To Kill a Mockingbird

Last effects
TKAM and the Scottsboro Boys
• In 1931, 9 young black men from Alabama
are accused of raping 2 white women
• All nine faced a near lynching before their
trial even began.
• Despite the scant evidence, eight of the
nine receive the death penalty. The only
one who does not is 14 year old Roy
Wright.
 The Evidence
• Neither of the girls’ stories matched
• Neither of the girls could point to
where the “rape” took place when
shown a model of the train
• No medical evidence to suggest Ruby
Bates was raped, but the doctor was
too scared to testify
 The Evidence
• Victoria Price had semen in her, but it
was two days old
• Ruby Bates wrote a letter to her
boyfriend admitting it was all a lie—
even later admitted it on various radio
and newspaper/magazine interviews
• One of the boys was blind, and
another was nearly crippled
• "I  was scared before, but it wasn't
nothing to how I felt now.  I knew if a
white woman accused a black man of
rape, he was as good as dead." 
--Clarence Norris
• Scottsboro boys appealed the ruling and many
more trials took place
• Each time, they were found guilty and sentenced
to the death penalty
• The youngest boy was sentenced to life in prison
because of his age
• Trials lasted from 1931-1938—longest in U.S.
history
• Trials made it to the Supreme Court
• Everyone was eventually set free
 Write it down…
• How does this story relate to To Kill a
Mockingbird?
• Harper Lee was about 5 years old when
this started. What impact do you think the
trials had on her?
What does the Mockingbird
symbolize?
 Innocence

An innocent person, wrongfully accused

 Who were the Mockingbirds in
TKAM?
• Tom Robinson
• Boo Radley
• Others?
 Other Mockingbirds through
history…
• Christians, ancient Rome
• Salem Witch Trials
• Sacco and Vanzetti
• Scottsboro Boys
• Jews
• Arabs
• Jesus
Have you ever been a Mockingbird?
 Write it down…
• If you see someone becoming a
Mockingbird, what is your responsibility?
– As a citizen?
– As a human?
– As a Christian?
• “The only thing necessary for the triumph
of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
~Edmund Burke