...Mockingbird Relates to Scottsboro “Racism is man's gravest threat to man - the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason” (Abraham Joshua Heschel). Through american history racism has been a characteristic of society, and will be upon us until there is no color variation among us. The Scottsboro tragedy was an incident during The Great Depression, where 9 black men were wrongfully convicted of rape. They were put on trial and discriminated against during their time in the justice system. PBS’s American Experience video accurately portrayed the events that impacted America in both a positive and negative way. 9 men were convicted of rape during a time of great racism and prejudice, this is America circa 1930’s. America used to be a messed up...
Words: 620 - Pages: 3
...In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee she used real life events for inspiration to create her book. Such as The Great Depression, which was a long and severe time in history with death and havoc (Mccabe page #). Many people went through so much havoc losing their jobs or not being able to go to school (McCabe 14). There are three influences in To Kill a Mockingbird the Jim Crow laws, Mob mentality, and the Scottsboro trials. The first influence on Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird was the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow Laws were an outrageous and wrong gesture (Pilgrim). *must site Pilgrim every time when facts are said about the laws (Pilgrim)* The laws were… The White’s thought they needed the laws because… The Jim Crow Laws can be seen...
Words: 540 - Pages: 3
...Historical Paper “The era can be summed up in two words: breadlines and debt (McCabe 12).” This quote is a great description of the time period the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee took place. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a book about a young girl growing up in a small town in Alabama. Throughout the book, there are many historical references including the Jim Crow laws, mob mentality, and the Scottsboro trials. One of the very first historical references in To Kill A Mockingbird is the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws were a set of laws that were made to separate Blacks and Whites (Pilgrim). They separated colored people from white people and made a mindset among people that white people were better than Blacks (Pilgrim)....
Words: 923 - Pages: 4
...Historical Influences on To Kill a Mockingbird During the 1930’s America’s worst depression was in effect (McCabe 12). This inspired Harper Lee to write her most famous novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Many real life events were used to inspire Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Some of the events she used are the Jim Crow laws, mob mentality, and the Scottsboro trials. The first influence on Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird was the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws are a set of laws that were racist and focused mainly towards Blacks (Pilgrim). The laws were most enforced in the south in 1877 through the 1960’s (Pilgrim). Most people made these laws were created because mindset of the creators was that they were superior to all Blacks (Pilgrim). Some of the punishments for committing a crime against these laws were severe including lynching, taking their jobs, or taking their homes (Pilgrim). Jim Crow laws can be seen in To Kill a...
Words: 674 - Pages: 3
...Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (McCabe 12). The Depression was a time of devastation and debt for many companies and families all across the United States (McCabe 12). Lee used multiple historical events as her inspiration to write To Kill a Mockingbird. Those events are represented by mob mentality, Jim Crow Laws, and the Scottsboro trials. One of the influences in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird are the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws were laws created to make white people have more power than black people. One of these laws included that black and white people were to eat separately. If they ever did eat together, white people were served first (Pilgrim)....
Words: 890 - Pages: 4
...other various events in the 1930’s inspired Harper Lee’s world renown novel, To Kill A Mockingbird. Three events that profoundly correspond to the novel are the Jim Crow laws, mob mentality, and the Scottsboro trials. The first influence on Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird are the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws are a set of anti-Black laws in order to keep whites on the top of the racial caste system (Pilgrim). The Jim Crow laws vary from ordering Blacks to let White motorists go first at intersections...
Words: 1052 - Pages: 5
...Historical Influences in To Kill a Mockingbird The Great Depression was a “time of devastation and uncertainty”, also it was a time “bread lines and debt” in the American history (McCabe 12). After the stock market crashed in 1929 there was a height during the time that “ the unemployment rate had reached nearly 25 percent” (McCabe 12). In To kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee had many historical influences several from real life events. Harper Lee drew her influences from Jim Crow laws, mob mentality, and Scottsboro trials. The first influence on Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws are a racial caste system. Jim Crow are a bunch of harsh against Blacks laws (Pilgrim). The Whites did these actions because they disliked any benefit made Blacks including economic and political (Pilgrim). If the Blacks are to disobey then the punishments could be a lynching (Pilgrim). The Jim Crow laws are seen in To Kill a Mockingbird. One of the laws that you could see was “ Never assert or even intimate that...
Words: 841 - Pages: 4
...public opinion, but also influenced action (Rauchway 1). Harper Lee, the author of To Kill a Mockingbird, lived though all of these events and felt their effects growing up while living in the Deep South. Looking at her only novel, it can be concluded that the similarities within it and reality are no coincidence. The Historical events that occurred during Harper Lee’s lifetime clearly influenced her writing of To Kill a Mockingbird as elements of the Scottsboro Boys Trials are undoubtedly evident in the trial of Tom Robinson, the Jim Crow Laws are unjustly in effect towards the African-American population of Maycomb, Alabama, and the deleterious economic hardships faced after the Great Depression are present in the citizens of the town throughout the novel. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird revolves around the trial of Tom Robinson, a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman, and the lawyer defending him. This fictional trial is in fact an almost exact recreation of a trial that Harper Lee lived through: The Scottsboro Boy Trials of 1931. Both the fictional and real trials of Tom Robinson and the Scottsboro Boys share several similarities, two of which are the race and crime of the defendant and the all racist white jury. The Scottsboro Boys were a group of “nine African American youths” who were “quickly sentenced to death for the crime of rape of two young white women” (“Scottsboro Boys Case”). Tom Robinson, a black male, was also accused of raping a young white woman...
