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AngelaHernandez
Mrs.Pulk
HonorsEnglish5thHour9B
2May2016
DiscriminationofRaceWithintheCriminalLaw
ThedateisJanuary12th,2016.Ablackmalecoursesthroughthedoorwayofthe
courtroom.Heis18yearsold,accusedofmurder.Hehashiswholelifeaheadofhim.Hefears
hewillnotwinthiscase,becauseofthecolorofhisskin.Accordingtoanonlinesource,
in1931,afightoccurredbetweenblackandwhitemalesonafreighttrain.Thepoliceofficers
collectedall9blackmales.Twowhitefemalesaccusedthe9blackmenofgangrape.Theywere
latertriedandeightoftheninewerefoundguilty(Grimsley).Inthenovels,
ToKillA
Mockingbird
HarperLeeand
DaysOfRondo
EvelynFairbanksusedblackcharacterstoshow
discriminationinthecourtsysteminthe1930s.
Historicallensareaninsightfullenstouse,whilereadingthroughanypieceofliterature.
Accordingtoanonlinesource,thedefinitionofHistoricalTheory/Lensa"theory"about
historicaleventsandconnections(Kjeldstadli).Forexample,...onlyreasonIkeepheris
becauseofthedepression(Lee312)TheGreatDepressionwasaneventthatoccurredduring
thistimeperiod.Lookingthroughaliteraturepieceinthislens,isimportantbecauseitgivesa
betterunderstandingofthistimeperiod.Historicalevidenceincludefactsabouthistorical
circumstancesofthetime(HistoricalCriticism).AnotherreasonwhyHistoricalhasgreatuse.

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Throughtheeyesofhistoricallens,whilereadingliterature,showsabetterunderstandingofthe
timeperiodandhowthingshavechanged.
Thenovels,
ToKillAMockingbird
and
TheDaysOfRondo
haveasimilarity.Inwhich
mostthought,thattheblackmanwastheonewhocommittedthecrime.Scoutexclaimed,
Atticus,youmustbewrongAtticusreplieswith,How'sthat?Scoutresponds,Well,most
folksseemtothinkthey'rerightandyou'rewrong(Lee139).AtticusisdefendingTom
Robinson,ablackman,andeveryonedisapprovesofthis.Whichwasnotnormalorlikedupon
throughoutthattimeperiod.ExplainswhyScoutdoesnotunderstandwhyherfatherisdoing
this.Evelynwrote,Hepleadednotguiltytofirstdegreemurder.Butthejurythought
otherwise(Fairbanks173).Anotherexampleofhowtherewasdiscriminationinthe1930s
againstAfricanAmericans.AfricanAmericanswerediscriminatedgreatly,incourt.Although
manyhadagreatamountofreasonintheirfavor,peoplecouldnotgetpastthecoloroftheir
skin.
Thenovels,
ToKillAMockingbird
and
TheDaysOfRondo
haveafewdifferences
broughtthroughoutthetwo.One,sadlybeingthatthefatesofTomRobinsonandMorrisdidnot
enduptobethesame.Scoutoverheardhow,Tomsdeathwastypical.Typicalofaniggerto
cutandrun(Lee322).TomRobinsonwasshotinprison.Eventhoughhewasinnocentand
evenafterbeingshot,therewasstillremarksabouthim.Abouthimbeingablackman.Evelyn
stated,...Morriswalkedoutofthestateprisononatlifetimeparole(Fairbanks173).
ContrarytoTom,Morriswalkedoutofprisonunharmed.Althoughhewasputonparole,hestill
foundaway


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toprovesomeinnocenceamonghim.Althoughthefatesofthetwoweredifferent,theywere
bothstilldiscriminatedover.Whetherdeadoralive.
Throughoutthisresearchpaper,HarperLeeandEvelynFairbanksshowedthe
discriminationofAfricanAmericansinthecourtsystemofthe1930s.ShowninHarperLees,
ToKillAMockingbird
intheperspectiveofalittlewhitegirl.Also,shownthroughEvelyn
Fairbanks
TheDaysOfRondo
intheperspectiveofablackgirl.Theblackmale,thatwas
broughtupbefore,awaitshisverdict.Muchwitnesseswerebroughttothestandinhisfavor.Yet
thatwasnotenough.Achillrunsdownhisspineasheisfoundguilty.Thismaynotbethe
1930s,butdiscriminationofraceisstillhere.

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WorksCited
Edwin,Grimsley.AfricanAmericanWrongfulConvictionsThroughoutHistory
innocenceproject.org
MADEO,February282013.Web.3May2016.
Fairbanks,Evelyn.
TheDaysOfRondo.
St.Paul:MinnesotaHistoricalSocietyPress,1990.
Print.
HistoricalCriticism.Britannica.com.EncyclopdiaBritannica,2016.Web.3May2016.
Kjeldstadli,Knut.Researchtopic:Historicaltheoryandmethod.
hf.uio.no
ManagerEditorHF,
March52013.Web.3May2016.
Lee,Harper.
ToKillAMockingbird.
NewYork:GrandCentralPublishing,1960.Print.