To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee-Racisim in the court of Maycomb.

Essay by slicknick88High School, 10th gradeA+, March 2004

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At this time racial discrimination was very common in the south. Many African Americans were accused and prosecuted for crimes they did not commit. Even if evidence said otherwise, the majority of the white population in the south would have rather seen a black man pay for a crime rather than a white man regardless of who committed it. Tom Robinson was subjected to this type of discrimination when he was accused of molesting a white woman by the name of Mayella Ewell in Maycomb County.

When the town sheriff Heck Tate gave his testimony Atticus asked him "Did you call a doctor?" Heck Tate replied "No sir."(pg.167). If Mayella was as brutally beaten as she claimed; the sheriff should have called a doctor to have her examined. Because there was no doctor report on how extensive her injuries actually were; Mayella and her father could have been greatly exaggerating them.

There was no evidence, just Mayella and her father as eyewitnesses and the town sheriff who had seen her injuries. Mayella and her father could have been lying about who actually beat her up. It was Tom Robinson's word against Mayella's and her father's.

After Atticus had Mr. Ewell sign his name he shouted for the whole court to hear "Mr. Ewell your left handed."(pg.180). He also pointed out that the bruises on Mayella's face were all on her right side, which meant that the person who hit her was most likely left handed. Atticus then threw a glass to Tom Robinson to show the court that he was right handed, and when Atticus asked if he could catch it with his left hand Tom told the court he could not. Tom had injured his left arm in a machine when he was a child and it was...