Scottsboro Trial In To Kill A Mockingbird

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The third influence on Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is the Scottsboro trials. The Scottsboro trials are notorious court cases in American history that structure our country today. It started with 9 African American boys riding a train. They got in a fight with a group of white men, stopping the train(Johnson). As they were getting off, two white women stated the African American boys had raped them, putting them in court(Johnson). All 9 boys were convicted in a one day trial, for a crime that never occurred(Johnson). The women later on admitted to the jury the crime never happened; they used it as an excuse to cover themselves for a crime they had committed(Johnson). However, the boys were still convicted. The Scottsboro trial can be