When Scout complains about her teacher, Atticus tells her that "if you can learn one simple trick, Scout, you'll get along just fine with everyone "types of people. You will never truly understand a person until you consider things from their point of view…until you get under their skin and walk in it” (Lee 33). In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch teaches his daughter moral values ​​as she prepares to defend a black man, Tom Robinson, who has been accused of raping a white woman. Harper Lee was influenced by court cases based on black racial prejudice. One such case was the 1931 Scottsboro Trial, in which nine African American males were falsely accused of raping two white women while on a train to Memphis. The trial began on April 6, 1931 and lasted only three days. Eight of the nine boys were convicted and sentenced to death. Since the Scottsboro Boys' first trial was appealed, it was sent to the Alabama Supreme Court and then to the United States Supreme Court. The Court ordered new trials because the Scottsboro defendants had not had adequate legal representation. (Gerdes 250). The case against one of the boys, Haywood Patterson, began in Decatur, Alabama, on March 27, with Judge James Horton presiding. During this trial one of the white girls, Ruby Bates, stated that she had not been raped while two doctors concluded that the girls had not been raped either. On April 9, 1933, the first defendant, Haywood Patterson, was sentenced to execution, but Judge Horton ordered a new trial because the evidence did not justify the conviction. Even though the novel is fictional and the court case is real, Tom Robinson's trial in To Kill a Mockingbird and the Scottsboro Boys trial were similar... middle of paper... Johnson, Claudia Durst. “Speech by Judge James E. Horton.” Understanding how to kill a thrush. Greenwood Publishing, Inc. Web. February 16, 2011. Lee, Harper. To kill a thrush. New York: Warner Books, 1982. Print.Linder, Douglas O. “Judge James E. Horton.” UMKC School of Law. 1999. Network. 24 February 2011. .Gerdes,Louise I.,ed. The 1930s. San Diego, California: Greenhaven, 2000. 246-60. Stampa.Napoli, Tony, ed. “The Scottsboro Court Case: A Nightmare That Never Ends.” Our century, 1930-1940. Milwaukee: Gareth Stevens Pub., 1993. Print.Weiner, Mark S. Black Trials: Citizenship from the Beginning of Slavery to the End of Caste. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004. Print. This part of the book is titled Uplift the Race, 1903-1970 and contains the trial of the Scottsboro Boys, Alabama, 1931.