When the Constitution was created the framers believed that all men should be created equal. Only nearly a hundred years later were African Americans freed from slavery. Even after gaining citizenship, African Americans were treated unfairly and unequally. Give or take another hundred years later, African Americans were still being blamed for people's problems and were being persecuted. In the Southern United States, people were not yet willing to fully accept African Americans into their society and this is seen in "To Kill a Mockingbird" due to the attitudes portrayed during Tom Robinson's trial. The trial was decided by a jury that was racist and unwilling to accept that things had changed; they were not willing to blame a white man for a crime, and that still happens today. This was unfair and unjust, even as an eight-year-old, Scout Finch comes to understand this (Lee 249-50). Juries in trials are allowed to have their own opinions, but are meant to keep an open mind as well as having no predetermined thoughts or ideas about the defendant or plaintiff. If they have predetermined thoughts, or have had previous ideals or actions against people like the defendant, in most cases they are excused by the lawyer or judge. At this time in To Kill A Mockingbird, the year 1935, many people in the rural South held grudges and discriminated against African Americans. Only the younger generation has truly begun to accept black and mixed people as exactly that: people and Americans. However, Atticus Finch, the father of Jeremy "Jem" and Jean "Scout", teaches his children not to discriminate and even says to his son: "If you had been on that jury, son, and eleven other boys like you, Tom he would be a free man” (Lee 223). This… middle of paper… However in a courtroom? The American people can have their own opinions, but when someone's life is determined, the equality and open-mindedness should be qualities that the jury and other decision makers have. Works Cited Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. New York, NY: Warner Books Inc., 1982. Print.Mauer, Marc and Ryan S. King. “Uneven Justice: State Incarceration Rates by Race and Ethnicity” The Sentencing Project [Washington, DC) 2007. Web. April 29, 2014. http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/rd_stateratesofincbyraceandethnicity.pdfRosenbaum, Candy. “A Typical Day of Jury” The Candy Project October 2005. Web. April 29, 2014. http://projectcandy.blogspot.com/2005/10/typically-day-of-jury-duty.htmlTrueman, Chris. Education and civil rights. 2003. Web. 28 April. 2014. http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/civil_rights_education.htm