Atticus on the Negroes' thank-you:
"The kitchen table was loaded with enough food to bury the family: hunks of salt pork, tomatoes, beans, even scuppernongs. Atticus grinned when he found a jar of pigs knuckles. 'Reckon Aunty'll let me eat these in the dining room?'
Calpurnia said,' this was all 'round the back steps when I got here this morning. They- they 'preciate what you did, Mr. Finch. They- they aren't oversteppin' themselves, are they?'"
Scout sees the table the day after the trial-213
They gave me all this-just for trying. The Negroes barely have anything, yet they still found food to give me. I know I accomplished something, but Tom isn't free again, but now he's in prison. I appreciate what they did so much, but times are too hard. It goes to show their character. They are grateful people. They say thank-you when it's due. They aren't bad people; they are people, not the animals that so many whites think them to be. Why the whites haven't realized that is incomprehensible to me. The only difference between whites and blacks are the skin colors. We are both human. But whites don't get thrown in jail even when their defense is clearly the better choice. Simply put its racism. If I hadn't taken this case, I wouldn't have been able to think for the rest of my life, my conscience would have been so heavy on my mind. I gave Tom what I could; protection and a lawyer who aimed to defend him.