Although this occured during Harper's childhood, I have
heard her in interviews say that she wasn't trying to copy the Scottsboro
trials situation intentionally. It is we teachers who draw the great connection. Her
real father was a lawyer and race relations and cases were tense. The time period in
which she grew up and the location of her childhood significantly contributed to the
discussion of civil rights in this country because of the Jim Crow laws. These laws that
caused segregation meant that although slavery had been abolished, a whole new era of
racial tension broke out in America.
Lee's parents must
have been considerably adept at communicating about race for her to have produced a work
like this. Because Lee led a reclusive life and wrote very little after her hard work on
To Kill a Mockingbird, I believe she was not ready for the stardom
and the impact that came with her coming of age novel that also captured an era better
than she ever imagined. Her editors regularly gave her the work back for editing citing
that it was too episodic. Fortunately for America, it made it to press and has stood to
serve in the high school setting as a tale of good and evil, and justice and
inequity.
In terms of the Scottsboro Trials and America's
judicial system, I believe Lee's work was the straw that helped break the camel's back
so-to-speak for the Civil Rights Movement to keep gaining its momentum in the 60s. It
became a motion picture quickly after publication and one-by-one impacted public
opinion... this included lawyers and judges. Today, it serves the purpose of reminding
lawyers of their responsibility to stack up to Atticus' character and be fair. I think
it also reminds the common man to do the right thing when on a jury instead of going
with the flow.
Hope these ideas
help.
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