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The Scottsboro Boys Case Trial

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According to Oxford Languages, they define racism as “prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism by an individual, community, or institution against a person or people based on their membership in a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalized.” During the 1930s, it was hard for African Americans at that time. Society at that time was harsh on African Americans. The Scottsboro Boys case trial was an unfair racial trial in Black History for African Americans, and Tom Robinson is a victim of a similar racial injustice situation. This is all about Tom Robinson in How To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. A community in Macomb targets a disabled African-American named Tom Robinson for raping and beating a white …show more content…

Bob Ewell could have beaten his own daughter on purpose. He thought his own daughter had a relationship with Tom Robinson. It was the 1930s and relationships with African Americans were illegal at that time. That is reasonable as to why Mayella was beaten. There are marks all around her neck that prove Tom Robinson could not have choked Mayella. Tom Robinson's side of the story is reliable testimony. On Tom's side of the story, he said: “recently that he had chopped up a chiffarobe last year, and he helped Mayella often the previous year he had done to chop it up, but Mayella came onto him and kissed him, and Bob Ewell caught them so Tom ran away.” For example, during her testimony she said: “that she offered to pay Tom Robinson a nickel if he would break an old chiffarobe apart. While retrieving the nickel, she claimed Tom entered the house and jumped on her.” Therefore, Mayella’s excuse is a way to eliminate her guilt from kissing Tom Robinson. Tom Robinson is a victim of racism and segregation. Tom Robinson lives with an African-American community in the small rural town of

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Rabina Mainali Sign 111 Dr. Dulan 3 November, 2015 Witnesses of the Scottsboro trials The Scottsboro trials came about during the year 1931 when Great Depression had hit the South hard. In search of work several individuals boarded a freight train from Chattanooga to Memphis, Tennessee not knowing their future ahead wasn’t so bright. While in the train a white man stepped on a black man’s hand, later identified as belonging to Haywood Patterson. A fight between the white youths and Patterson’s

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While this was occurring Tom ran out of the house because he was confused. The Ewells came up with a story stating that Tom raped Mayella and they went to court for it. Eventually, it was found out that Mayella lied to hide the embarrassment of trying to kiss an African American man along with trying to make herself feel better. Bob Ewell wanted to accuse Tom to cover his own tracks in abusing his daughter. Yet, with all this information and evidence Tom’s verdict was guilty.

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Annotated Bibliography Altman, Susan. “Scottsboro Trial.” Encyclopedia of African-American Heritage, Second Edition, Facts On File, 2000. African-American History.

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In the south back in the 1930’s there were many Americans who did not know the meaning of equality for all. With this being the case, many black people faced discrimination daily and it followed through to the legal systems especially in the south where both being compared took place. The evidence provided in both trials proved to be weak. Despite this, both defendants had determined lawyers who believed in justice.

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Injustice is seen a lot in this world whether it is racial, healthcare, gender inequality, or even economic injustice but today we will be focusing on the Scottsboro boys and the trial of Powell vs Alabama. In the 1930’s, nine young African American teenagers as young as 13 years old were falsely accused of rape and eight were sentenced to prison over a crime they did not commit. Although they were eventually released after years, not because of insufficient evidence but because they served a significant amount of time in prison as minors and kept having to retrial, it still does not distract from the fact it took 82 years to clear their names over a crime they did not commit and subsequently ruined their reputation and lives while they were

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This part of the story has two versions. The Ewell’s version is that after that while they were inside the house he grabbed her by the neck and threw her into the ground and Bob Ewell heard the commotion and ran fast to his house as fast as he could. Suddenly Bob saw Tom on top of Mayella and ran inside, but Tom escaped

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Because of Mr Ewell’s way of life and his pattern of abusive behaviour, Mayella and her siblings “lived like animals”. This sad living situation is what led to Mayella’s desperate attempt at a relationship with Tom, therefore bringing the blame back to Mr Ewell. Though it is not stated it the text explicitly, it is likely that it was Bob Ewell, rather than Mayella that came up with the plan of accusing Tom of rape, as it would give Mr Ewell a chance to simultaneously publicly denounce a black man and make himself out to be the hero of the story. This is why, despite Tom’s conviction, Mr Ewell is infuriated by the results of the trial, as Atticus was still able to destroy “his last shred of credibility”, the exact opposite of what Bob had planned for the trial. This would suggest that Bob Ewell was willing to have Tom killed, not because he truly believed he had committed a crime, but rather so he could promote his own prejudiced narrative at the trial and restore to himself the power that the social structures of Maycomb had taken away.

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The Scottsboro Boys story was about the boys that went to jail for a crime they didn’t commit, which is rape. Throughout their lives in jail they have gone through trials over and over again because people haven’t received justice. Justice is when the right thing or the fair thing has been accomplished. I think the boys have received their justice because throughout the years people have felt pity for the Scottsboro boys when they went through bad things, so they wanted to help them. People have been trying to help the boys to get their justice that they deserve.

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The fourteenth amendment to the Constitution, ending slavery in the United States, had been in effect since before the turn of the century, yet African Americans still faced prejudice in many parts of the country, especially the South. In March 1931, nine black teenagers were arrested in Alabama and accused of homelessness, disorder, and, later, rape, after two white women testified against them. The series of trials, testimonies, and decisions that followed all contained core similarities, but differentiated greatly from each other overall. The initial trial, held in 1931, served only to show the predetermined prejudice against the Scottsboro boys because of the color of their skin.

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The forefathers of the United States built this country on the ideals of freedom and equality for all people. Unfortunately, the fight for equality and freedom did not end with the revolutionary war. The fight has continued throughout the decades. Many of these issues were fought in the courtroom. Auburn University created an online Alabama Encyclopedia, there, the following quote stated, “Scottsboro became an international cause celebre that dramatically encapsulated the American south troubled post reconstruction history of legal and extralegal racial violence, the social and political upheaval of the great depression, and the lingering cultural divide between the north and south.”

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This is how the story went for both Mayella and Bob Ewell this is a summed-up version of that night on November twenty-first. Mayella asks Tom to fix her door while Mr. Ewell was getting firewood. From Mayella's perspective, this is when Tom attacked her and started to rape her. [pg.] This was also the time when Bob heard her and looked through the window and saw it himself, what Tom was doing to his daughter but Tom was too fast and Mr. Ewlle could not catch him.

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Injustice The Scottsboro Case shed light on the racial practices expressed in law that made a great impact on the legal system today. The actual victims of the Case did not receive a fair trial due to the color of their skin. The ones who played the victims planned the crime, and their stories made no sense. But like many of the trials during the time it wasn’t based on the actual evidence that was found,or even the defendants ' stories.

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Racism played a part in the Scottsboro trials in many ways. Racism is an act of discrimination against ones race. Racism is motivated in many ways. People use it to boost their self-esteem to make them feel better about themselves. Structure is another part; whites want to have what they are familiar with and do not want change among society.

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In this paragraph I will be questioning the Ewells’ reasoning for lying. While reading the court scenes, I got the feeling that Mayella and Bob had separate motives for trying to convict Tom. There are quite a few reasons that Bob would want Tom Robinson convicted. His most demanding motive would have to be the need to cover up the fact that he abuses his children.

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When Bob found Mayella in the act of kissing Tom he beat her and told her to frame Tom for the marks he left. Since Tom was a man of color he was lower on the scale of power in society so a lot of people believed Mayella. Mayella took the upper hand in her social advantage so she could get compassion. Mayella

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