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Scottsboro Boys

 
To Kill a Mockingbird Historical Context 2
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 jennifer.chick@rsu4.org
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Dec 09, 2024 11:13 am
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1. Read and review the article by accessing the link below.

https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/scottsboro-boys

2. Respond to this post by explaining 

            a. What this helps you understand better about the book. How do the events/characters mirror what Harper Lee experienced growing up?

            b. A quote from the article that stood out as important to your understanding. Make sure the quote is cited using (History.com) and is integrated into another sentence. 

            c. How this connects back to a specific moment in the book---this may be where you wish there was more detail, or where you feel like the historical context was clear. 

                       i. Quote and cite this moment. Make sure your citations include the author's last name and page number. 

             d. How this relates to one or more of the adversities (ageism, abuse, sexism, and racism). 

3. Respond to someone else's post about what was similar or different in your understandings. This response does not need to be from the same article---it can be any of the three. 

 

To exceed: Include a new quote from To Kill a Mockingbird in your response to someone else. 

23 Replies
3 Replies
 klevesque26
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Dec 16, 2024 12:55 pm
Reply tojennifer.chick@rsu4.org

Reading this article it helped me understand about how when Harper Lee was a kid she didnt know what was going on most of the time. Just like being a colored kid in these times they didnt understand when they where treated as there where. An important quote in this article that really helped me to understand how bad the events where when it said, “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” (History.com). This realy exemplefies how bad times where then with racism. When it comes to this conecting to the book it can conect to Tom and how they didnt take his side because of his race. Also how they shot him rather then trying and detaning him when he tryed to escape. This moment relates to racism that is a big part of this book.

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 cleach26
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Dec 19, 2024 10:16 pm
Reply toklevesque26

this is really similar to mine because we both understand that Harper Lee didn't understand somethings that were going on.

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 jlane26
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Dec 18, 2024 11:57 am
Reply tojennifer.chick@rsu4.org

The article Scottsboro Brothers helped me better understand a couple of things from the book. The first thing it helped me understand was how serious of a predicament Atticus was really in when he sat outside of Tom’s cell. I say this because in the Scottsboro Brothers article it talks about the mob that surrounded the brothers cell and how they had to call the Alabama National Guard because of how bad it was. Also it helped me better understand how present and serious racism was at that time. One quote that I believe shows this is when the article says, “In November 1932, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Powell v. Alabama that the Scottsboro defendants had been denied the right to counsel, which violated their right to due process under the 14th Amendment.” In this the Brothers had to deal with blatant racism because the judge would not take the case because of the color of their skin. This is just like how the mob surrounded Tom’s cell and how the judge ruled Tom guilty regardless of the clear proof that he was not guilty. “In ones and twos, men got out of the cars. Shadows became substance as lights revealed solid shapes moving toward the jail door. Atticus remained where he was. The men hid him from view. ‘He in there, Mr. Finch?’ a man said.” (Lee 171). In this the mob starts to surround Tom’s cell with the intent to hurt him.

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 bcolby26
Dec 12, 2024 12:41 pm
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 In this article it explains how Harper Lee has a lot of similar things that are happening. In To Kill A Mocking Bird of how Tom Robinson is getting called to trial for raping Mayella Ewell and how he gets convicted even though he didn't because there was no evidence that he actually did that to Mayella. “Ruling in Norris v. Alabama that the systematic exclusion of Blacks on Jackson County jury rolls denied a fair trial to the defendants, and suggested that the lower courts review Patterson’s case as well” (history.com). This relates to the book because no matter what if you're black in Maycomb county that you'll always get convicted if you are brought to trial by a white man.  

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 bdubuc26
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Dec 12, 2024 12:48 pm
Reply tobcolby26

I completely agree with what you said, racism is a very cruel and powerful thing that people had brought up and controlled of just because they thought they are better. 

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 cmoody26
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Dec 12, 2024 1:00 pm
Reply tobcolby26

I agree With this because racism is such a big part of TMK and with the Scottsboro Brother Trial that white people thought they had control and didn't give a fair assessment on there trials and just threw them in jail weather they were innocent or guilty. 

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 imadoz-ontanon26
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Dec 22, 2024 2:45 am
Reply tobcolby26

I agree that people were judged based on their race and not on their actions, this is something totally wrong that must come to an end.

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 bdubuc26
Dec 12, 2024 12:46 pm
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Reading this passage helped me better understand adversities and how pardons back then were never a thing and that it being towards the other race is unparalleled. Harper Lee had grown up in a state of not knowing all that was going on at a young age. Being a colored person back then, growing up was different as it is today. When the author had stated that, ¨The Supreme Court overturned the Alabama verdicts, setting an important legal precedent for enforcing the right of Black Americans to adequate counsel, and remanded the cases to the lower courts.¨(history 2) With this being said, times back they were much different as to what goes on in today's day and age. With racism playing a huge role in TKM, in this same passage racism kills, and destroys futures and lives. 

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 asmith26
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Dec 12, 2024 1:16 pm
Reply tobdubuc26

Our understanding of the book was similar since both of us understood that racism was a big thing back then and a major part of the book. "...the evil assumption- that all Negros lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women…” (Lee 232).

