Imagine having your life on the line because someone thinks you have committed a crime you did not commit. During the 1930s colored people were put down and were inferior to whites. Everyone was trying to find a place in society but it was made especially hard for the African Americans in this time. They were pushed to the bottom of everything and treated like nothing. In Harper Lee's very impactful book To Kill a Mockingbird, she illustrates what it was like for one black man to be pushed aside like he was nothing mainly because he was black. In her book she uses examples from real life examples from those times like: the Jim Crow laws, the effects of racism and the Scottsboro Trials.
The effects of the Jim Crow laws were very apparent in To Kill A Mockingbird. The Jim Crow laws were a system of anti-black laws. These laws were made to keep black people lower than the white people. The harsh punishments of these laws included being treated as a lower part of humanity. Being made into personal servants for the rich and white. Being segregated and pushed to use the items that were not fit or good enough for the white people. For instance, if a black man were caught drinking out of a drinking fountain designated for white people, he could risk having his house or job taken away. In some more serious cases black people could be killed (pilgrim 5). Especially in the times of the Great Depression. Everyone was trying to get jobs and money and food on the table for their families
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee showcases the racial injustices and tensions that were presented in the 1930s; since the 1930s the racial tensions have improved, but with improvement, there will always be a struggle and other circumstances that prevent complete equality from prevailing. Segregation, racism, and inequality have all been obstacles that were presented in the 1930s. Issues such as racial bias and profiling that occur not only in the south, but even in the U.S. Criminal Justice System have arisen. Although race relations and social injustices have improved since the 1930s, some issues such as racism towards citizens who are not considered white Americans have stayed similar since that time.
Jim Crow sets the guidelines for a violent mindset that will fabricate deadly culture norms. The Jim Crow laws did not directly address that a person of color like Emmett could not go into Bryants' store and supposedly "flirt" with her. It was not the law of division that allowed Carolyn's husband and brother-in-law to beat young Emmett to death, burn in his body and throw him in the river. It was the self-entitlement that white lives mattered more than blacks derived from Jim Crow laws saying the contradiction of separate but equal that allowed the killing of a 14-year-old boy on false accusations without legal implications for the murderers. There were unspoken rules and social standings that would not be tolerated anymore.
Jim Crow has affected many lives and even right now! But what reason is because of unfair trials and being guilty from thin air. During Atticus case, he had to face a “negro” named Tom Robinson who was Framed for Rape and abuse. Atticus had it in the bag, yet the judge tossed him in prison. "There's something in our world that makes men lose their heads --they couldn't be fair if they tried. In our courts, when it's a white man's word against a black man's, the white man always wins. They're ugly, but those are the facts of life." (Harper lee 220). Somehow this still keeps on going for black people
Out of all the possible effects of living Jim Crow, the diminishment of inalienable rights was the worst. To begin, African Americans were denied their natural rights they were born with. In his article, “What is Jim Crow,” David Pilgrim states one of the laws, “blacks were not allowed to show affection towards one another
Jim Crows laws was a statute created that agreed to segregation. These laws were enacted by the Southerners and the municipalities in the early 1880s. The Jim Crow saying had become so popular that any law passed in the South dealing with blacks and whites was titled under; Jim Crow. Besides all the negativity towards the blacks, the “16 black members of the Louisiana General Assembly passed a law to prevent black and white people from riding together on railroads”. Jim Crows law touched almost everything in the South; such as little things like separating black and white textile workers in South Carolina. This law was taking over the African-American’s lives tremendously. To the point where the court had ended off upholding a Mississippi
The 1920’s and 30’s were some troublesome times for many blacks living in the United States. Even though they were free men, a lot of blacks were still treated like slaves. They were subject to unfair trials, beatings, lynchings, the presumption of guilty before trial, and were also least in priority to whites. Harper Lee also shows these same acts of prejudice in her book To Kill A Mockingbird.
The most memorable effect of the Jim Crow laws is the outcome of the actions of the people both colored and white. Whites to ensure that people of color would not get into line formed groups to help keep everything in order. The most well-known group is the KKK or otherwise known as the Ku Klux Klan. The KKK was designed to show that all blacks know their place. Jim Crow Laws states, “The insidious Jim Crow caricature of the Negro became a
Have you ever wondered what really happened when the Jim Crow Laws were in effect? Well i’m going to take sometime to explain what happened and a couple of laws that were in effect that I believe were unacceptable. I will be talking about multiple laws such as the law where nurses can only help certain people, the law where barbers can only cut the hair of their race, and the law where even prisons don’t treat the prisoners the same.
The Jim Crow laws had many effects on people in their daily lives. The Jim Crow laws started a separated but not equal society. It made it look like the whites were superior and the other races especially the blacks were made to look under class. They couldn't do anything with whites and everything they had was not as nice as the whites, and a lot of time was used as a pass off. Such as water fountains the drainage from the whites would go to the blacks and that's what they would drink pretty much used water. If the blacks came anywhere close to anything the whites had, they would get it taken away or would be arrested. Take Rosa Parks as an example she tried to take a stand and sat in the front of the bus, which apparently posed as a threat
Jim Crow Laws is a system of laws splitting up the whites and the blacks. When the Jim Crow Laws were legal, they would make the African Americans and whites have entirely different water fountains, parks, waiting rooms, schools, etc. In the white schools, they had trained teachers and the right expensive school supplies all the time. On the other hand, the black schools had unqualified teachers and never had the good school supplies that needed to have to study or do there work. The laws was for all of the other races except for the Caucasians/whites.
The black citizens are being racially profiled by other races. Treated differently and acted like they are not part of society. In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, a lawyer named Atticus Finch in Maycomb Alabama has an option to help an innocent black man that is being accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell, but his family will be in danger or just drop the case but put the black man, Tom Robinson in jail. Atticus Finch’s children Scout and Jem are very intelligent from their father teaching them in their house and all of the experiences that they went through including the case. In 1930s slavery has ended but the Great Depression had begun and the black community was still being treated differently as any other person. People will be facing reality,
Throughout the 1930’s, many difficulties surrounded the United States of America, for the economy was experiencing a Great Depression and society was getting caught up in racism. During this time, African Americans were considered “less than” by their white peers, who were thought of as “superior” and were the ones to accept the unjust judgement. Racial discrimination hit very hard in the south, segregating what was believed to be the good versus the evil. For example, in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama, negroes were frequently hanged and killed due to their “gruesome” beliefs and appearances. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, characters such as Calpurnia, Atticus, and Tom Robinson were densely impacted by racial bigotry.
Jim Crow laws were laws that segregated whites and colored people. The Jim Crow laws mostly benefited the whites. The Jim Crow laws made it to where the blacks had to use separate water fountains, schools busses, bathrooms and waiting rooms. The Jim Crow laws benefited the whites in most ways and dishonored the colored. The Jim Crow laws were in effect from 1870 to 1965.
Jim Crow Laws were meant to split the blacks and whites up. Blacks could not have professional jobs. Blacks could not get a lot of education. Blacks had to drink out of a dirty water fountain. Blacks had to set at the back of the bus. Blacks were called names such as a Negro.
To Kill A Mockingbird illustrates many of the vices of the South during the 1930s, one of them being injustice, prejudice, and bias in courts. During this period, blacks weren’t given equal footing in during trials. Many blacks who were tried were given unjustifiable rulings despite sufficient evidence supporting them. Even though the people in these cases weren’t given justice, they both served as stepping stones towards a more progressive and tolerant society.