Today, in the United States, people are not punished for the color of their skin, back in the 1930s, a person’s race was taken into consideration when in court. There are many instances of racism in both trials, which impacted the outcome. The Scottsboro Trial consisted of two white girls and a group of black youths. 21 year old Victoria Price and 17 year old Ruby Bates were on a train ride back to their hometown, Huntsville, with a group of seven white boys. A group of 12- 15 black youths were said to have joined the train and, later, a white boy, stepped on Haywood Patterson, a black male’s hand, and a brawl erupted which caused the white boys to be driven out. After this, the white girls claimed that they were raped, each by six black males. …show more content…
In the book, Mayella framed a black man because she had tempted him, while in the Scottsboro Trials, Victoria and Ruby framed the black youths, not because they provoked the black youths, but because they wanted to clear their own name. In the Scottsboro Trial, Ruby Bates, after not appearing for months, confesses Victoria’s motives to the court. Ruby declares that Victoria had told her to “frame up a story” to avoid morals change (Linder, “The Trial of the Scottsboro Boys”). Whereas in Mayella Ewell’s case, she frames Tom to avoid being scrutinized by the public because she was the one that provoked a black man. “She was white and she …show more content…
One reason why their testimonies were doubted was because of their sketchy backgrounds. Because of their backgrounds, they were not respected by their community and, therefore, they were not trusted. Before the Scottsboro trials, both Victoria and Ruby worked at the Margaret Mill and they grew up lacking a father figure, something that brought shame to their families. Also, Victoria was said to be a prostitute and Ruby lived among Negroes (Ransdall). In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout is deceived by Mayella’s appearance, but then sees the true Mayella, “… she seemed somehow fragile looking, but when she sat facing us in the witness chair she became what she was, a thick- bodied girl accustomed to strenuous labor”(Lee 239). All three of the girls’ skin color also affected the outcome of the trials, they were all privileged white ladies, for that reason, the jury belived whatever they said. One of the black youths accused of rape, disclosed his thoughts saying, “ I knew if a white woman accused a black man of rape, he was as good as dead” (Linder, “Famous Trials”). This man knew he had little hope of winning the trial, like Atticus in To Kill a Mockingbird. Attics knew that Mayella had the upper hand in this case because of her skin color, about this he says, “She is the victim of cruel poverty and ignorance, but I cannot pity her: she is white.
The Scottsboro Trials were the trials against nine young African American men who were falsely accused of the rape of two white women in Scottsboro, Alabama. The men were Charlie Weems, Ozie Powell, Clarence Norris, Olen Montgomery, Willie Roberson, Haywood Patterson, Eugene Williams, Andrew Wright, and Leroy Wright. On a freight train, March 25, 1931, a fight began between a group of people of white and black race. After the altercation the train made a stop in Scottsboro to turn some of the people involved in the fight into police custody. During this stop two prostitutes (Victoria Price and Ruby Bates) were found and were about to face prostitution charges. Several sources claim that police officials forced the women to lie and others say
In Maycomb, Alabama, Mayella Ewell accused an African American man, Tom Robinson with allegations of rape. Mayella was powerful back in the 1930 because of the Jim crow laws, considering that she was a white woman. Although Mayella was so poor that she lived behind the town dump. Mayella was just about as poor as the African Americans, it quotes “White people wouldn't have anything to do with her because she lived among the pigs.” ("DBQ: Is Mayella Powerful?" 21). That explains that Mayella could not afford to live and also have many of the things she wanted. On the other hand, Mayella was an white woman going to court against an African American man.
Unfortunately sometimes a disastrous situation must occur for changed to take place. The Scottsboro trials can be a great example of just that. On March 25, 1931 nine young black men ranging in ages from twelve to twenty were arrested and were convicted of allegedly raping two women on a freight train traveling from Alabama to Tennessee. Accused by two white women Victoria Price and Ruby Bates the men were brought to trial. The trials lasted up to almost six years and were named The Scottsboro Trials. It can be said that the trials were prominent and necessary to take place to shape the future lives for the African American people.
