The Scottsboro Boy's trial is a major event in the civil rights movement during the 1900s. The trial was about nine African-American teenagers accused in Alabama of raping two White American women on a train in 1931 and what happen to them in conclusion of this incident. TKAMB takes place in Alabama during the Depression, and is narrated by the main character, a little girl named Jean Louise "Scout" Finch. In both cases the accused were African Americans being tried by white juries. "A jury never looks at a defendant it has convicted, and when this jury came in, not one of them looked at Tom Robinson" (Lee 229). "When they announced the verdicts of guilty, people ran out" (Anker and Goodman, Scottsboro: An American Tragedy). The fact that …show more content…
The Scottsboro boys were young, "they were all teenagers with a couple that were just thirteen years old" (Anker and Goodman, Scottsboro: An American Tragedy). On the other hand, Tom Robinson "was twenty-five years of age; he was married with three children" (Lee 190). Tom had a job doing yard work for Link Deas and was both responsible and reliable. In contrast, the Scottsboro boys had been riding a freight train with hobos, but they had been trying to look for work to make a better life for themselves. The fact Tom was a mature and hardworking person may have made his testimony more believable. The scene of each crime was different. Mayella actually invited Tom into the house to fix a door, "she motioned [him] to come inside" (Lee 209). "The nine boys didn't even know they were on the same train as Ruby and Victoria" (Anker and Goodman, Scottsboro: An American Tragedy). The Scottsboro boys were accused of rape on a train, and Tom was accused of raping Mayella in her house. Tom didn't invite himself into the house and rape Mayella, and the Scottsboro boys didn't throw all the white men off the train and rape Victoria and Ruby. In fact, the Scottsboro boys didn't even know there were girls on the train until afterwards. The Lawyers for each case had very different backgrounds. Atticus Finch was a small town lawyer "his office in the courthouse contained little more than a hat rack, a spittoon, a checkerboard and an unsullied Code of Alabama" (Lee 3). "Samuel Leibowitz was a big city lawyer from New York" (Anker and Goodman, Scottsboro: An American Tragedy). Atticus was a familiar and trusted figure in his community. Leibowitz was looked at mistrustfully as an outsider by the people of Alabama. There were many complaints about his manner and attitude towards the local people. The ultimate outcome of each case was different. Tom Robinson was arrested and he attempted to escape prison, then he was