The Trial of the Scottsboro Boys

As you have read in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Tom Robinson went through a horrific experience when he was unjustly accused of rape by Mayella Ewell.  Would you be surprised to find that something like this really did happen in the 1930's?  Many think that Lee based Tom's trial on the trial of the Scottsboro Boys which took place when she was a small child.  The coincidence is intriguing.  Now it is up to you to decide if the two trials are similar enough for this to be true.