Mayella Ewell has just accused Tom Robinson of rape in a little town of Alabama called Maycomb. Mayella is a white teenaged female while Tom is a black male. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper will display if Mayella has power or no power related to her trial, with the help of class, race, and gender.
In the Scottsboro Case, there are nine black teenage boys that were falsely charged as rapists. The court case ended with a judgment against nine black teenage boys who were accused of raping two white women (Ruby Bates and Victoria Price), (Sandbox Networks, Inc., 2015). Two groups of men were traveling on the train a group of whites and a group of blacks. The white men attempted to force the black men off the train. The white men reported to the sheriffs that they were attacked by nine black men. Two women on the train falsey accused the black men of rape. All but one of the black men were sentenced to death for the crime (Wormser, 2002).
The Scottsboro Boys were nine African American teenagers accused of raping two White American women on a train in Alabama in 1931. These were landmark legal cases due to this incident dealing with racism and the right to a fair trial. The cases included a lynch mob before suspects had even been indicted, all-white juries, rushed trials, and hostile disruptive mobs. It is often regarded as a grave example of a miscarriage of justice in the U.S. legal system.
One of the women even confessed that the two were not raped but instead made a false lie due to fear of being caught because they were prostitutes. In the short article called,” Historical Context: The Scottsboro Trials” is stated,” …local judge James Horton effectively overturned the conviction of the jury and, in a meticulous analysis of the evidence that had been presented, ordered a new trial on the grounds that the evidence presented did not warrant conviction” (Johnson). This excerpt informs readers that the Judge had told the plaintiff that there was not enough sufficient evidence to support the conviction. The similarities between To Kill a Mockingbird and the Scottsboro trial are uncanny. The book only had one accuser and one black boy on trial unlike the Scottsboro boys where nine African American men were on trial.
Ruby Bates decided to confess the truth about her story to the courtroom officials. An example of the evidence of the truth is when “Bates said that there was no rape that none of the defendants touched her or even spoke to her and the accusation of rape was made afar Price told her to ‘frame up a story’ to avoid moral changes” (Linder, “The Scottsboro Boys”). Lee shows evidence of the truth by describing that “Atticus tried to show that Mr. Ewell could beat up Mayella ... If Mayella was mostly beaten on the right side of the face, it would tend to show that a left-handed person did it” (Lee 238). The defendants showed proof of not being able to have raped the female(s) by presenting truthful evidence. Besides the fact about Tom Robinson’s arm, Bob Ewell took the money Mayella and the family received from the relief checks and drank it up anyway stating “he sometimes went off in the swamp for days and came home sick.” Which can only reveal his negative drunken actions that can be an explanation for Mayella’s bruises. (Lee 244). There was physical evidence that showed the truth such as when “Dr. R. R. Bridges ‘examined the girls less than two hours after the alleged rapes’ and became a prostitute witness.” Also, “The semen that Bridges examined was non-motile, even though sperm generally live from twelve to forty-eight hours after intercourse.” (Linder, “The Scottsboro
April 6, 1931, the trials for the Scottsboro boys begin(Uschan 16). The boys were represented by Milo C. Moody and Stephen Roddy who were only given twelve days to prepare for the trials. Stephen was and unpaid, unprepared real estate attorney, and Milo was a forgetful seventy year old local attorney who hadn’t tried a case in a long time (“San Marcos” line 13). The trails were completely unorganized and false information was stated throughout the whole thing. The cross examination of Victoria Price lasted minutes and the defense offered very little information to the judge. Six out of the nine boys ended up denying the rape while 3 admitted to it. Even though the three men didn’t rape the women, because of beatings and threats, they admitted to the gang rape. By the time the trail had ended 8 out of the 9 boys were convicted and sentenced to death. Since one of the Scottsboro boys was only thirteen, he was considered too young to be tried as an adult (“UMKC” par. 6-7).
