The Paradox of Atticus Finch

CHICAGOLAWBULLETIN.COM TUESDAY, MAY 1, 2018

Volume 164, No. 85 Serving Chicago’s legal community for 163 years The paradox of Atticus Finch

This essay was adapted from re - Boston Massacre and the newspa - The Finches of Maycomb were marks delivered by professor Ann M. per printer John Peter Zenger, re - LAW AND Methodists, but there were Baptist Lousin at a meeting of The Chicago spectively, against charges brought and Presbyterian churches in the Literary Club on Dec. 18, 2017. by the crown. PUBLIC ISSUES town, too. In our lifetimes, there has been Maycomb, Atticus’ hometown, f, as has been reported, Sher - one lawyer, Thurgood Marshall, the was the county seat of Maycomb lock Holmes is the most fa - giant of the NAACP Legal Defense County. The county was both iso - mous person who never lived, and Education Fund, whom we ad - lated in location and insular in out - then Atticus Finch, Esq., of mire most of all. ANN M. look. The county was so off the Maycomb, Ala., is surely the On Dec. 12, when the senator- beaten path that the nearest train LOUSIN Imost famous lawyer who never elect from Alabama, Doug Jones, station was 20 miles away in Ab - lived. spoke of racial justice in his victory bott County. Indeed, he is also the most ad - speech, he spoke of his fight to con - Up until the 20th century, there mired and beloved. Lawyers have vict the Ku Klux Klansmen who was so little communication with Ann M. Lousin has been a professor at named their sons after him. Atti - had killed four black girls in an Al - The John Marshall Law School since the rest of Alabama that some of cus’ biographer, Harper Lee of abama church in 1963. 1975. Before then, she was a research the white residents, oblivious to Monroeville, Ala., wrote about him And he referenced a quote often assistant at the 1969-1970 Illinois the prevailing political forces in Al - in “To Kill a Mockingbird,” which cited by the Rev. Martin Luther constitutional convention and abama, still voted Republican. appeared in 1960. It was an instant King Jr.: “The arc of the moral uni - parliamentarian of the Illinois House of Maycomb County was still hit and even won a Pulitzer Prize. verse is long, but it bends toward Representatives. Her treatise “The caught in the Jim Crow era in the About 70 percent of all high justice.” Illinois State Constitution: A Reference 1930s and even until 1954, when schools require that their students What lawyer does not aspire to Guide” was published in December “Watchman” takes place. May - 2009. She can be contacted at read the book. be thought of as having lived his or [email protected]. comb, the county seat, did not have The movie made a couple of her professional and personal life a paved street until 1935. years later is a classic. Is there in a way that people think of him or Atticus was born in 1882. He anyone reading this who has not her as a modern Atticus Finch? member of the white ruling class took care of his parents and sib - seen that film, which was suitably I have told my nieces that when that had ruled and served Alabama lings for many years, opened a solo shot in black-and-white film, just as I die, I’d like them to hold a memo - for at least five generations. Sec - law practice and was elected to the most of the story line is “black and rial service with the urn holding ond, he was a lawyer and state leg - state legislature. When he was 40 white”? my ashes. As they leave the sanctu - islator, someone who had devoted years old, he married a Mont - Is there a lawyer who has not ary carrying my urn, I hope they his life to promoting justice and gomery woman named Jean Gra - teared up at that scene when Atti - will say to those present, “Stand making Alabama a better place. ham, some 15 years his junior. cus Finch turns to leave the court - up, please; our aunt is passing by.” A few words about Alabama are Two years later, in 1924, their room after skillfully and heroically This heroic picture of Atticus in order. Its nickname is the Cotton son Jeremy Atticus, called “Jem,” defending an innocent black man Finch was besmirched by the pub - State, and until the 20th century, was born. Four years later, their accused of rape by a semideranged lication of Lee’s book “Go Set a cotton was the major crop and daughter Jean Louise, called white girl, only to find that the jury Watchman” in 2015. Apparently, major export. “Scout,” was born. In 1930, Atticus of Alabama whites has found his Lee wrote that book before she During the time that “Mocking - came home from the office one client guilty? wrote “To Kill a Mockingbird,” but bird” takes place, the Great De - evening to find his wife dead of a The black citizens of Maycomb her editor at HarperCollins chose pression, cotton was picked by heart attack on the front porch. — forced to sit in the balcony of a to publish only “Mockingbird” in hand, with impoverished blacks When Atticus was only 48 years hot courtroom to watch, once 1960. doing most of the back-breaking old, he became a widower with two more, that there is no justice for When “Watchman” appeared 55 labor. small children. His only help was blacks in their town — pay Atticus years later, it revealed that in his Alabama was admitted to the the black housekeeper Calpurnia, the greatest tribute in their power. youth Atticus was a member of the Union as the 22nd state in 1819, one one of the few literate black resi - One by one, each of them stands. Ku Klux Klan and that in the sum - year after Illinois. Montgomery, the dents in town. As Atticus looks up to see them, mer of 1954, just after Brown v. state capital, was