I imagine most of Maycomb's black community probably
figured that Tom was innocent and that the charges were a sham, but there are no quotes
from the story to suggest that. I'm sure they already understand the due process of the
Alabama courts when it comes to a black man's word versus that of a white man, and few
of them probably expected Tom to walk away a free man. Nor would any of them have dared
to make any public statements that might have antagonized the white community. We do
know that Reverend Sykes took up a collection in church to help Tom's wife, and he
refused to end the service until $10 had been collected from his virtually penniless
congregation.
At the trial, Scout describes how "The
Negroes behind us whispered softly among themselves," but when Dill asked Reverend Sykes
what they were saying, the preacher told him he didn't know. After Bob Ewell described
how he caught Tom " 'ruttin' on my Mayella,' " there was "an angry muffled groan from
the colored people." As the jury debated the final verdict, Reverend Sykes gave his
opinion of Judge Taylor:
"Oh, he did right well. I ain't complainin' one
bit--he was mighty fair-minded... I thought he was leanin' a little to our
side."
But his later words
were more telling.
"I ain't ever seen any jury decide in favor of a
colored man over a white
man..."
Although no other
opinions of the trial are expressed by any of Maycomb's black citizens, they showed
their respect to Atticus by standing in unison when he left the courtroom. The next day,
Atticus's kitchen is filled with gifts of food from Tom's grateful
friends.
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