Essay On Jim Crow Laws In To Kill A Mockingbird

Jim Crow laws show inequalities and unfairness, and they contrast against Atticus’s ideas from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Now, let's talk about Atticus Finch's

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is set in the sleepy, southern Maycomb, Alabama. A small town in the grips of 1930’s depression, To Kill a Mockingbird spans a period of three years following young Scout Finch and her family through their experiences with racism and prejudice. Jim Crow laws were a series of ordinances the prevented equal treatment of African-Americans. Beginning with the end of Reconstruction in 1877 and remaining in effect until the Civil rights movement of the 1950s, Jim Crow laws governed where colored people could live, work, eat, enter and exit a building, and use public services. “Jim Crow laws grew from theories of white supremacy and were a reaction to Reconstruction,” explained Andrew Costly of the Constitutional Rights Foundation, “In the depression-racked 1890s, racism appealed to whites who feared losing their jobs to blacks.” Ensuring that freed slaves remained weak and inferior, Jim Crow laws revoked black freedom’s and crippled their rights. And while not explicitly stated, evidence of Jim Crow Laws appears methodically throughout To Kill a Mockingbird. Strongly influenced by elements of racism, the story paints a vivid picture of life in the era of Jim Crow, for both colored and white.

In this quote Atticus gets angry at Scout for saying the word "nigger" and told her not to say it anymore even though everyone at school says it like a normal word. Once Atticus explains this to Scout, it shows that he thinks differently of the blacks then everyone else in Maycomb, Alabama and might foreshadow if people will dislike the Finch’s for helping the blacks.

The first influence on Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws are laws that were set to restrict Blacks, these laws were considered a way of life (Pilgrim). People thought that these laws were necessary because craniologists, eugenicists, phrenologists, and Social Darwinists at every level believed that Blacks were intellectually inferior (Pilgrim). Punishments would be dealt out for any reason, such as breaking Jim Crow laws, and alleged criminal offenses (Pilgrim). Some typical punishments were physical beatings and lynchings. The Jim Crow laws are seen throughout To Kill a Mockingbird. One Jim Crow law mandated Whites did not have to use courtesy titles when referring to Blacks. Thus

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.

In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee segregation plays a huge role throughout the story. The Jim Crow Law also lay along these lines too. The Jim Crow Laws were laws that legalized segregation between blacks and whites. In Harper Lee’s book black and white people are often separated.

In to Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Jim Crow laws supported segregation and racist attitudes in Maycomb County Alabama.

In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, many minor themes are present such as gender and age. However, the largest and therefore major theme of the book is racism. All of the events and themes in the book had only one purpose, to support the theme of racism.

That’s common’” (Lee 75). Scout was not really interested in what her father was doing as a job. Until she got all these questions from her classmates asking her if her father defended niggers, she decided to ask her father. Atticus corrected her letting her know that she should not be using the term “nigger” because it was not the proper term and also because it was common.

More evidence that supports Scout’s lack of knowledge of the word “nigger” is how she tried defend Atticus from Cecil Jacobs calling Atticus a “nigger lover.” Even though even Cecil Jacobs does not fully understand what the word means, he still uses it but in a way that is more influenced by his parents saying the word rather than being based off of color. Scout almost fights Cecil Jacobs for calling her father this but she does not really know why she is doing it or what the word even means. Atticus tries to take a stand for her father despite her lack of knowledge, proving there are things that her childhood and her

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee depicts racism in the 1930’s and shows the characters had to overcome challenges because of it. The 1930’s was a difficult time to live in because of racism against African Americans and the depression, where thousands of people lost their jobs. The idea “an extraordinary challenge can sometimes make an ordinary person into a hero” shows that anyone in To Kill a Mockingbird could have been a hero, even in a time of hardships. Scout Finch, Arthur “Boo” Radley, and Atticus Finch overcame challenges in the story in order to become great heroes.

“Nigger”, “Colored-folks”, “Dinge”, racial slurs used in the South in the 1900s-1960s. The disgusting souls who discriminated, judged, hated, and segregated blacks. “White men rule”. Women, their voices, barely able to say as much as a sentence. The blacks, their voices, unable to say as much as even a word, and the children, innocent and curious, saw nothing and said nothing. Harper Lee represented the horrendous acts and judgments of racism in To Kill a Mockingbird. Maycomb, Alabama, 1930s, a small town with a big story. Tom Robinson, discriminated and unequal, was seen as “just another nigger” in Maycomb. “Nigger”, “Chocolate”, “Colored”, racial slurs that began long ago, and are still used to this day. The White

“You aren't really a nigger-lover, then, are you?" (Lee 107-09). "I certainly am. I do my best to love everybody... I'm hard put, sometimes—baby, it's never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is, it doesn't hurt you.” (Lee 107-09). This quote is one of many that show how racism is used in the story. In this quote Scout has heard someone call Atticus a nigger lover because he is Tom Robinsons lawyer and he is trying to his best job to help him as he can (Lee). Scout doesn’t really understand at first what a nigger lover is until Atticus explains it to her.

To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee is a Pulitzer Prize winning novel, that offers a view of life through a young girl’s eyes. The novel is focused on two main themes which are racism and discrimination.

thing during and following slavery. In the novel, a man named Bob Ewell despises black people and calls out Atticus by saying, “too proud to fight, you nigger lovin bastard?” (Lee, 291). What that quote is saying is how Bob is getting upset with atticus just because he is Tom Robinson's lawyer and Bob Ewell doesn’t like black people. Another example of racism occurs in chapter 11. This happens when the kids are walking by Mrs.Dubose’s home, and she starts yelling out racist comments about Atticus. She yells out to Jem and says, “your father is no better than the niggers and trash he works for!” (Lee, 105) She attacks their father for doing his job, but even more so attacks Jem and Scout by Yelling furiously about their father. These two ways are clearly shown in To Kill A Mockingbird and there are many other ways throughout the novel.