Blog 2

      

   

-Atticus Finch (chapter23)

    The book is set in the 1930's when segregation was pervasive throughout the South. This time in U.S. history is also known as the Jim Crow period in the South.   During the Great Depression, racial tensions were especially high and whites resented blacks even more than before. Any person of color was born with disadvantages just because they had brown skin. Frequently, a person of color might be accused of any crime whether they did it or not and would receive excessive punishment.  African Amercians have been falsely accused and found gulity of a white man(s) crimes for decades. This is exactly what happened to Tom Robinson  in TKAM. Even though there was  relevant factual evidence which conclusively showed that he could not have committed the crime, the jury of all white southern men and the judge convicted and sentenced him to death. Historically, there is an actual case just like Tom Robinson's story. In Scottsboro, Alabama in 1931 nine African American  boys  were falsely accused of raping and assulting  two white women on a train and were sentenced to death. This case is known as the "Scottsboro Boys." Some people have suggested  that the Scottsboro Boys case prompted Harper Lee to write TKAM.  Factually, they are very similar but unfortunately, there were probably thousands of similar case all over the United States during Jim Crow. 

The Scottsboro Boys Case

   Now, we know that these types of events were morally wrong and inhumane;  the question is, did the whites during the Jim Crow period know these convictions were wrong or did they know and just ignore it the inhumanity? Or, did they engage in racist acts to fit it with their peers or were they just filled with hatred for people of color ?  Where does hatred like that come from? Asking questions like these can help lead us to answers to today's race related problems.