Preview

Examples Of Jim Crow Laws In To Kill A Mockingbird

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
319 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Examples Of Jim Crow Laws In To Kill A Mockingbird
The Jim Crow Laws is a list of laws that were used in previous years in different parts of the United States of America. The law above was from the state of Georgia and it forbid marriage between races. Similar laws existed in Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s. White and black folks were separated in courtrooms, churches, and were not allowed to marry. Those who married and had mixed children were often seen as “in betweens” (Lee, 1960). The segregation faced by black people was brought to the attention of Scout and Jem Finch during different parts of the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird. During the beginning parts of the novel, Scout asked her father, Atticus, about the social hierarchy in Maycomb. He pointed out that they were towards the top, the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In the story, To Kill A Mockingbird, there is a town called Maycomb, that experiences racial prejudice, I know this because of what some of the characters say or experience.…

    • 453 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jim Crow Laws, everyone knows that they had a disastrous effect on African Americans during the 1960s, however white folks were also desegregated around that time period as well. An example of this is in the book “To kill A Mockingbird”, on page 112, it says, “Francis looked at me carefully, concluded that I had been sufficiently subdued, and crooned softly, ‘Nigger-lover…’” This chapter in the novels concerns about people mocking Scout due to the fact that her father was defending a Negro man. This supports the claim because Scout was white, nonetheless still provoked as a result of Jim Crow Laws. Alternatively, assuming that Jim Crow Laws never existed, there would be no prejudice against African Americans, causing scout not to get pestered…

    • 178 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, characters resist the status quo many of their family and friends believe in to take a stand against racial injustice. For example, Atticus takes the case to defend Tom against his family’s wishes, because if he didn't, “.... [he] couldn't hold [his] head up in town, [he] couldn't represent this county in the legislature..” (100). Scout was asking Atticus why he would defend Negroes if he wasn't supposed to, and Atticus told Scout he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he didn't accept the case.…

    • 353 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To Kill a Mockingbird, by Nelle Harper Lee, was written in 1960. During the 1960's great movements towards equality and integration were taking place, there was great social injustice towards African-Americans. This was Lee's entire plot of the book he wanted to show how even when all evidence proofed a black man innocent when his word is faced the that of a white person or person of the privileged society, he will be found guilty. In To Kill a Mockingbird Lee wrote about a black man named Tom Robinson, who has been accused of raping a very poor white girl named Mayella Ewell, when in all actuality he did nothing but help her out. She made sexual advances towards him, and as he rejected Mayella's father walked in and became outraged and began…

    • 1291 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    discrimination towards Blacks is so severe that even Atticus, Tom’s lawyer, is scolded by his…

    • 1238 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Race relations have evolved over the course of the 20 and 21 century. It seen through the book, To Kill a Mockingbird. It is also shown through famous trials such as the Scottsboro trials, the Emmett Till murder trial, the Sacco and Vanzetti trial, and the Nuremberg trials. Although it is found a lot between African Americans, race relations have evolved between other races as well.…

    • 1385 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In most societies, there are standards that help protect the citizens. However, when the standards are set by people who are prejudiced and bigoted the outcome can potentially be harmful to those whom the society deems “unacceptable” or “different”. To Kill a Mockingbird by the famed author Harper Lee is a novel that allows the audience to reflect on significant social issues and values in our society. The poem by Abel Meeropol titled Strange Fruit also reflects on the tragedy of discrimination. The novel deals with many issues that involve racial injustice, the destruction of innocence and class in the American Deep South. The poem, in just three verses, powerfully deals with the outcome of the social issue of racism in its most extreme form. The prejudice and bigotry are embedded in the social values and laws of a society. It is not until individuals and groups rally against the prejudice that change occurs.…

    • 996 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novel, the white people wanted to keep the african americans in their place. Racial issues have been around forever. It is known in american history to have started with the discrimination by the white people and the native americans all the way to the civil rights movement with the african americans. The book was published in 1960, right smack in the middle of the civil rights movement. So with the time of publishing, the book definitely follows with the era.…

