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Robert Toms is the Wayne County Prosecutor at the time of the shooting of Leon Breiner. His family were abolitionists prior to the American Civil War, and he approaches his job with moral uprightness, judging his office’s performance on how well they serve the cause of justice rather than how many cases they win. But, with a shining political career ahead of him, he feels the need to prosecute the men who defended the Sweets’ house, lest he fall afoul of the white vote in the city. His assistants in the case are Ted Kennedy and Lester Moll. A few years after the Sweet trials, Toms becomes a judge and in this capacity, he proves himself a staunch supporter of civil rights. He joins the Detroit NAACP branch and is later named the lead prosecutor of Nazi war criminals in the Nuremberg Trials after the end of World War II.
Robert Toms Quotes in Arc of Justice
The Arc of Justice quotes below are all either spoken by Robert Toms or refer to Robert Toms. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 9
Quotes
When the proceedings resumed at half past nine on Thursday, November 5, the courtroom had been transformed into a tableau of American justice. On a simple bench along one wall sat the eleven defendants, Ossian and Gladys side by side on the far end, exchanging occasional whispers but otherwise watching events with grim-faced concentration. Against the opposite wall sat twelve of their peers—in name if not in fact—arranged in two neat rows of chairs set behind a low railing. Between the two groups in the well of the courtroom stood the representative of the people, the accuser facing the accused as the finest of Anglo-Saxon traditions required, a handsome young white man come to say why eleven Negroes should spend the rest of their lives in prison paying for their crimes.
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Robert Toms Quotes in Arc of Justice
The Arc of Justice quotes below are all either spoken by Robert Toms or refer to Robert Toms. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 9
Quotes
When the proceedings resumed at half past nine on Thursday, November 5, the courtroom had been transformed into a tableau of American justice. On a simple bench along one wall sat the eleven defendants, Ossian and Gladys side by side on the far end, exchanging occasional whispers but otherwise watching events with grim-faced concentration. Against the opposite wall sat twelve of their peers—in name if not in fact—arranged in two neat rows of chairs set behind a low railing. Between the two groups in the well of the courtroom stood the representative of the people, the accuser facing the accused as the finest of Anglo-Saxon traditions required, a handsome young white man come to say why eleven Negroes should spend the rest of their lives in prison paying for their crimes.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Unlock explanations and citation info for this and every other Arc of Justice quote.
Plus so much more...
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