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To Kill A Mockingbird Influences

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Harper Lee used many historical events to influence her book To Kill a Mockingbird. The Great Depression took place throughout the whole book(McCabe 12). The two words that came to play in The Great Depression were bread lines and debt(McCabe 12). Many people had to start getting free meals(McCabe 13). Many students could not even go to college(McCabe 14). In addition to the Great depression more influences were the Jim Crow laws, mob mentality, and the Scottsboro trials. The first influence on Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird are the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws was a racial caste system(Pilgrim). These laws were only used for the colored people between 1877 and 1960’s. One law was that a black man was not allowed to offer …show more content…
Racism is when a group of people or one person is discriminating a person or a group of people. In the Scottsboro Trials nine black teenage boys were supposebly proven guilty for rape(Anderson). Anderson had said even though the white women had said that they did not rape her they were still guilty. They did not have a chance what so ever. Professor Anderson had said that there lawyers were not good either, one of the lawyers was drunk. At the end they were inevitably thrown in jail. In the article Exploring the Psychological Motives of of Racism by Clay Routledge had showed that people had craved dominance. In the Scottsboro trials it was clearly shown that the white men and women were dominate over the black men and women(Routledge). Racism is also displayed in Harper Lee’s novel. When Tom Robinson was found guilty for the rape of Mayella Ewell. THe judge had proven him guilty even though the evidence pointed to Bob Ewell beating up his own daughter(Lee 280-281). The Justice system had still sentenced a man to his death for something he did not do. The Scottsboro trials was a one day trail for nine boys(Anderson). This is how the Scottsboro trials influenced Harper Lee’s

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