Bode Helman Ms. Liberty English 9 30 April 2024. Mississippi Trial, 1955 - SAP. Differences in racial beliefs can drive wedges throughout the country, and even in families. Chris Crowe’s novel, Mississippi Trial, 1955, shows readers how conflicts in history can influence a positive change while damaging families in the process. The novel explains how everyone should have their own voice and opinions, while also listening to the voices around them. Most children rarely ever listen to parents advice, and the same can be said about parents rarely ever listening to their children. An example of this is when Harlan and Hiram were arguing and Harlan said, “Well, you’re going to find out that I know some things you don’t. Greenwood’s not going to be what you …show more content…
However, after seeing racism near its peak in Mississippi with the trial, Hiram learned to understand his father’s beliefs and even take them as his own. Most problems, however, seem to never go away. One is the relationship between Hiram and his Grampa. At first they seemed alright, but after differences in their beliefs relating to black people and their rights/equality, they too started to have a wedge driven between them. At the end of the book, after fighting with his Grampa, Hiram stated, “We were mad at each other, so we didn’t talk much for the rest of the meal, and. I was itching to get out of there,” (Crowe 196). The difference in morals and beliefs fueled the conflict to a point where neither Hiram nor Grampa wanted to talk to each other. Furthermore, Hiram also implied that he wanted to get away from his Grampa, from the trial, and from Mississippi, to be back home with his family. Hiram was not the only one with family-related conflicts. There was a huge conflict between Grampa, Earl, and Harlan. As Harlan got older, he started to have a mind and voice of his own. Earl tried to force his own beliefs, one of which is the
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.
Hiram and his Grandpa were so close that they both had a hard time parting from each other. Later, when coming back to Greenwood to visit at 16 years old, Hiram’s eyes opened to how blacks were treated when his acquaintance, R.C Rydell bullies a young black kid severely right in from of Hiram’s eyes. When Hiram says, “I could see where segregation wasn’t very fair”, it is clear to us how Hiram believes that blacks are and should be considered equal to whites. Hiram’s grandfather, however, has an opposing opinion. This is proven on page 11 when Grandpa says “Hiram, boy, I don't know what this country is coming to. Now these damn Yankees are trying to tell us how to run the South.” This quote is telling us that Grandpa believes that the blacks are trying to gain power over the whites when all they want is to be equal to them. Although Hiram and his Grandfather had different opinions, they still loved each other even after the trial where their opinions towards the death of Emmet Till caused their relationship to be in
The Scottsboro and Maycomb trials took place in the 1930s, where the trials both had identical causes with the same conclusion, though its a tragic event that has 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, it seems like racism between whites and the Afro-Americans has started the conflict. Coming to white vs Afro-American cases, the jurors would always favor the white over the Afro-American because they believe its not right to do such thing as acquitting the Afro-American due to their old-fashioned 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.
On March 25 1931 a group of nine boys were charged with raping two girls aboard a train traveling from Paint Rock Alabama across the state’s border. The trial of these boys had become collectively known as the Scottsboro case. Several years later Harper Lee wrote her famous novel To Kill a Mockingbird. In this story a young male Tom Robinson is charged with raping a white female. It is by understanding the parallel between Tom Robinson’s case in To Kill a Mockingbird and the Scottsboro case that can be understood that a fair trial was unlikely and that because of Tom Robinson’s race he was presumed guilty before his trial.
As the American people’s standards and principles has evolved over time, it’s easy to forget the pain we’ve caused. However, this growth doesn’t excuse the racism and violence that thrived within our young country not even a century previous. This discrimination, based solely on an ideology that one’s race is superior to another, is what put many people of color in miserable places and situations we couldn’t even imagine today. It allowed many Caucasian individuals to inflict pain, through both physical and verbal attacks, and even take away African Americans ' God given rights. In an effort to expose upcoming generations to these mass amounts of prejudice and wrongdoing, Harper Lee 's classic novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, tells the story of
Irons, Peter. Jim Crow’s Children: The Broken Promise of the Brown Decision. New York: Viking Penguin, 2002.
