To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is one of the most successful works of fiction in American literature. Although To Kill a Mockingbird is classified as a work of fiction, there is evidence to support the claim that To Kill a Mockingbird was modeled on the Scottsboro trial of 1931. There are many parallels between the trial of Tom Robinson and the Scottsboro trial. The Scottsboro Boys were nine young African-American men falsely accused of raping two white women while riding illegally on a train in Alabama. Harper Lee was also about six years old when these trials took place. This is why Harper Lee chose to write her novel through the eyes of a six-year-old girl. The trials inspired her to write To Kill a Mockingbird. HarperVictoria Price and Ruby Bates, as the Scottsboro Boys, wandered on a freight train between Chattanooga and Memphis. The train was stopped in Paint Rock, Alabama, and the Scottsboro Boys were immediately arrested for riding the train illegally. To avoid being arrested for violating the Mann Act, both Victoria Price and Ruby Bates accused the Scottsboro Boys of raping them while aboard the train. Although both women accused the Scottsboro Boys, Ruby Bates recanted her story of the rape and ultimately served as a witness for the defense. Victoria Price, however, refused to recant her story (“Trials of Scottsboro Boys”). Price's testimony was inconsistent and evasive. He used ignorance and bad memory to avoid answering difficult questions. According to H.G. Bailey's direct examination of Victoria Price, Victoria Price was asked, "Was your back bleeding when you got to the doctor?" and Price replied, “I couldn't. For example, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863; it was not enforced in the Southern states until 1865. Regardless of the enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation, racial discrimination and segregation were still very much present. Alabama stands still, stereotypically; known as one of the most racist states in the United States today. Due to heightened racial tension, the Scottsboro Boys and Tom Robinson barely escaped lynching days before their respective trials. Almost immediately after the Scottsboro Boys were put in prison, crowds followed in protest against the Scottsboro Boys. According to Christina Bergmark, "the intervention of the National Guard was necessary to avoid a lynching." Likewise, Tom Robinson was nearly lynched by an angry white mob. Luckily the mob went home after Jean Louise Finch started asking one of the mob members, Mr. Cunningham, about her