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 Gsheehy26
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Dec 13, 2024 11:14 am
Reply tobdubuc26

This relates to what I said in being that they wrongly convicted the black guy only because he was black.

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 Bnew26
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Dec 13, 2024 11:27 am
Reply tobdubuc26

We have similar beliefs about this article and how it relates to the book because white people think that there so much better and so much more powerful then other races its horrible, they never even give black people the chance or give it time to see it through before they make there decision because from then on they ruin there reputation and lives it is terrible. A quote that is a big part that everyone should be following is " There is not a person in this courtroom who has never told a lie,who has never done an immoral thing and there is no man who has never looked up on a woman without desire" This quote is awesome because all men and people are equal and should have equal rights because all the stuff a white man or woman can do is the same thing a black man or woman can do as well. 

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 klevesque26
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Dec 16, 2024 12:55 pm
Reply tobdubuc26

We both under stand how racism is a big part of this time and the book.

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 cmoody26
Dec 12, 2024 12:55 pm
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The Scottsboro brothers trail helped me understand the justice system better during that time. How racial the justice system was. This connects to Harper lee because she was a young girl when the Scottsboro brother trials and based the character Tom Robinson off this. “But even with her  revised testimony and evidence from the initial medical examination of the woman that refuted the rape charge, another all white jury convicted the first defendant.” (History.com).This connects to when in the court and Mayella's story isn't lining up and the jury is all white people so they still convict him because he's a black man.””The state has not produced one iota of medical evidence to the effect that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with ever took place” (Lee 231). This shows that Mayella's story did not line up and that they didn't even do a medical examination to prove whether he was guilty or not. “” Now don't be so confidant, Mr. Jem I ain't ever seen any jury decide in favor  of a colored man over a white man…””(Lee 238). This shows how racially forward the judicial system was at the time. These both relate to Racism, because these quotes show the disadvantages that colored people had in court at the time. That they just took a white person's word over that actually evidence they had.

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 Jcrowley26
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Dec 13, 2024 9:32 am
Reply tocmoody26

i agree on how racism is so prevelant 

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 Jcrowley26
Dec 13, 2024 9:32 am
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the scottsboro boys trial can most positively correlate to what harper lee grew up to see and experience prejudice.which could be harper lees way of showing what she had grown up with.For a multitude of reasons but a great one is shown within her character.Tom Robinson with how people believed or just wanted to believe that Tom had raped Mayella but yet he couldnt even had possibly have done it yet he still got charged because people just wanted to believe it. Purely based off the color of his skin. which i also think can go with the scottsboro boys trial ¨Only four of them had known each other before their arrest¨(History.com) and this really does go pefectly along with how it doesnt make sense for tom to have the ability to punch or chock with two hands when one of his hands dont even work.¨His left arm was fully twelve inches smaller than his right, and hung dead at his side. It ended in a small shrivelled hand.¨(lee 221) i feel this relates to how he couldnt do it yet people wanted to think so because he was black showing the racism.

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 Gsheehy26
Dec 13, 2024 11:13 am
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This helps me understand the book better because something very similar happened to these 9 boys that happened to Tom and were convicted at first but the boys were mostly able to be freed. When they said that they were quickly convicted and the jury was all white males, "In the first set of trials in April 1931, an all-white, all-male jury quickly convicted the Scottsboro Boys and sentenced eight of them to death," (History.com). this shows that the white males probably thought they were guilty because they were black people accused of raping white women. This connects to when Tom Robinson got accused of raping Mayella Ewell when he clearly didn't do it but was found guilty only because he was black and Mayella is a white girl. when the judge and jury found Tom Robinson guilty, "The foreman handed the piece of paper to Mr. Tate who handed it to the clerk who handed it to the judge... Judge Taylor was polling the jury: Guuilty... guilty...guilty...guilty..." (Lee 240). This quote says that Tom Robinson was found guilty by the jury because of his skin color. This relates to racism because they found the black man guilty even though he clearly was not and Mayella's story didn't even make sense.

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 Bnew26
Dec 13, 2024 12:29 pm
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This helps me understand this book better because they are similar in a way because the black people are being segregated because they are a different colored skin, The same thing that happened to these 9 boys and Tom Robinson are very similar because they are not getting a chance to defend themselves because they are black and don't have a lot of rights or a lot of words in there case. The Jury in both cases are both all white so they do not want the black people to be able to win the case and it is terrible, 8 out of the 9 boys immediately got put to the death penalty after the first trial, the Jury has there mind made up before the case even starts they don't get a fair chance like how if it was a white vs white case but since there black they don't get the same rights them getting proven not guilty is very difficult. Racism is such a big thing that even this happened "In the first set of trials in April 1931, an all-white, all-male jury quickly convicted the Scottsboro Boys and sentenced eight of them to death" ( History.com). They never gave them a chance after the first trial they just make there decisions based of there own opinions off skin color, the similarity is that the Scottsboro boys supposedly raped the 2 white girls and Tom Robinson Raped Mayella Ewell but there is no clear proof of either of them Tom Robinsons case none of the facts made sense due to him having one arm and being right handed instead of left handed, " You're left handed Mr Ewell" ( Lee 201). This quote shows that since Mr Ewell is left handed and Mayellas right eye was bruised that it only makes sense that Mr Ewell hit Mayella and not Tom because Tom is right handed.This relates to racism because Tom and the Scottsboro boys are black and got found guilty under a white jury because at the time white's were believed to be so much more powerful than the blacks. 

