars, and all blacks are wrongdoers," was a major part of all of these trails. A white person's word was automatically the truth when it was held up to the credibility of someone whom was black. Both trials were perfect examples of how the people of Alabama were above the law and could do whatever they wanted to the black people and get away with it. In both trials lynch mobs were formed to threaten the black people who were accused. Judge Hornton tried many times to move the case to a different place so that a fair trial could take place and not be interrupted by the racist people. Finally was granted to move the case even though the lynch mobs threatened to kill everyone who was involved in the case if it were to be moved. In this essay the bias and racism in both trials are going to be clarified and compared to each other.
The unfair trials that the Scottsboro boys received are the results of the institutionalized racism in the South. This case reveals the injustice that prevailed in the American South. Background information on the Accusation The 1930’s were a decade plagued by the colossus economic downturn known as the Great Depression. With unemployment levels surpassing 20%, people did anything to earn money.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee seems like a complete replica of the lives of people living in a small Southern U.S. town. The themes expressed in this novel are as relevant today as when this novel was written, and also the most significant literary devices used by Lee. The novel brings forward many important themes, such as the importance of education, recognition of inner courage, and the misfortunes of prejudice. This novel was written in the 1930s. This was the period of the “Great Depression” when it was very common to see people without jobs, homes and food. In those days, the rivalry between the whites and the blacks deepened even more due to the competition for the few available jobs. A very famous court case at that time was the Scottsboro trials. These trials were based on the accusation against nine black men for raping two white women. These trials began on March 25, 1931. The Scottsboro trials were very similar to Tom Robinson’s trial. The similarities include the time factor and also the fact that in both cases, white women accused black men.
Part of the aftermath of the lynching in the South was the psychological consequences of the rabbles involved. The entire culture of African Americans is marked by lynching because the root reason why white mobs lynched Southern African Americans was skin pigmentation. This means the blacks were lynched based on ignorant intolerance; however, the supposed basis for the white southerners’ hatred is internalized by every black person in their skin color. In the words of Lee H. Butler, Jr., “Unlike a single traumatic event that has been experienced by one person, lynching is a trauma that has marked an entire culture and several generations because it spanned more than eight decades.” Specifically, realizing the psychological effects of lynching on African Americans and those African Americans who have had family members lynched is important.
Harper Lee historically criticizes the Scottsboro trials with her book, To Kill a Mockingbird. Lee uses factual information as well as altering certain aspects of the trial in order to convey her theme, how the southern culture heavily protects its white womanhood. She accomplishes this by going into detail about how badly black men were stereotyped, about racial discrepancies, and disregarding contradictory evidence.
Lott, Jr. John R. More Gun Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000. Print.
McClurg, Andrew J. Gun Control and Gun Rights: A Reader and Guide. New York: New York UP, 2002. Print.