    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Racism, the belief that some races are better than other races, it destroys society and it lowers one's freedom of speech, it was present in To Kill a Mockingbird from start to end. Most of the white community had a biased opinion about black people and their community,you see that when Calpurnia takes Jem and Scout to the black church because their father Atticus was away, but when they tell him about that their visit aunt Alexandra was not happy about it that there is segregation. Tom Robinson (a young innocent black man) falsely accused of raping a white girl Mayella Ewell, after him arriving at Macomb County there were some people from town that wanted to kill him before trial and later dies after the trial. Africans-American also served as slaves during that time, were given not much respect and if the white folks did not like them they would have been falsely charged and sent to jail or killed. Overall racism was active at all times in the novel and it got worse as the book proceeds and it shows how hard life was as a black person back then.…

    • 927 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Imagine a world in which the tall people gave orders to short people. In this world, tall people got the best of everything and short people essentially got their rejects. Of course, short mates with short and tall mates with tall, creating a never ending cycle. Black people experienced this every day.…

    • 835 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and, hopefully, we shall overcome.” (Rosa Parks) This quote is a very accurate representation of what life for people is like today. Yes, you heard that right. Today's society is not truly equal like it is portrayed to be. There are several authors that have written about what their life has been like, such as, How to Kill a Mockingbird, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian are all good examples of stories that portray how the world today is different, but still similar in many ways.…

    • 914 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To Kill a Mockingbird tells the story of life in the 1930’s from Scout Finch’s point of view. In any story there are problems and situations that nee to be dealt with. Atticus, being a defense attorney, shows Scout a first hand view of what really goes on in the little town of Maycomb, Alabama. This sparks her curiosity in her father’s newest case, which is Tom Robinson a middle aged black man with a wife and kids. He was arrested under the accusations of beating and raping Mayella Ewell a white female of the age of 19. Many don’t realize that segregation was beginning to heat up in the South during the 30’s, but that is the cause of tense controversy in Tom Robinson’s case.…

    • 435 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novel, racial segregation takes place all throughout the theme and plot. In Maycomb County, Alabama whites and blacks had different views of each other. For instance, "Do all lawyers defend Negroes, Atticus? Yes, of course they do Scout" (Lee 75). Another example includes, "I'm defending a Negro named Tom Robinson, and his case is peculiar. There's been some high talk around…

    • 873 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This certain law states, “The marriage of a white person with a negro or mulatto or person who shall have one-eighth or more of negro blood, shall be unlawful and void.” (Mississippi Martin Luther King Jr. National History Society SpringBoard book 197). This law is saying, when stripped down to its most basic form, that if a person who pertains to any colored race were to marry a Caucasian, their marriage would be null and void. Essentially, even if two American citizens fell in love with each other and wanted their marriage to be blessed, they would never legally belong to one another in the face of the government, which can be devastating depending on how religiously or romantically involved the interracial couple is. By confiscating the rights of colored races, the Jim Crow laws have also forced those who are white to either give up the things they love in order to conform to civilization, or to sacrifice their privileges in order to join a band of socially unequal…

    • 649 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    One of the first examples of American history influencing To Kill a Mockingbird is that of the Jim Crow Laws. The Jim Crow Laws were laws that prevented black people from being treated equally to Whites. The Jim Crow Laws mostly operated in southern and border states, from 1877 to the mid-1960’s (Pilgrim). White people in these states believed that they needed these laws, because Blacks were inferior to Whites in every way (Pilgrim). They also believed that “integration would mongrelize the White race” (Pilgrim). One punishment for not obeying these wrongful laws was that the black person would be lynched (Pilgrim). Punishments for not abiding by Jim Crow Laws almost always ended with the black person in question losing their lives (Pilgrim). In To Kill a Mockingbird, one…

    • 970 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays