Tom Robinson and Scottsboro Boys Similarities
- The Tom Robinson and Scottsboro cases both deal with white women accusing black men of sexual assault. For instance, Mayella Ewell accused Tom Robinson of “[taking] advantage of [her]” (Lee 188). In the Scottsboro case, Ruby Bates and Victoria Price falsely accuse nine boys of rape to escape from their fear of a vagrancy charge. Mayella Ewell blamed Tom Robinson in fear of her father. Both cases involve the situation of falsely accused rape between different races.
- The alleged rape and court cases both happen in the same state of Alabama. For example, on the subject of Tom Robinson, Atticus warns Jem about how "rape's a capital offense in Alabama" (Lee 219). The location of the cases are in the “Bible Belt” part of the South, which played a role in the reaction of the two cases. The state was known for extreme racism and hate to African Americans, creating unfair trials. Alabama provided the attitudes and attention of the cases, which was significant to the discrimatory outcomes of both.
- The accusers of each case were financially unstable with bad reputations which showed the juries an outlook of their personal lives. Firstly, Atticus questioned Mayella about her life which resulted in “The jury [learning] the following things: [the Ewells’] relief check was far from enough to feed the family, -and there was a strong suspicion that [Mr. Ewell] drank it up anyway” (Lee 183). It was important to know about the Ewell’s family life in order to reveal to the jury that the Ewells were living in complete squalor. For Victoria Price and Ruby Bates, their poorness was significant due to their previous history of prostitution and vagrancy. Their reputation was not the cleanest, creating a very contradicting point that the jury chose to ignore.
- The defendants in the cases had a disability, making the rape stories sound unbelievable. In particular, Tom Robinson stood in front of the jury and “[as he raised] his right hand, the useless one slipped off the Bible and hit the clerk’s table” (Lee 190). Robinson is clearly crippled on one arm, unable to do any harm with his left arm to Mayella's right side of the face. In the Scottsboro case, Willie Robinson can nearly walk, which makes the accusation of rape suspicious. Even though both cases proved that the African American men were most likely unable to harm a woman, the verdict was guilty.
- The whole case verdict was based off of racism. Firstly, the verdict was guilty for both of them even though it was well known that “[Mayella] struck out at her victim-of necessity she must put [Tom] away from her” (273). Even though the jury knew that Mayella was lying, they still stated that Tom was guilty. Racism drove them to this verdict. If the defendant was white, the verdict would have been most certainly not guilty.
Similarities 1-4 were written by Lauren Ordonez
Similarity 5 was written by Krys Ciardi
Similarity 5 was written by Krys Ciardi