According to American history, prejudice is shown through the courtroom’s jury when making decisions to send the alleged African Americans to jail. On March 24, 1931, nine African American lives were jeopardized with the false accusations of rape that further scrutinizes the nation’s controversial look upon justice. Referring to Abigail Thernson and Henry Fetter when talking about The Scottsboro Trials it states, “Represented by unprepared out of date counsel who had no more than a half an hour consult
In 1931 the Scottsboro Boys (9) were accused of rape by Victoria Price and Ruby Bates. The accident happens on a train going to Chattanooga and Memphis, Tennessee. When the boys got into the fight with the two white men the chargers were atomically changed to rape. This happens because the Scottsboro deputies found two white women and pressure them to accuse the boys of rape. Most of the boys left school in elementary and worked to help their family to survive so you could imagine what happened to those families who didn't have anyone to support them. Nothing happens to Victoria Price or Ruby Banks. In 1936 Prosecutors told Price that she could retract her charges on four of boys out of 9 then she wouldn't be charged with perjury. But she refuses the offer. Price was a prostitute and she had sexual activities with Jack Tiller two days before charges. Ruby Banks, she was also a prostitute she eventually told the truth she said she was sorry for those boys and the pain she caused them. And she also said she did it because she was scared of the Scottsboro ruling table. The Scottsboro Boys were falsely accused some were lucky to be released from charges but some were not. There was lack of evidence, they found to prove they were innocent, the girls were prostitutes, Willie Roberson had a serious case of Syphilis and couldn't leap to railroad cart to railcard but he still spent 6 years in prison, the girls also had a poor
Victims, Victoria Price and Ruby Bates, displayed no signs of gang rape, including bruises, emotional distress, or open wounds. The nine boys were arrested and tried twelve days after the allegation. Because they could not be tried individually nor all together, groups of two and three from the nine were tried at a time. Six out of the nine boys claimed the event of rape never took place while the other three hesitantly agreed that the event took place due to the threats they had received (Linder). Consisting of four trials, the lawsuit resulted in the conviction and death sentences of seven of the boys. Roy Wright and Eugene Williams, the youngest of the convicted boys—at the ages of twelve and thirteen, respectively—were not given death sentences due to their young age and inability to be tried as adults. Months after the conviction, alleged victim Victoria Price admitted to fabricating the dispute to cover her violation of the Mann Act (Linder): a law that prohibits the interstate transportation for the purpose of prostitution (PBS). The Scottsboro Boys’ lawsuit draws similarities to the litigation Atticus defends in the novel. An all-white jury judged each of the four litigations belonging to the case, resulting in an indisputable bias among them all. Bias of an all-white jury parallels to the Robinson v. Ewell dispute due to the faulty conviction of an innocent, African American man. The presence of the all-white jury led to a bias in the results and continued to exist throughout the 1950s and 1960s as all-white juries remained in effect for crimes with African American
This caused many rallies, riots, peaceful protest. This case informs us now because it also tells us how bad they were treated back then, the people believed the girls because they were white, and mostly overlooked the boys because they were black. So to end this long unfair trial, they were cleared.The latter mentioned in the book To kill a Mockingbird, by author Harper lee.
There were several trials held throughout the case of the Scottsboro Boys. Most of them were unfair and obviously conducted with the odds stacked against the boys. The testimonies given by the two girls often did not match up. Victoria Price spent the most time on the stand, and on the rare occasion that Ruby Bates testified, most of what she said was disregarded because it contradicted or changed Price’s story. It was concluded that anything Bates said was no good because she was dimwitted and could not keep her story straight.
During the trial of the Scottsboro boys, the people on the boys side were making death threats against Lebowitz, who was cross examining Victoria Price. Though when the verdict of being guilty was read, Lebowitz was stunned he had lost this one. Lebowitz was dedicated to the trial as it seems, but no doubts that Atticus was far more dedicated and somewhat emotionally involved. Although Finch was emotionally involved, he was not as stunned as Lebowitz as Robinson was announced guilty. Samuel and Atticus do have hard jobs to defend black males accused of rape against white women, but what makes the cases different is the evidence between both. Evidence was key when Tom was accused of raping Mayella, because she had visible injuries to