The iconic book, To Kill a Mockingbird, is set in Maycomb, Alabama during the 1950’s. Maycomb is a quiet, little town that endures a huge court case in which a respected lawyer, Atticus Finch, defends a black man, Tom Robinson, against false rape charges. In the 1950’s, Civil Rights Movement took place and the main goal was to try to fix the inequalities and problems that black people faced. The book reveals the racism and how they were treated from day to day during that time. The court case in the novel is much like the many court cases that took place throughout the 50’s and 60’s and even when there was astounding evidence that proved the black man or woman was not guilty or did get treated wrongly, they were still convicted of whatever crime they were accused of. 

To compare the trial in the book to an actual historical event in history, the murder of Emmett Till, is a good example. The justice system of the time was discriminatory and did not allow blacks to be member of juries. It also allowed arrests and trails to take place without probable cause and little to no evidence to back up the accusations. Emmett Till was brutally murdered on August 28, 1955 by two white men. Four days in advance, he reportedly flirted with a white woman cashier of a local grocery store and this led to his death. The men were tried for murder and received a not guilty verdict due to the all-white, male jury and the fact that the murder of a black male was socially acceptable and even praised during that time by many. This case brought on the Civil Rights Movement and provided a look into the segregation and racism that was ever so present in the south. 

The trial that took place within the novel was brought on by accusations that Tom Robinson had raped a white teenager in their town. In the trial there are multiple things that show that he is not guilty of the crime that he is being charged with, one of which being that where the bruise is on the woman’s face could only be done with the left arm of someone and the left arm of the man being accused was withered and unusable. Even through the astounding evidence he was still found guilty of rape, much like a lot of the court cases of that time. The jury again was all-white and male. 

Another court case that reminds me of the one in To Kill a Mockingbird is the Scottsboro Trial. This case was about a group of nine teenage black boys, The Scottsboro Boys, who allegedly raped two white teenage girls on a train from Chattanooga to Memphis. The many trials that took place all wound up to still be a guilty trial for 5 of the 9 boys who were at first accused. The girls that made the accusations later changed their stories and explained what really happened but some of the boys were still found guilty and given various sentences. They remind me so much of each other because of the stunning similarities in not only the crime that they were being convicted but also the startling evidence that was presented that proved their innocence, yet they were still found guilty. This just shows how our justice system and the society of that era was so keyed in on racism and hate that they refused to see past a person’s skin color and instead focused on stereotypes around the person. 

Harper Lee’s novel also captured a couple different aspects of inequality of the 1950’s. In the south, post Great Depression, sharecropping was a very popular thing since small farmers were not usually able to pay for expenses alone. The Robinson’s in the novel were sharecroppers to the Ewell’s. The schools were also segregated and the novel showed that most black people did not have an education beyond the 5th grade due to this segregation. Another thing that the book highlights are hate groups against blacks that practiced multiple crimes against them, sometimes just hate and sometimes fueled by false accusations. The most commonly known was the Ku Klux Klan and they often would burn crosses or carry out murders to scare black neighborhoods or any whites that were not against black people. Each of these examples show how black people were unable to make advances within society, especially in the south, and how poor and unfair their day to day lives were. 

Knowing what I previously knew about the time period, while reading the book I was not shocked with the outcome of the trial date or the multiple discriminations that took place. The way people acted in the novel perfectly described the behavior that went on before and how it affected everyone that was involved. After reading the book I was able to truly see how racism was very prevalent in day to day comments and activities. It really opened my eyes into how crud people were and how unfair even the smallest things that took place were. I had a strange connection with Tom Robinson within the novel though. Through the lies, racism, and violence that was pointed all towards him, he knew that he could not be rude or treat any of the whites unfairly, no matter what they did to him. He stayed polite and kept his composure throughout the time leading up to his trial, and even through his trial and verdict. I respected that so much because he should have lashed out and said exactly what he thought about the teenage girl and her family. In today’s society he would be able to stand up for himself and be given a fair and equal trial. But unfortunately during those days that was just not an option. 

To Kill a Mockingbird was highly controversial when it was published due to the harsh realities of the events that took place often during that time period and the profanity used within the book. Nobody wanted to actually admit that the prejudices were due to their racism of blacks and that they themselves were racist. I found the novel to be highly interesting because even though it is 2016 and our society has made multiple steps towards the right direction, my hometown is very small and tightknit and people there are still very much stuck in the “old ways of the south.” I have experienced firsthand crud comments being made and injustices happening. It breaks my heart because in this time racism should not be an everyday thing but sadly here in the south it is still present. 

The historical context within the novel that I chose represents that time period in an unfavorable but truthful way. People do not want to remember some of the events that took place and Harper Lee forces you to relive them. The main thing that is studied in school are the court cases and their outcomes, some being a wrongful conviction of an innocent person and some being so moving that it ended segregation. The 1950’s was not the first time that racism was a huge problem in society nor was it the end of it but during that time is when people saw what was wrong with the treatment of black people and decided to try to change it. Multiple failures occurred, for example the murder of Emmett Till case and the case in To Kill a Mockingbird but multiple successes also took place. Segregation ended in 1964 and this was a huge step towards equality of whites and blacks. Today, we are able to live amongst each other like we would people of our own color. There are little to no differences seen between groups and this is a huge advancement for our country. The Civil Rights Movement will always be a memorable part of history because even though there were successes, the repercussions of the failures still linger to this day.
