TKAM Essay
While trials against innocent people happen all the time, some recent and past trials are related to the trial that occurred in the book To Kill A Mockingbird because an innocent man was accused of raping a women he had never met, Steven Avery was accused of killing along with raping a women on his own property with the help of his nephew, as well as the Scottsboro Boys, who were black men, accused of rapping two white women. These trials all had to do with race and false accusations being made against innocent men. Atticus Finch, a lawyer, was appointed to defend a black farm worker, Tom Robinson, who was accused of raping a young white woman, Mayella Ewell. During the trial Atticus disproves the accusations against Mr. Robinson but the white jury chose to ignore the evidence so they declared Mr. Robinson guilty.
Aboard a train near Scottsboro, Alabama, in 1931 there were nine black teenagers called the Scottsboro Boys that were accused of raping two white women. During this time the Great Depression was happening so lots of unemployed Americans would hitch rides on the trains in search of work. A fight broke out on the train which caused the boys plus two white women to be questioned by the police, “On March 25, 1931, after a fight broke out on a Southern Railroad freight train...police arrested nine black youths, ranging in age from 13 to 19, on a minor charge. But when deputies questioned two white women, Ruby Bates and Victoria Price, they accused the boys of raping them while onboard the train” (Scottsboro Boys). The police then took the boys into custody to go to trial just like how Ewell from “To Kill A Mockingbird” lied to the sheriff about what happened and who hurt her “”-asked her if he beat her like that, she said yes he had. Asked her if he took advantage of her and she said yes he did. So I went down to Robinson’s house and brought him back. She identified him as the one, so I took him in. That’s all there was to it”” (Capote, 234). So, she lied to make sure her dad would not get in trouble for hurting her. Once word got out of the alleged rape white mobs were showing up at the jail so the boys had police standing guard to protect them so they would be killed before the trial, “As news spread of the alleged rape (a highly inflammatory charge given the Jim Crow laws in the South), an angry white mob surrounded the jail, leading the local sheriff to call in the Alabama National Guard to prevent a lynching.” (Scottsboro Boys). The people were out to get the boys after this alleged rape started to spread around town. There was a severe lack of evidence in both of these cases. A doctor was called to examine the girls in the Scottsboro case, but he was not questioned during court. There were also no doctor’s at all in Mr.Robinson’s case, therefore, there was no proof that Mayella Ewell was raped. Similar circumstances were overlooked in both cases, though. Two out of the Scottsboro boys had health issues that wo...
