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 Great Depression era. Their rather uneventful lives are significantly changed one day when they learn that their father, Atticus Finch, a lawyer, will defend Tom Robinson. Tom Robinson is a black man unjustly accused of raping a white woman. Although it is clear to almost everyone that he is not guilty, Tom is found guilty by the all-white jury. At that time, the word of a black man had no chance against that of a white man, no matter how loathsome and disrespected that white man was. Despite the many changes in society and the justice system since the 1930s, racial prejudice is not a reality.