also the first cap - He was more a companion than he sees his little daughter, Jean Board of Education came down, he ital of the Confederate States of an authority figure to his children. Louise, sitting with them. joined the White Citizens’ Council America. He treated them almost like adults, One of the black observers in of Maycomb. Alabama’s Latin motto trans - never hesitating to answer their the movie is Calpurnia, the Finch - Worst of all, his conversation lates as “we dare to defend our questions, honestly and fully. es’ housekeeper, who leans over with his daughter that summer rights.” Is it not indicative of some - He took them with him almost and says, “Stand up, Jean Louise, showed he harbored racist views thing that its official “state spirit” everywhere — although his “every - your father’s passing by.” while still advocating equality be - is Conecuh Ridge Whiskey — aged where” was really only Maycomb That scene put Atticus Finch fore the law and thought the moonshine? Its official state dance and Montgomery. into the pantheon of lawyers who NAACP and others were “moving is the square dance. Scout later recalled that she have stood up for justice at great too fast.” By 1865, about half of Alabami - “had grown up color-blind.” peril to themselves. So who was the “real” Atticus ans were enslaved black people. Atticus Finch’s great-great-grand - Before the American revolution, Finch? I think he was primarily Today, it has a high percentage of father, an English Methodist, settled John Adams and Andrew Hamilton two things. black residents, just over a quarter in Maycomb, Ala., and married into defended the British soldiers in the First, he was an Alabamian, a of the population. what passed for the local gentry.

Copyright © 2018 Law Bulletin Media. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission from Law Bulletin Media. They become part of the ruling the judge would appoint counsel, In her book, Dr. John Hale Finch frightened of “big government,” he class of Maycomb, aptly called the usually a young lawyer needing ex - explained to Scout the dilemma said. He thought that Brown v. “eight families.” perience in handling trials. As was her father found himself in as the Board of Education encroached During the Civil War, Atticus’ fa - often the case in the South, Atticus world changed after 1950. The pa - upon the rights of states to run ther, Jeremy Finch, fought in the helped his housekeeper Calpurnia ternalistic world in which men their educational systems as they Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee, one and her family for free. took care of women, the strong saw fit. of the bloodiest battles of that con - The case for which Atticus took care of the weak and whites One can hear in his comments flict. He returned to Maycomb, got Finch is most famous involved a “took care of” those blacks who ex - Alabama’s motto, “we dare to de - married and had four children. black working man, Tom Robinson. hibited suitable gratitude to their fend our rights.” The oldest, Atticus, read law in To recap for those who have not white benefactors began to break It is clear that Atticus embodied Montgomery and returned to May - read the book or seen the movie in down. People demanding rights The Last Gasp of the Old South, in comb to practice. years: Tom regularly had to walk were foreign to Atticus. many respects the one Margaret Jeremy’s other children had past the cabin of a poor white fami - To be sure, Atticus still believed Mitchell wrote of, the one of “cava - their own lives. ly during his workweek. in and advocated “equal rights be - liers and cotton fields” about to be Alexandra married a Maycomb Not to put too fine a point on it: fore the law.” gone with the wind. boy named Jim Hancock, but later The Ewells were “white trash.” As his brother Dr. Finch put it, But Atticus was also a lawyer. separated from him. Caroline White people in Maycomb would Atticus would not contradict the He never really stopped believing eloped with a Mobile man at age 17 have said they were “no-account,” words of members of the Ku Klux in justice as a goal and in his duty and moved away. John Hale Finch but the Ewells must have thought Klan or the White Citizens Council, to advance the cause of justice. went to Mobile to study medicine. they had one advantage, the color but if any of them tried to act upon Crippled with rheumatoid He married, retired early and be - of their skin. their beliefs toward black residents arthritis and surrounded by a rap - came Maycomb County’s resident Mr. Ewell was an abusive alco - of Maycomb, he would be the first idly changing world, he still kept philosopher and literature buff. holic, and the children were un - to attack their racist acts. up his practice the way he always Jem, Atticus’ son, remained in schooled and malnourished. Their When Scout saw her father seat - had. Maycomb and was engaged to a cabin, scarcely more than a shack, ed on the dais with the White Citi - What would Atticus think of young woman from a neighboring was in the woods near Maycomb. zens Council of Maycomb in 1954, today’s Alabama? We can assume town when he dropped dead of a When Tom came by the Ewell she was appalled. He seemed to be he died several years ago. His son heart attack on the sidewalk in cabin one evening, the oldest Ewell listening carefully as the outside was dead; his daughter was in New front of his father’s office. He was daughter asked him to help her speaker spewed his filth, denounc - York City; he had only his sister 28 years old when he died in 1952. hang a picture. As he was doing so, ing everyone