To Kill A Mockingbird and the Scottsboro Boys Trial: Profiles in Courage

Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird highlights instances of heroism and courage in a small Alabama town riddled with the poverty and racial tensions characteristic of the south in 1935. The novel focuses on the Finch family over the course of two years—lawyer and father Atticus Finch; his ten-year-old son, Jem; and his six-year-old daughter, Jean Louise, aka Scout. Scout serves as the narrator of the book; her narration is based on her memories of the events leading up to, during, and after her father’s defense of a black man, Tom Robinson, accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell. Through Scout’s inexperienced eyes (she is only eight at the conclusion of the novel), the reader encounters a world where people are judged by their race, inherited ideas of right and wrong dominate, and justice does not always prevail. Through the novel, Lee strives to illustrate the racial climate of the South in the 1930s, a time when Jim Crow was the law of the land, racial segregation was entrenched, and mob rule could chew up and spit out the individual.

By observing Atticus Finch’s responses to the threats and gibes of the anti-Tom Robinson faction and his sensitive treatment towards Tom Robinson and his family and friends, the reader—again through Scout’s eyes—discovers what it means to behave morally—to do the right thing—in the face of tremendous social pressure. By observing her father, Scout gradually discovers that moral courage is both more complicated and more difficult to enact than the physical courage most familiar and understandable to children.

In short, To Kill A Mockingbird reveals the heroic nature of acting with moral courage when adhering to social mores would be far less dangerous. At a time in the South when it was outrageous and practically unthinkable for a white person to look at the world from a minority’s perspective, Harper Lee has Atticus explain to Scout: "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view—until you climb into his skin and walk around in it" (36); for Atticus Finch, climbing into someone’s skin and walking around in it represents true courage.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.3. Analyze how and why individuals, events, or ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.4. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.5. Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.6. Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.9. Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.

• Review the lesson plan. Locate and bookmark suggested materials and other useful websites. Download and print out documents you will use and duplicate copies as necessary for student viewing.
• In preparation for student activities, download the chart worksheets on the trial participants and Mockingbird characters, available here as PDFs, which will help students frame the attributes and development of characters in the novel. Print out and make an appropriate number of copies of any handouts you plan to use in class.
• Note: This lesson plan has a companion lesson—Profiles in Courage: Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird—that teachers should complete before beginning this one. A related lesson—Scottsboro Boys and To Kill A Mockingbird:Two Trials for the Classroom—is available for an interdisciplinary approach that complements social studies and civics education. 

Activity 1. Introduction to the 1931 Scottsboro Trial

Students should read the eight-page "REPORT ON THE SCOTTSBORO, ALA. CASE" made by Miss Hollace Ransdall for the American Civil Liberties Union on May 27, 1931. Miss Ransdall, a teacher and a social activist, was invited by the American Civil Liberties Union to investigate the first of the Scottsboro Boys trials in 1931 and its aftermath. She traveled throughout northern Alabama and southern Tennessee interviewing as many individuals she could who had been involved in (namely the accusers, Ruby Bates and Victoria Price), or who had observed first hand, the case. For this activity students should compare Miss Ransdall’s point of view of the Scottsboro Boys Trial with that of Scout’s view of Tom Robinson’s trial, chapters 18-20. Both accounts are in first person. How does Miss Ransdall’s adult point of view of a rape case—examined second hand—compare with Scout’s first-hand, child’s point of view of Tom Robinson’s case? Does one narration have strengths that the other does not have? Do any of Miss Ransdall’s observations stand out as being courageous in their honesty for the time in which they were made? Do any of Scout’s observations about her father highlight his own moral courage? Does her reference to him as Atticus emphasize his role as a moral arbiter?

Activity 2. Chronology of the Scottsboro Trials 1931–1937

See Linder’s website for comparing the length of time the Scottsboro Trials took with that of Tom Robinson’s trial in To Kill A Mockingbird. What does the fact that Haywood Patterson was tried 4 times say to you about the trial itself and the participants involved? Compare his treatment in the trials with Tom Robinson’s treatment in his trial. What does the reader’s perception of the relative speed of Tom Robinson’s conviction suggest about the jury? How does our perception compare with Atticus’ belief that the length of the jury deliberation was actually a victory of sorts?

Activity 3. Comparing History and Fiction

Haywood Patterson—Tom Robinson; Victoria Price & Ruby Bates—Mayella Ewell; Judge Horton—Atticus Finch.

Using the Douglas Linder website students should read the biographical information of Haywood Patterson, Victoria Price, Ruby Bates, and Judge Horton. Students should also read the court transcripts for Patterson, Price, and Bates along with Judge Horton’s "Warning to Potential Lynchers" and his "Instructions to the Jury on April 8, 1933" from the second trial of Haywood Patterson, Alabama vs. Patterson, March-April 1933.

Download and distribute the PDF charts. On chart 1, students should, in column 2, note of these historical characters’ distinguishing traits, and in columns 3 and 4 instances of courage or cowardice. On chart 2, students should describe the similarities or differences they find between the historical and fictional characters of To Kill A Mockingbird especially in terms of courage: Haywood Patterson and Tom Robinson; Victoria Price and Mayella Ewell, and Ruby Bates and Mayella Ewell; Judge Horton and Atticus Finch. In what ways does a fictional account of courtroom drama differ from a more historical account?

Activity 4. Prosecution and Defense Summations

Students should read the three ("Excerpts from Summations") and consider the following questions:

• What do the prosecutors’ closing arguments reveal about race relations in the south in 1933?
• Is the defense’s summation persuasive or not? What does the defense reveal about race, regional, and religious views in 1933 America?
• How does the summation compare to Atticus’ summary?

Essay Assignment:

Choose one of the following essay topics [best if used in conjunction with or at completion of Lesson Two].

Topic 1. Discuss the various types of courage manifested in To Kill A Mockingbird and (if students have completed Lesson Two) in the Scottsboro Trials

Or

Topic 2. Based on your readings of an actual court case (The Scottsboro Trials), does Atticus Finch’s courageous defense of Tom Robinson seem realistic or overly idealistic? Explain.

Research Assignment

Research another fictional or historical account of courage in relation to the Civil Rights movement (examples: Emmett Till’s mother’s insistence that his lynched body be displayed to the world; Rosa Parks’ refusal to move to the back of the bus). What actions taken were courageous? What were the circumstances that shaped the courageous act? Students might write a report about the event, or for a creative writing exercise, they might write a fictional account based on the research.

Watch the movie version of To Kill a Mockingbird. Tell the students that the American Film Institute polled Americans for whom they considered the top 50 heroes in American film, and Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch won!

• Does the movie make the theme of moral courage more clear?
• What do the students think of Gregory Peck’s performance as Atticus? Do they concur with the AFI poll?
• Does the film capture the content and mood of the novel? How so?

Selected EDSITEment Websites

We Shall Overcome: Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement

• Douglas O. Linder’s summary and reference material on the trials of "the Scottsboro Boys."

American Film Institute

• Atticus Finch number 1? AFI's Top 50 heroes and top 50 villains ATTICUS FINCH OF "TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD" PROCLAIMED #1 HERO; "Deeply principled and idealistic attorney Atticus Finch (portrayed by Gregory Peck), from TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, was chosen as the greatest hero in 100 years of film history."