To Kill a Mockingbird is the story of young Scout and her brother Jem. They live in the small southern town of Maycomb, Alabama during the time of the Great Depression. Their lives, quite calm, change significantly one day when they discover that their father, Atticus Finch, a lawyer, will defend Tom Robinson. Tom Robinson is a black man who was wrongly accused of raping a white woman. Although it is clear to almost everyone that he is not guilty, Tom is convicted by the all-white jury. At that time a Negro's word stood no chance against a white man's, no matter how repugnant and unrespected that white man was. Despite numerous changes to both society and the justice system since the 1930s, racial prejudice is no such thing.