The Scottsboro Trial

Tom Robinson and the Scottsboro Boys: Victims of a Racist Society in the 1930s

It is shocking how a country has the audacity to proclaim an innocent person guilty while knowing the truth. People are so suddenly blinded by their biased opinions and can’t seem to accept the truth. This is shown in the The Scottsboro Trials, which was a series of trials that involved nine Negro boys that were accused of raping two white women. The trial was actually a false allegation, of which the two white women were at fault. Furthermore, in the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the character Tom Robinson had a case that was very similar. Tom was accused of raping a white woman, but he was falsely accused as well. Both cases have many things alike.
The Scottsboro boys were all accused of raping two white women when they actually were just riding a freight train. They had one of the best criminal lawyers at that time period, but didn’t win the tedious case. The boys and lawyers fought hard to win, but there were many barriers in the way. The barriers included a bias based on their skin color and their handicapped appearance. When the boys were put to trial, the world was in a state of extreme racial turmoil. Many were for racism; however, many were opposed to the idea. Everyone on the case was narrow-minded, which was very unfortunate for the boys. The fact that the boys were Negroes gave them a disadvantage at actually winning the case. That was very unfair because regardless of their color, they were still innocent. Also, the 12 jurors from the case, which included everyday people, were all white. Equally important, the Scottsboro boys had gone against an all-white jury in the trial, which was a violation of their right of equal protection under law. On the other hand, the boys didn’t have a great physical appearance. For instance, one of the boys, Willie Robeson had suffered from syphilis and Olin Montgomery was nearly blind. Their outer appearance was used as an excuse in court, that they “looked” like rapists. That was also a detriment towards the defense. Even though, the boys had Leibowitz, one of the best lawyers at the time, they lost the case. All
They both didn’t have a clean background. Both girls were hard labourers, who also traded sexual pleasures with both white and black men for money. Victoria Price had also served time for adultery and vagrancy. At that time, what they did went against segregation, but they still had the audacity to accuse nine negro boys of raping them. On March 25th of 1931, both Victoria and Ruby had claimed they were raped by nine Negro boys in a freight train. It was as clear as day, that both of the girls had lied, but nobody admitted it. When both women were taken to trial and being questioned, they didn’t know how to defend themselves and state the evidence clearly. At the end of the trial there was no real proof that Victoria Price and Ruby Bates were raped by nine Negro boys. Both girls were accusing the boys of raping them because they were covering up all the crimes they had committed. At the trial, they just kept making things up and getting frustrated just like Mayella Ewell did during her trial. Mayella Ewell, also incriminated Tom Robinson of raping her with no real evidence. Mayella was beaten up and she was abused but it wasn’t by Tom it was by her father. Mayella Ewell had actually invited Tom Robinson into her house, and lied saying she had something for him to do in her house. Actually she was just trying to trap Tom in her house so she could take advantage of him. This is very similar to how