Essay On The Scottsboro Boys
Today our legal system is to view all cases blindly and not make decions based off race, religion, or any other factor. This is a huge step from where our country was in the 1960s, where race itself proved if one was either guily or innocent. This can be proven through the stories in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the Scottsboro boys, and the murder of Emmett Till. These examples all prove that Blacks were found guilty just for the color of their skin. In To Kill a Mockingbird Tom Robinson, a black man accused of rape, went against a middle-aged white woman. During the trial, Tom was clearly innocent, but going up against Whites meant he was fighting a losing battle. In the book Atticus says, "There's something in our world that makes
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Ruby Bates and Victoria Price were the names of the girls. Both were considered to be prostitutes. This case was first heard in Scottsboro, Alabama. These boys were then known as the Scottsboro boys. Even though there was medical evidence that proved these boys had not raped the women. All but one of the boys were convicted of rape and sentenced to death (Bagwell “Scottsboro boys”). Another example of unequal treatment in the legal system was the murder of Emmett Till. Emmett, who was fourtteen at the time, was accused of whistling at a white woman when he was walking out of a store in Money, Mississippi. Four days later, a couple of white men came into Emmett’s house and not only beat him, but shot him and tied him to a cotton gin once he was dead. These men were put on trial but were found not guilty. To make Emmett’s story known, his mother kept his cascet open during his funeral. This was a start to the modern Civil Rights Movemenet (Bagwell “Emmett Till”). Equality is something that America has fought for for many years. Without these horrible events such as the Scottsboro boys, Emmett Till, and the story of To Kill a Mockingbird, our legal system would still pick a side based off
Ruby Bates and Victoria Price were the names of the girls. Both were considered to be prostitutes. This case was first heard in Scottsboro, Alabama. These boys were then known as the Scottsboro boys. Even though there was medical evidence that proved these boys had not raped the women. All but one of the boys were convicted of rape and sentenced to death (Bagwell “Scottsboro boys”). Another example of unequal treatment in the legal system was the murder of Emmett Till. Emmett, who was fourtteen at the time, was accused of whistling at a white woman when he was walking out of a store in Money, Mississippi. Four days later, a couple of white men came into Emmett’s house and not only beat him, but shot him and tied him to a cotton gin once he was dead. These men were put on trial but were found not guilty. To make Emmett’s story known, his mother kept his cascet open during his funeral. This was a start to the modern Civil Rights Movemenet (Bagwell “Emmett Till”). Equality is something that America has fought for for many years. Without these horrible events such as the Scottsboro boys, Emmett Till, and the story of To Kill a Mockingbird, our legal system would still pick a side based off