To Kill a Mockingbird

Courage Always Wins

"But there is one way in this country in which all men are created equal—there is one human institution that makes a pauper equal of a Rockefeller, the stupid man the equal of an Einstein, and the ignorant man the equal of any college president. That institution, gentlemen, is the court” (Lee, 274). Throughout the Civil Rights movement African Americans were treated irrational, unfair, and unequal to White Americans. But there should have been a way that all men were created equal in the courtroom and in their everyday lives. Throughout the Southern Gothic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch, a respectable man throughout the county of Maycomb, Alabama and a single father raises his two kids, Scout and Jem with wisdom of equality during a time where the color of a person's skin determined whether he was equal to the rest of humankind. The Civil Rights Movement was an horrible time for African American Community because of how poorly they were treated. They were mistreated with violence such as fighting, killing, and taking advantage of in sexual ways without punishment to the person who inflicted such cruel things. Atticus’ lessons could be applied to the people in the Civil Rights Movement like Rosa Parks with Bus Boycotts and Asa Philip Randolph with marches such as The March on Washington. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Atticus teaches how to have moral courage, always do whats right, and consider things from other people's point of view, which could all be applied to civil rights events.

The bus boycotts shared values with many of Atticus’ lessons like having moral courage, always doing the right thing, and being unstoppable. Throughout the novel Atticus stressed the importance of having moral courage to conquer a problem when a hard obstacle was set in front of a person. An obstacle of inequality was set in front of African Americans throughout the 1960s. This challenge was as simple as African Americans not being able to sit where they chose on a public bus. According to the article “Rosa Parks Biography”, that Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on December 11, 1955 because of the color of her skin. Finding the courage to stand up against something that she believed was right, but others believed was wrong was Rosa Parks’ way of tackling a difficult problem. Atticus taught his kids that even if there is a difficult problem that arises, one must attack that problem with courage even if they know they are not going to get the result they were looking for when the problem was confronted. Atticus once said, “ I wanted you to see what real courage is… It’s when you know you're licked before you begin… ” (Lee, 149). Atticus also sheds light on why people always have to do the right thing for the moral good of humanity and because the good in one person can have an impact on the wrong around them. Rosa Parks decided to make the right choice and do what was right for herself and the African American community even though it was viewed as wrong towards most of White Americans during that time. Rosa Parks courage to stand up against what was wrong led to her being “... arrested that day for violating a city law requiring racial segregation of public buses” (Bredhoff). Rosa Parks decision of doing the right thing impacted her community by allowing them to realize that it was admissible to stand up for what is right which lead to more people getting involved with protests. In the novel, Atticus chose to defend Tom Robinson which was the right thing to do. Before the trail, he was asked why he was defending a black man, since he was not supposed to and his response was,that he had to or he “ I [he] couldn't hold up my [his] head in town… ” (Lee, 100). Much like Atticus, Rosa Rosa did what was morally right to effect change in her community. Atticus based most of his actions and decisions off imagining the things from another's person's point of view, trying to understand their position and feelings. Similarly, Rosa Parks’ courageous step in refusing to not give up her seat and getting arrested for it, brought light to a situation requiring courageous people to attack the problem and open a perfect window for change. After she got arrested for something that was considered incorrect, an organized bus boycott was formed to try to end discrimination according to the article “An act of Courage”. Rosa Parks refusing to give up even though failure was predicted is a trait modeled by Atticus and applied by Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks doing the right thing lead to to her and many others not giving up while fighting for 381 days until the supreme court , “... ordered Montgomery to integrate bus systems… ” (Montgomery Bus Boycott). Atticus defended Tom Robinson with moral courage through the whole trail, even though he knew he already lost before he began but never gave up; this was because he considered things from Tom Robinson