During segregation African Americans were treated poorly; the books To Kill a Mockingbird (TKM) and Mississippi Trial, 1955 (MT,1955) shows us this. In some places they were treated fair; the movie A Time To Kill (ATTK) shows us this. TKM and MT, 1955 were biased against African Americans, but ATTK was not.
First of all, in the book TKM, African American Tom Robinson was sentenced to jail for a crime he did not commit. Bob and Mayella Ewell, Bob’s daughter, accused Tom of raping Mayella. It was an unfair trial because they had no documentation that Tom Robinson raped Mayella Ewell and the jury was filled with racist whites. During the appeal, it was evident that Mayella was lying under troth to cover up for her drunken and abusive father, Bob Ewell, by her movements. For example, her eyes would shift a lot and after she said something, she would gaze at her father for endorsement. What really happened was Mayella tempted Tom; she was getting desperate for attention that wasn't her father's, but the jury didn't perceive it that way. Also, Mayella was beaten on her right side and Tom’s right arm was crippled from getting caught in a cotton gin when he was younger. The book says, “Atticus was trying to show, it
…show more content…
His jury was also made up of whites but this one saw him as the regular human being he was. He was given the same rights as whites during his trial after all, he was just defending his impotent daughter whose innocence was completely destroyed for drunken pleasure. He also wounded a white officer in the process by accident, but the policeman comprehended and forgave him. He knew that hurting him was not his intentions. The jurors thought about what they would do in the same situation. He did what any human would have done for someone they loved dearly, and they grasped his