Normally children do not attend court cases, especially since they are difficult to understand and follow. However, Scout and Jem are eager to see their father in court because it has been the topic of the neighborhood for weeks and countless people have been speaking poorly of him. While they are watching the trial, they learn many new things that cause them to grow up faster than they would have. They are exposed to several injustices in the world, such as racism, and they begin to understand how judgemental people are and how it affects their views on others. At first Scout and Jem do not know why people are critical of their father, but as the trial proceeds they soon realize that their father is defending an African American, for which he has earned everyone’s hate.
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.
Irons, Peter. Jim Crow’s Children: The Broken Promise of the Brown Decision. New York: Viking Penguin, 2002.
He grew up in an environment where slavery was a prevalent reality; consequently, he had to reflect and be strong enough to understand issues related to family relationships and norms. As a result, his mother’s name Rose mattered most to him right from when she held him on her laps, even though this did not mean that their journey shall be easy until they reached freedom land (Psalm 34:8-10). Time after time, Hiram’s course has been marked by periods of deep self-examination as well as development stemming from his past
In a desperate attempt to save his client, Tom Robinson, from death, Atticus Finch boldly declares, “To begin with, this case should never have come to trial. This case is as simple as black and white” (Lee 271). The gross amounts of lurid racial inequality in the early 20th century South is unfathomable to the everyday modern person. African-Americans received absolutely no equality anywhere, especially not in American court rooms. After reading accounts of the trials of nine young men accused of raping two white women, novelist Harper Lee took up her pen and wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, a blistering exposition of tragic inequalities suffered by African Americans told from the point of view of a young girl. Though there are a few trivial differences between the events of the Scottsboro trials and the trial of Tom Robinson portrayed in To Kill a Mockingbird, such as the accusers’ attitudes towards attention, the two cases share a superabundance of similarities. Among these are the preservation of idealist views regarding southern womanhood and excessive brutality utilized by police.
Mississippi Trial 1955 Written by Chris Crowe is about a young boy named Hiram. Hiram spent many years of his childhood in the town of Greenwood, Mississippi, which he saw as peaceful and equal. His father and grandfather have very different opinions on the racism and segregation of the south. Hiram discovered the truth once he came back after nine years when a murder of a young African American boy rocks Mississippi.
In 1960, a novel was written to outline injustices and racism against those who were innocent, though unfairly judged because of social expectations and prejudiced beliefs. This novel not only presented these issues, but is also considered a revolutionary piece of literature, still being read by many people today, more than 50 years later. The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, has caused some controversy about the intents of the book and the way certain people or groups are presented. Whether To Kill a Mockingbird as a narrative outshines the issue it presents is a debatable argument. However, I believe that the narrative of the novel supports the concerns exhibited for numerous reasons. In what follows, some of these are presented: the historical
People are responsible for acting according to their conscience. The justice system was created in order to be our aid in making moral and ethical decisions, but when the Justice system fails, we should still be able to follow our conscience to make the right the decision. In Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” one of the characters, Atticus Finch, helps not only characters in the book, but the readers, understand that the legal system does not always serve justice, in fact, the legal system only is as moral and just as the community it serves. In the town of Maycomb, just like many towns in the American south during the 1930s, racism as a personal feeling and racism as a cultural, legal, and economic institution are practically one
One of the widely recognized controversies in American history is the 1930s, which housed the Great Depression and the post-civil war, the ruling of Plessy versus Ferguson and the Jim Crow Laws, and segregation. While textbooks detail the factual aspect of the time there is only one other literature that can exhibit the emotion experienced in the era. To Kill a Mockingbird is the acclaimed novel that displays the experiences of the South, through inequality and segregation, social class differences and the right to fairness. The novel’s experiences are narrated through a grown Scout, who appears as a little girl in the novel, offering her innocent views on the happenings in Maycomb County. The most observed aspect of the novel is race and racism; with Tom Robinson’s trial being the prime focus of the novel, the issue of race is bound to be discussed throughout the novel is race, racism and segregation; with Tom Robinson’s trial being the focus of the novel, the issue of race is heavily represented throughout the novel. With Mockingbird being a common book among English Language Arts and Literatures classrooms, the topic of race is bound to surface amid a young, twenty-first century group of student of students with the inevitability of this discussion, the question remains on how to approach the conversation as an educator. As an educator, one should seek to establish the context of the times, prepare the students for the conversation and examine the other characters and situations similarly to race. Educators must also be introspective before examining their students’ feelings, so that they are not surprised by their emotions and can also express their feelings to their students. The discussion should target a goal, one of examin...