In the case of Maycomb, the fictional setting of To Kill a Mockingbird, things have always moved slowly and a willingness to accept change is certainly no different.
Maycomb was an old town...
People moved slowly then... A day was twenty-four hours long but seemed longer. There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go... nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County.
In the 70 years since the end of the Civil War, little had changed to alter the Southern perception that Negroes were still an inferior race. Republicans were a raritiy in Alabama, as they were throughout the South, and political and social change moved more slowly than other aspects of life. Atticus knew that Tom could not be acquitted. He tells his brother Jack that
"The jury couldn't possibly be expected to take Tom Robinson's word against the Ewells...
"Before I'm through, I intend to jar the jury a bit--I think we'll have a reasonable chance on appeal, though..."
Atticus knew his neighbors well, and he realized that Maycomb was not yet ready to accept a black man's word over that of a white man. His only hope was that somehow the equally unchanging aspect of the court system would save Tom on appeal.
"Why reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up, is something I don't pretend to understand."
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