except white Al - and a few others for company. And Scout, the better known of Atti - she assaulted him and went in for a abamians. When she asked her his world was gone, too, replaced cus’ children, attended a women’s kiss. Flabbergasted, Tom pushed father why he had just sat there, he by a world he could not under - college in Georgia, which she her away and ran home. When Mr. replied that the outside speaker stand. hated, and, at her father’s urging, Ewell returned, she claimed Tom had asked to speak and the citizens However, I thought I heard left for New York City to begin a had sexually assaulted her, where - of Maycomb should listen to him something of his voice and the career as a writer. She returned upon Ewell beat her and then politely. voices of his brother and his for Jem’s funeral and then for a asked the state to charge Tom. Dr. Finch apparently understood daughter during the Alabama elec - visit with her aging father in the The local judge appointed Atti - his brother. He told Scout that tion. late summer of 1954, when “Watch - cus to defend Tom. The trial is one many had joined the KKK early in If you watched then-candidate man” takes place. of the best-known in the movies their professional lives in order to Doug Jones’ speech last fall, you What did Atticus look like? He and in literature. Atticus’ defense advance their careers. heard the interview with the sister was tall, with a broad face, a was electric; it was magical. I do Indeed, although Dr. Finch of one of the little girls murdered straight nose, and a “wide, thin not know of anyone who has read didn’t mention names, it is true in 1963. She said Senator-elect mouth.” His eyebrows were the account or seen the movie who that Justice Hugo Black of Ala - Jones was “a man of compassion,” “straight” and “incisive,” with was not mesmerized by it. bama had been a Klansman before one who worked for justice. heavy eyelids. Yet, the white jurors could not he became a prominent First Like Atticus Finch, Doug Jones In short, he looked much like the find it in their hearts to acquit a Amendment advocate on the came out of Alabama, a state movie actor Gregory Peck. black man with a blameless record Supreme Court. Sen. Robert Byrd deeply troubled by its past, a past Atticus was known as a true of the most serious charge that a of West Virginia was a paid re - so well exemplified by Maycomb. gentleman. People described him white woman could bring, even cruiter for the Ku Klux Klan, but He is a member of the Alabama as “the best friend they ever had.” though the Ewell girl was obviously later apologized for his actions. white professional class. If he didn’t like someone, he didn’t mentally challenged. Dr. Finch told Scout he thought The senator also came out of an show it. He was courteous to The honor of southern white Atticus was “fighting a rear-guard Alabama that was a center of the everyone. As his daughter said, he womanhood was at stake, even if action,” an attempt to preserve the equal rights movement. On Dec. 1, had instinctively good manners, she was white trash. South he had been born to serve 1955, a few months after Atticus the kind of man who never pushes Tom’s end was a tragedy. Des - and to fight against a new kind of told Scout that “those NAACP ahead in a line. perate and depressed, Tom tried to South that he did not or, perhaps, lawyers were moving things too Like most small-town lawyers, escape from the prison farm where could not understand. fast,” Rosa Parks refused to give up he belonged to several organiza - he was being held and was shot to Being afraid and uncompre - her seat on a bus in Montgomery. tions. He joined one of them, the death. Maycomb returned to nor - hending, Atticus fought back. As Later, Gov. George Wallace “stood Ku Klux Klan, when he was young, mal, that being the poverty of the Dr. Finch said, “when a man’s look - in the door” of the University of Al - but later withdrew. town exacerbated by the racial di - ing down the double barrel of a abama to prevent integration, an Atticus’ practice was almost ex - vide. shotgun, he picks up the first action that made Alabama a na - clusively civil, not criminal. It was A few weeks later, Ewell tried to weapon he can find to defend him - tional laughingstock. said of him that he could draft a kill Jem and Scout, only to be killed self, be it a stone or a stick of In the end, Rosa Parks was the will “so tight that nobody could by his own knife, helped along by stovewood or a citizens’ council.” hero, and George Wallace repented break it.” He did not formally Boo Radley, a recluse who lived He cautioned Scout that her fa - of his actions. charge poor clients, black or white. nearby. ther was not the god she idolized, What would Atticus Finch have Sometimes a poor client would Why, then, is there now so much but a human being with failings. said if he could have heard a mod - bring a cord of wood to his house controversy about Atticus Finch? When she finished her conversa - ern white Alabama lawyer say, in the winter in lieu of a fee. He In “Watchman,” Lee explained that tion with her uncle, Scout went to “The arc of the moral universe is would sometimes try cases, but not Atticus said and did some things in her father’s office and asked him to long, but it bends toward justice.” often. Apparently, the only crimi - later years that are difficult to rec - explain his actions. I like to think he would have nal trials he handled were those of oncile with our image of him as Atticus’ statements showed her said, “Amen.” indigent prisoners. In those cases, hero. how confused he was. He was Amen, brother, amen.