Words: 1075 - Pages: 5
...The Great Depression was a period in the 1930’s where poverty had reached an all time high after the stock market crash in 1929 (McCabe). The novel To Kill a Mockingbird takes place during this time, and faces many challenges related to The Great Depression. Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, used inspiration from these real-life historical events to hook into her novel. Some of these significant historical events include the Jim Crow laws, mob mentality, and the Scottsboro trials in conjunction with racism. One of the first known influence on Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird are the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws were a collection of unrelenting anti-black laws (Pilgrim). These laws weren’t just simply a set list of rules,...
Words: 988 - Pages: 4
...Harper Lee used many historical events to influence her book To Kill a Mockingbird. The Great Depression took place throughout the whole book(McCabe 12). The two words that came to play in The Great Depression were bread lines and debt(McCabe 12). Many people had to start getting free meals(McCabe 13). Many students could not even go to college(McCabe 14). In addition to the Great depression more influences were the Jim Crow laws, mob mentality, and the Scottsboro trials. The first influence on Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird are the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws was a racial caste system(Pilgrim). These laws were only used for the colored people between 1877 and 1960’s. One law was that a black man was not allowed to offer...
Words: 706 - Pages: 3
...Historical Paper Historical influences in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird In 1929 the stock market crashed and resulted in nationwide economic distress, called the Great Depression, and it was the setting for To Kill A Mockingbird. During the Great Depression about 1 in 4 people were unemployed in America. Millions of Americans were homeless and jobless (McCabe 12). There were multiple factual events that were significantly influential in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird. This novel references many historical events, including the Jim Crow laws, mob mentality, and the Scottsboro trials. The first influence on Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, was the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws were cruel laws set up to put...
Words: 997 - Pages: 4
...are the similarities between that trial and the one of Tom Robinson in the novel? | | E3 | In a time in which racism and segregation were substantial two lawyers each very determined to help and stand by their clients and defend them in law to the best of their abilities in the face of danger. Both the Scottsboro boy Trials and the Tom Robinson trial in the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” were very similar and “To kill a Mockingbird” definitely seemed as if it were influenced by the Scottsboro boy’s trial. | Samuel Leibowits was the lawyer who defended Charles Weems, Andy Wright, Olen Montgomery, Roy Wright, Willie Robertson, Eugene Williams, Ozzie Powell, Clarence Norris and Haywood Patterson also known as the Scottsboro Boys. What happen to them was that they were on a train and they were accused of rape by Victoria Price and Ruby Bates. All nine men were convicted soon after for rape. Atticus Finch defended Tom Robinson, who was accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman. In the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" the story revolves around the trial and the life of Finch and his family before, during and after the trial of Tom Robinson. Atticus faced loads of criticism for defending a black man. The similarities that are shared between the trials of the Scottsboro Boys and that of Tom Robinson in "To Kill a Mockingbird" are many. First of all they both take place in a racist and segregated state in the south; Alabama. Both Trials are defended by white lawyers who...
Words: 501 - Pages: 3
...different schools, churches, and neighborhood depending on ones race. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee used different historical references and connections about the inequality between blacks and whites, and some of the struggles faced by both races. Included, are connections to the Jim Crow laws, mob mentality, and issues of racism during that era. In To Kill A Mockingbird, one of the first connections was the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws created inequality between the two races of whites and blacks. There were reasons why people thought the laws were needed. They thought that whites were superior to blacks...
Words: 1371 - Pages: 6
...feel that you didn’t really belong to that society? That’s how African-Americans felt during the 1960’s. That’s how they were treated in the book “To Kill A Mockingbird”, in the trial of Emmett Till, and that of Scottsboro trial. In the book, “To Kill A Mockingbird”, the trials of Emmett Till and Scottsboro, prejudice is displayed by the acts of hate and misunderstanding because of someone’s color. In the book, “To Kill A Mockingbird”, people of color (blacks) were the majority that were treated unfairly. During those time period, black people had to use separate bathrooms, drinking fountains, sections in restaurants and even in the courtroom. One good example of discrimination in the book was how Tom Robinson a young African American was accused of raping a white girl and was found guilty of the charges against him. In the book, it was quoted, “I'd rather you shoot at tin cans, in the backyard, but I know you'll go after birds. Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit them, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." "Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat gardens or nest in corncribs they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us that's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird”. (Page 90, Atticus, Miss Maudie). This quote in the book reflects that, Tim Robinson (Mockingbird or the black boy) did nothing wrong but was accused of raping the white girl and as he tried to escape, he was shot and killed. Can you also believe...
Words: 718 - Pages: 3
...penalty is not allowed, but it was acceptable to lynch people in that time period. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee used real-life events as inspiration for her novel. There are similarities to Jim Crow, mob mentality, and the issues of racism in that time period. In To Kill a Mockingbird the first connection to America’s history is the presence of the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws were a way to segregate blacks from whites. Some examples of the laws were segregated buses, prisons, mental hospitals, and reform schools. If...
Words: 821 - Pages: 4
