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The effect of Jim Crow laws
High school to kill a mockingbird literary analysis
Racism in the 1930s
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Recommended: The effect of Jim Crow laws
To Kill a Mockingbird is a book that takes place in the dark times of African American discrimination and depression. The Scottsboro Boys Trial is a very good example of the 1930’s discrimination, because the book takes place around the same time, the racist laws, and the corrupt justice system. The Scottsboro boys took place in the 1930’s where 9 teenage boys were accused of rape by two girls, where they would be punished by the death sentence which was stated by the Jim Crow Laws. The case attracted national controversy because it demonstrates racial discrimination and corruption in the Southern criminal justice system. This information was from ABC Clio, Kaplan Rich. It was obviously shown that the 9 boys were innocent, with medical evidence
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is one of the most successful works of fiction in American Literature. Although To Kill a Mockingbird is classified as a work of fiction, there is evidence to support the claim that To Kill a Mockingbird was modeled after the Scottsboro Trials of 1931. There are many parallels between the trial of Tom Robinson and the Scottsboro Trials. The Scottsboro Boys were nine, young, African American men who were falsely accused of raping two white women while illegally riding a train in Alabama. Harper Lee was also about six years old when these trials took place. This is the reason why Harper Lee chose to write her novel through the eyes of a six year old. The trials inspired her to write To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper
The Scottsboro and Maycomb trials took place in the 1930s, where the trials both have identical causes with the same conclusion, though its a tragedy event that happened however it have influenced the world today. The resemblance between Scottsboro and Maycomb leads the people into thinking about the Great Depression and the most infamous case that took place in Scottsboro, relating to Maycomb. Though there are no reasonable causes or hateful affairs between opposing characters, yet it seems like racism between white and the Afro-Americans had started the conflict. Coming to a white vs Afro-American cases, the jurors would always favor the white over the Afro-American for they believe its not right to do such thing as acquitting the Afro-American due to their old-fashion values and prejudiced mind. Such tragedy happening in the history has influenced the world today in many ways, the novel To Kill a Mockingbird is one project that’s inspired to be written. Though both Scottsboro and Maycomb seems like a loving town with nice people, however their dark sides are discovered through their actions.
Investigating the similarities between the Scottsboro case and Tom Robinson’s trail, the first major parallel the shadow of lynching that menaces the accused in both. The threat of lynching occurs in the novel when after Tom Robinson is transported to the Maycomb city jail. That night a mob of people from nearby community called Old Sarum gather around the jail in an attempt to abduct him. This type of behavior is by all means very plausible for this time period. In a nearly identical event, as to that in the novel, on a cold night in 1931 after the Scottsboro boys were sentenced a scene right out of To Kill a Mockingbird seemed to come to life. That night Dan T. Carter, the court historian, accounts, “ farmers from the nearby hills began gathering, and by dusk a crowd of several hundred stood in front of the two-story jail.” (Carter 7) Just like the Old Sarum mob most of these people were poor white farmers seeking the blood of a black man. The connection of the southern society’s feeling toward a black man committing a crime against a while f...
There are many differences and similarities between The Scottsboro Case and the Tom Robinson’s case of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Some similarities between the two cases are that the defendants are African Americans who are falsely accused of a crime they never committed. This reveals that the cases were during the time where racism was at its worst. All the defendants were accused of rape and the two women testified against black men, like what Mayella Ewell did. And the judges were all white. Some differences are that the Scottsboro case included nine men, while Tom Robinson was the only man in his trial. And all but the 12 year old was sentenced to death, while Tom was shot later on after the trial. Lastly, after the state retried
Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a fictional story in which a black man is accused of a crime against the daughter of one of the most hateful, racist men in all of Maycomb, Alabama. Though the book is considered fictional, it couldn’t be any more real. Nine black men were “hoboing” a train and ended up being accused of a crime against two white women and known as vial criminals throughout the south. This incident became known as the Scottsboro trial. Although the book To Kill a Mockingbird and the Scottsboro trial are very similar, they are also quite different.
Prejudice is a real life problem in the world. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee describes the prejudices found in a small American town in the 1930's. Race, social class, and gender are examples of prejudice.
to be a city girl and thus none of the country folk can understand her
The novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, takes place during a racially intense time in history. Harper Lee’s novel was intended to bring a harsh sense of reality to the real world, and demonstrate how it really was during this time in history. This novel is set in Maycomb, Alabama, somewhere during the time period of 1925-1935. Times were hard for the citizens of Maycomb during this period, because of the depression. There are many fictional events in this novel related to non-fictional racial events in history.
In To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee brings attention towards the Scottsboro case. The Scottsboro case is when nine young black boys were falsely accused of raping a white woman. They were found guilty even though there was more evidence that proved them innocent. Three of the boys were sentenced to death. Many years later, the woman who accused the nine boys admitted to making the story up. In Harper Lee’s novel, she creates a character named Tom Robinson. Tom is a young black man who has been falsely accused of raping a young white girl named Mayella Ewell. Tom is found guilty even after his lawyer had given enough evidence to prove that he was innocent. Before Tom is sent to jail, his lawyer proves Mayella to be lying about Tom raping her. Both the Scottsboro Case and Tom Robinson’s case are case’s where white women had made up lies about black boys. In both situations, the innocent boys were killed.
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.
The Various Forms of Discrimination in the Novel To Kill a Mockingbird In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, we see several forms of discrimination. For most people, when they hear the word discrimination, they think of racism, ageism, or something else similar. These are all some of the most common forms of discrimination, but they are not the only forms of it that exist. The types of discrimination I will mostly be talking about are sexism, racism, and classism. The first form of discrimination I will talk about is how people tell Scout that she has to wear dresses all of the time, and that she has to have perfect manners.
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.
Prejudice affects the entirety of the world today. Hundreds of thousands of people flee prejudiced governments all around the world. A current example of this inhumanity is the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya people in Myanmar. According to the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund, “Today, there are an estimated 720,000 Rohingya children in Bangladesh and Myanmar, in dire need of humanitarian assistance and protection – and looking to the outside world for help.” (United Nations Children's Emergency Fund). As reported by the New York Post, the Myanmar military is committing crimes against humanity. Children are being murdered and women are being raped. (NY Post). The military of Myanmar has been dehumanized because of their prejudice
The Scottsboro Trials were based on the alleged rape of two white girls raped by nine black teenagers on a southern train. The first trial for the nine boys took place twelve days after their arrest, and they were tried in groups two and three. In the end, all the boys were found guilty of rape, and sentenced to death. One of the boys were 13, and received a mistrial considering he was the
This is all due to the fact that mob mentality is infectious and alters the values and decisions of the individuals that take part in the harmful actions. In conclusion, mob mentality along with Jim Crow ultimately creates the last major historical in influence To Kill a Mockingbird: The influence of the Scottsboro Trials. The Jim Crow laws explain why the rights of African Americans are not treated to a respectable extent, whereas mob mentality illustrates the psychological effects of a mob and herd in the context of negative actions and feelings. When these two ideologies and laws are paired together in the same scenario, the Scottsboro Trials are the results. In this situation, the Scottsboro trials have a strong influence on many elements that are presented throughout To Kill a Mockingbird. To explain in brief, the Scottsboro Trials were a set of trials that took place throughout the 1930s due to apparent cause of rape of two white women. The reason for the trials started when several passengers were riding on a train from Tennessee to Alabama for the possible search of work on March 25, 1931 (Johnson). Some of these very passengers