To Kill a Mockingbird and the Scottsboro Nine

1. To Kill a Mockingbird and the Scottsboro Nine Ms. Robbins Ninth Grade Literature Spring 2009

2. Harper Lee (1926 - Present) • Author of To Kill a Mockingbird • A very autobiographical story • Based the character of “Scout” on herself • Both are from Alabama, are tomboys, have attorney fathers • Childhood friends with Truman Capote (author of Breakfast at Tiffany’s) who the character of “Dill” is based on • Won many awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom • Thought to have written the “Best Novel of the Century”

3. To Kill a Mockingbird • Set in the South – a “Southern Gothic” novel • Bildungsroman – coming of age story • Won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 • Adapted into an Academy Award-winning film in 1962 • Tells the story of the Finches • Atticus, the father and a prominent lawyer • Jem, the son • Scout, the daughter (based on Harper Lee) • Atticus begins handling the case of Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell • Based on the actual case of the Scottsboro Nine

4. The Scottsboro Nine • Nine black men (five of them minors) in 1931 were arrested in Scottsboro, Alabama and accused of gang-raping two white women • They were tried in Scottsboro by an all-white jury, all found guilty, and all sentenced to death by electrocution

5. Scottsboro Nine, continued • Through an effort by the Communist Party, the NAACP, and the International Labor Defense (a.k.a. the ILD, a primarily Jewish union group), the case was appealed to the Alabama Supreme Court • The court revoked its sentence on the youngest boy, 13-year-old Eugene Williams, but kept the rest of the sentences

6. Scottsboro Nine, continued • The case was brought to the United States Supreme Court • By this time, it had become apparent that the two white women were hobo women, traveling the trains, and had even been accused of being past prostitutes. • They were also found to be lying on the stand, taking back things they had said previously • One of the women, Ruby Bates, even withdrew from the case, saying that the other, Victoria Price, had encouraged her to go along with the tale

7. Scottsboro Nine, continued • The United States Supreme Court reversed all the convictions on the grounds that “due process” had not been given • Meaning, they were not given an adequate, effective attorney to help their case • After a few more trials, five boys were finally convicted, but only given prison sentences, not the death penalty, a first for the state of Alabama.

8. The Scottsboro Nine • All the Scottsboro Boys had been held in jail for six years just during the time of their trials. Four were pardoned and released. • Of the five convicted… • Haywood Patterson escaped jail, stabbed a man, was convicted, and died of cancer in jail in 1952. • Clarence Norris was paroled, jumped parole, and was found in New York in 1976. He was then granted a full pardon and died in 1989. • Charlie Weems was paroled in 1943. • Andrew Williams was paroled but returned after violating parole. He was released in 1950. • Ozie Powell was convicted for another charge of assaulting a police officer and was released in 1946.

9. Aftermath • The case established the principles that criminal defendants are entitled to effective assistance of counsel and no one can be legally excluded from a jury because of their race