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 thyde26
Dec 18, 2024 11:59 am
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Reading the Scottsboro boys passage assisted my understanding of the similar events in Scottsboro Boys and To Kill A Mockingbird that Harper Lee had experienced. For example, In both of the stories there was an example of a rape case mistrial because Lee based the Tom Robinson character off of the Scottsboro case. Both examples highlight the unfair judical system and how the courts were often racially motivated when it comes to prosecution, “But even with her revised testimony and evidence from the initial medical examination of the women that refuted the rape charge, another all-white jury convicted the first defendant, Patterson, and recommended the death penalty.” (History.com). This shows that even with evidence that Patterson was innocent, they tried to give him the death penalty. This connects to the book when Mayella’s story isn't lining up, but yet, they still convict Tom Robinson, “Now don't be so confidant, Mr. Jem I ain't ever seen any jury decide in favor  of a colored man over a white man…”(Lee 238). This relates to racism and the corrupt judicial system that they had back then. The quote was essentially saying that n matter what evidence a black individual had, the case would favor the white man in the court.

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 lgreenwood26
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Dec 20, 2024 10:57 am
Reply tothyde26

I agree on how they convicted Tom with no evidence and how they only convicted him on the color of his skin.

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 jmason26
Dec 19, 2024 10:48 am
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The Scottsboro Boys relates to Harper lees experiences, because The Scottsboro Boys revolves around nine black boys who were falsely accused of raping two white women in Alabama in 1931, which relates to toms trail. This shows how deep the racism went in the south.

A quote from the article that i found important was “The Scottsboro Boys were ultimately convicted by all white, juries despite a lack of evidence and one of the accusers recanting her testimony”(history.com) this quote shows racism and bias in the legal system which is an ongoing problem in To Kill a Mockingbird. A part this article connects to the book is In Tom Robinson's trial, Atticus shows the lack of evidence and the accuser Ewell’s says;”She has committed no crime, she has merely broken a rigid and time honored code of our society… she kissed a black man.”(pg 207 lee) This moment connects to the Scottsboro Boys where they faked the accusations by white women against the black men which is an abuse of power.

This shows Racism because both cases how how black men were denied even treatment because their skin color, this also shows abuse because both stories there were false stories showing how they are abusing their powers resulting in horrible actions on the people that were accused.

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 cleach26
Dec 19, 2024 10:14 pm
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This article about the Scottsboro boys really helps me understand that when Harper Lee was a kid, she really couldn't understand what kind of things were happening. The Scottsboro boys also didn't know the reason they were being treated like this is because of the color of their skin. In this article it says, “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.” (History.com) This is really similar to when Tom Robinson's jail cell got surrounded by a mob and the scout had no idea what was happening, “you know what we want.’ Another man said. ‘Get aside from the door, Mr. Finch.” (Lee 172) all of this mostly relates to racism just because there being treated poorly because of there skin color.

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 lgreenwood26
Dec 20, 2024 10:56 am
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This article helps me understand what's going on in the book because what is happening to the boys in the article is very similar to what happened to Tom in the book because in the article the boys didn't even get a chance to defend themselves just like Tom in the book, “In the first set of trials in April 1931, an all-white, all-male jury quickly convicted the Scottsboro Boys and sentenced eight of them to death.” (History.com) They didn't even give them a chance to defend themselves after the first trial; they just sentenced 8 of them to death based on an opinion. This connects to when Tom was convicted raping Mayella Ewell when there was no evidence of him commiting that crime, "The foreman handed the piece of paper to Mr. Tate who handed it to the clerk who handed it to the judge... Judge Taylor was polling the jury: Guilty…   guilty...guilty...guilty..." (Lee 240) this quote shows that Tom was found guilty based on the color of his skin and nothing else. This relates to racism because the jury found Tom guilty based on the color because Mayella's story didn't even add up.

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 imadoz-ontanon26
Dec 22, 2024 2:38 am
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This article helped me understand the book better because it reflects the same racial injustice we can see in To Kill a Mockingbird, as both involve wrongful accusations and trials of Black men based on racism and discrimination. Tom Robinson and the nine teenagers were treated very unfairly, but they wouldn't have been treated the same if their skin color was different.

This case helped show racial injustice, leading to very important legal and social changes in the U.S.: “The trials of the Scottsboro Boys, the two Supreme Court verdicts they produced and the international uproar over their treatment helped fuel the rise of the civil rights movement later in the 20th century, and left a lasting imprint on the nation’s legal and cultural landscape” (History.com). This shows how the case helped spark social change in the U.S. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus says, “But there is one way in this country in which all men are created equal” (Lee 233), which represents the idea of justice. This is a very clear example of racism because both, Tom and the teenagers, were treated unfairly just because their race and skin color.

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