January 24, 2020 Research Paper

The United States has gone through a long period of racial prejudice, since its creation when Natives were forcefully taken off their land. Specifically in the 1930s, the race relations were at an extreme high due to the continuous poor treatment of Black people, who were considered “inferior” to White people, an unreasonable assumption. This is an extremely prevalent concept in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird which highlights the innocence of these minorities who do nothing to negatively contribute to society. Written and published in the 1960s, the brink of the Civil Rights Movement, Lee wrote the novel with the intention of raising awareness to the blatant racism occurring, which no one was acting upon, using characters that readers grew to love. Harper Lee used numerous historical events in order to develop the plot and characters of To Kill a Mockingbird specifically Emmett Till, the Scottsboro Boys, along with their trial and the Ku Klux Klan.

To begin with, the case of Emmett Till was used to influence major characters of the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Emmett Till was only 14, while visiting his family, was accused of flirting with a white woman. He was abducted by the relatives of the woman and they used extreme violence and shot him. Emmett Till’s mother decided to have an “open-casket funeral” in order to allow people around the world to be more aware of the extreme racial injustices that were occurring, which were often neglected(History.Com Editors 1). In comparison, the novel revolves the case of Tom Robinson, a 25 year old black man who was accused of the rape of Mayella Ewell. Like Emmett Till, both men had physical disabilities which made it impossible for them to commit the crimes they were accused of. Emmett Till had a speech impediment, which made him unable to whistle. Tom Robinson, had a disability with his arm which made him unable to do the actions Mayella claimed he did. Tom Robinson’s case was incredibly influential to the town of Maycomb, where the novel was set, as they were significantly more aware of the biases of the justice system. “That was the one thing that made me think,well,this may be the shadow of a beginning.[...] An inevitable verdict, maybe, but usually it takes ‘em just a few minutes' ' (Lee 253). Because of Atticus’ realization, it is evident that progress, in a way, has been made. Emmett Till’s death was very impactful to the nation as

there was physical evidence of the harsh experiences Black people had been enduring, for a long period of time. Harper Lee took influence from Emmett Till, to describe the long lasting impact and awareness that would be realized because of the racial injustice they faced.

To Kill a Mockingbird took influence from the White supremacist group known as the Ku Klux Klan which can be seen during multiple events in the novel. The Ku Klux Klan began in the 1860s, in which groups of people weren’t satisfied with the outcome of the Civil War and wanted to keep the prejudice ideals that had existed in the country for generations. Over time, the size of the group decreased significantly and became much more spread out. (Ku Klux Klan 2). In the novel, there is blatant evidence of the KKK such as characters like Bob Ewell and Walter Cunningham. Lee also includes multiple examples of the violent measures that were taken on the Black community and those who in any way supported them (Wilson 29). For example, the night before the trial, a group of men went to attack Tom, the defendant as he was “unworthy” of a trial in the first place. “You know what we want,” another man said, “Get aside from the door, Mr. Finch” (Lee 172). It was very clear that they wanted to harm Tom, and would do whatever it takes to do so. Although no violence ensued due to Atticus Finch and his children, it was a very tense situation and the intentions of the group were coherent. In addition, later in the book when Bob Ewell attacks the Finch children in hopes to kill them, just to spite Atticus, the event demonstrated the strong belief of superiority. “Low down skunk with enough liquor in him to make him brave enough to kill his children” (Lee 208). This shows his true character which was similar to that of the majority of KKK members. Examples of the Ku Klux Klan are demonstrated at numerous points in the novel, in which racist acts can be recognized.

Lastly, the Scottsboro Boys Trial case largely influenced the trial of Tom Robinson and many similarities can be traced. The Scottsboro Boys were falsely accused of rape by two women, Victoria Price (twenty-one) and Ruby Bates (seventeen). The group included 9 boys ranging from 13 to 20 years old, which were Clarence Norris, Olen Montgomery, Andy Wright, Willie Robinson, Ozie Powell, Eugene Willims, Charlie Weems, Roy Wright and Haywood Patterson. The accusers and the nine men were on a train, and the accusers hadn’t paid for their tickets. In order to create a “distraction” from their wrongdoing, they falsely accused the nine black men. They spent a long period of time in jail and some unfortunately died prior to having

an opportunity to be acquitted (Sorensen 10,41). The trial of Tom Robinson is incredibly similar to this one because of the intent behind the accusation which was truly to cover up the underlying truth of their wrongdoing. The three young female accusers were each involved in sexual activity in their own way. Similarly, Mayella Ewell, a fictional character, tried to kiss Tom Robinson which was socially unacceptable at the time, the other two women were engaged in sexual activity with white males, but used the black men to create a distraction (Wilson 29). Characters like Atticus Finch and the lack of evidence from both trials is very clear and similar, and revealed the lack of purpose for the trial. “She did something that in our society is unspeakable:she kissed a black man” (Lee 231 ). Atticus Finch is able to identify the truth and reason for her accusation and how she was truly in the wrong. Similarly, Stephen Roddy, a lawyer defending the nine boys in the Scottsboro boys, was unable to find anyone to prove that the accusations were correct. (Sorenson 21). The trial of the Scottsboro Boys inspired the defendant and prosecutors, and the fatal outcome which came with both.

To conclude, Harper Lee uses specific cases of racial profiling in order to create an accurate and realistic representation of the plots and characters in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. The setting of the novel portrays that of the time period in real life. It is important that Lee took inspiration from cases like the Scottsboro Boys and Emmett Till’s in order for readers to be able to trace the similarities from the book to their own lives and recognize the injustices that Black people were facing. To Kill a Mockingbird was written in order to spark change and encourage people to join the fight for liberty, independence and rights which Black people had longed for over generations.