The early 1930s was a time where many things happened. There was the great depression that spread across all of the United States of America. There was The Star Spangled Banner becoming America’s national anthem. There was also The Scottsboro Trials. The Scottsboro trials had all started on a railroad train on March 25th, 1931. Taking place in Alabama, nine African American boys were charged with rape and arrested. This event has such a significant impact that one author, Harper Lee, decided to create a book based off of these trials. In her book, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee had altered some aspects as well as kept the information of the Scottsboro trials, such as physical appearances, views of the lawyers, the supposed victims of the
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In the Scottsboro trials, there were nine African American boys who had been convicted of rape - Roy Wright who was the youngest; the oldest being Charles Weems; Clarence Norris; Andy Wright, Roy’s older brother; Ozie Powell; Olen Montgomery; Eugene Williams; Willie Roberson; and Haywood Patterson. The nine boys had gotten into a fight with a group of white boys, causing them to get the attention of the police who stopped the train at Paint Rock, Alabama. Two women had emerged out of the train afterwards, Ruby Bates and Victoria Price, claiming that they had been raped by the boys. In To Kill a Mockingbird, a poor woman, Mayella Ewell, had declared that she had been raped by an African American man, Tom Robinson. Mayella was a child of Mr. Bob Ewell, who had one of the poorest families in Maycomb, Alabama. They were the family that lived behind the town garbage dump in a tin-roofed cabin with a yard full of trash. She was recognized as a lonely girl by Tom Robinson and because of this she had always invited him into her home. “‘You …show more content…
For example, Harper Lee had taken away the fact that the ladies had seen a doctor about an hour after getting off the train. In To Kill a Mockingbird Atticus had stressed the fact that nobody had called for a doctor when they found Mayella. “‘Did you, during all that running, run for a doctor?’ ‘Wadn’t no need to. I seen what happened.’… ‘Didn’t you think she should have had a doctor, immediately?’” (Lee 175). This excerpt was just an example of all the times throughout the Tom Robinson trial that Atticus had asked if anyone went to see a doctor. The reason for Lee altering this information was to show, even more, that all the jury did was base their votes on what the white people had said and ignored the facts that were really there. This racism that was portrayed in the book, was also what had happened throughout the Scottsboro
In the Scottsboro trials, there were nine African American boys who had been convicted of rape - Roy Wright who was the youngest; the oldest being Charles Weems; Clarence Norris; Andy Wright, Roy’s older brother; Ozie Powell; Olen Montgomery; Eugene Williams; Willie Roberson; and Haywood Patterson. The nine boys had gotten into a fight with a group of white boys, causing them to get the attention of the police who stopped the train at Paint Rock, Alabama. Two women had emerged out of the train afterwards, Ruby Bates and Victoria Price, claiming that they had been raped by the boys. In To Kill a Mockingbird, a poor woman, Mayella Ewell, had declared that she had been raped by an African American man, Tom Robinson. Mayella was a child of Mr. Bob Ewell, who had one of the poorest families in Maycomb, Alabama. They were the family that lived behind the town garbage dump in a tin-roofed cabin with a yard full of trash. She was recognized as a lonely girl by Tom Robinson and because of this she had always invited him into her home. “‘You …show more content…
For example, Harper Lee had taken away the fact that the ladies had seen a doctor about an hour after getting off the train. In To Kill a Mockingbird Atticus had stressed the fact that nobody had called for a doctor when they found Mayella. “‘Did you, during all that running, run for a doctor?’ ‘Wadn’t no need to. I seen what happened.’… ‘Didn’t you think she should have had a doctor, immediately?’” (Lee 175). This excerpt was just an example of all the times throughout the Tom Robinson trial that Atticus had asked if anyone went to see a doctor. The reason for Lee altering this information was to show, even more, that all the jury did was base their votes on what the white people had said and ignored the facts that were really there. This racism that was portrayed in the book, was also what had happened throughout the Scottsboro