The origin of Tom Robinson is less clear, although many have speculated that his character was inspired by several models. When Lee was 10 years old, a white woman near Monroeville accused a black man named Walter Lett of raping her. The story and the trial were covered by her father's newspaper which reported that Lett was convicted and sentenced to death. After a series of letters appeared claiming Lett had been falsely accused, his sentence was commuted to life in prison. He died there of tuberculosis in 1937. Scholars believe that Robinson's difficulties reflect the notorious case of the Scottsboro Boys, in which nine black men were convicted of raping two white women on negligible evidence. However, in 2005, Lee stated that she had in mind something less sensational, although the Scottsboro case served "the same purpose" to display Southern prejudices. Emmett Till, a black teenager who was murdered for flirting with a white woman in Mississippi in 1955, and whose death is credited as a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement, is also considered a model for Tom Robinson. COUNT 6
QSN1 At what age was Lee when a white woman accused a black guy of rape? ANS1 10 QSN2 What was the name of the black man who was accused of rape in Lee's town when she was 10? ANS2 Walter Lett QSN3 What was the name of the black teenager that Tom Robinson was supposedly based on? ANS3 Emmett Till QSN4 Emmett Till's death sparked which political movement in the '50s? ANS4 Civil Rights Movement QSN5 What purpose did Tom Robinson's trial serve in the book? ANS5 display Southern prejudices QSN6 Who's death was a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement? ANS6 Emmett Till