Examples Of Racism In To Kill A Mockingbird

How would you react if you were falsely accused of a crime when all of your life you had been a good man. However, the catch was you were African American.  A white man’s word against your own. What would be running through your mind? This is exactly the kind of question that was running through Tom Robinson’s mind in this novel. During the 1930s, discrimination against targeted groups of society was prevalent, but small victories occurred to combat this issue in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. From Tom Robinson’s trial, to various stereotypes being broken, and the incidents that took place in Calpurnia’s church for colored people. All of these factors contribute to the purpose behind this novel’s meaning.

To Kill a Mockingbird took place during the 1930s, a period shortly after the American civil war in Maycomb County, Alabama, the deep south where black people suffered from racism and discrimination. In this book, Tom Robinson was accused of raping a white woman, which was something that he’s never done, even though all the evidence proved that he did not violate that white woman, Tom was judged guilty because he was a black man. Racism is presented throughout the entire book especially when Scout got teased by her family about Atticus taking Tom’s case, and the townspeople's perception about Atticus, as well as during the trial of Tom Robinson.

Racism is the belief that characteristics and abilities can be attributed to people simply based on their race and that some racial groups are superior to others. This has been a problem in our world forever. In to Kill a Mockingbird there are so many racist events and it reflects on the society as a whole till this day. The book setting was the 1930’s in a small county of Maycomb, where most people were racist and discriminatory. People think racism has died off, but it is still a huge problem. People choose to raise their children and teach them that racism is okay and that is how there is still racism today. There are so many statistics out there based on skin color that right there is even racist if everyone is equal why are there polls being taken separating people by the color of their skin?

The novel To Kill a Mockingbird is a book of fiction, but we know that some major historical events like the Scottsboro case and the Jim Crow laws were reflected in this novel. The author Harper Lee could not have ignored the Jim Crow Laws and the Scottsboro trial as she was in her childhood when all of these injustices and racism happened. In her novel, Harper Lee reflects on the Scottsboro case by changing people who were involved in this case with fictional characters. The Jim Crow laws influenced Harper Lee in To Kill a Mockingbird and she reflects about that by showing the whites racist attitude toward the black people and their injustices in court.

In To Kill a Mockingbird, and in the world today there is racial and social inequality going on all around us. I am sure that there will never be true racial and social equality, but I think that it will get dramatically better. Just like it has gotten better since the 1930’s, which is the time that To Kill a Mockingbird is set in.

The first historical influence in Lee’s book is the Jim Crow laws. Jim Crow are the rules set upon black people to take their rights away. White folk thought that they needed Jim Crow because they wanted to remain superior. White folk also believed that they were the chosen ones. A few examples of Jim Crow are that black people could never say that a white person was lying, even if they were. Black people had separate, hospitals, ect. If there was any sexual interactions between a black and a white person it was illegal. These are just a few of the unfair laws, but if they broke one of these laws the punishments were unimaginable. The whites believed that violence must be used to keep the whites superior, and the blacks were arrested for crimes they didn't do. If a black person disobeyed one of the Jim Crow laws they would risk their jobs, homes, and their lives. One of the worst punishments when a black person would disobey one of the laws were Lynchings. Lynchings were public murders that were sadistic and hosted by mobs(Pilgrim). The

Atticus Finch once said, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view-until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” (Lee, 39) In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee used factual events as an inspiration for her novel. There are links to the Jim Crow laws, Mob Mentality, and racism.

Racism, as in a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial difference produce an inherent superiority of a particular race as well as racial prejudice or discrimination is prevalent in our country . Racism in America is a societal monster of our past that is still haunting us in our modern society as revealed in media, societal stereotypes, societal misconceptions, and the legal system. “With the election of Barack Obama as President many believed we were entering into a post-racial America, a color-blind society where racism could begin to be healed if not totally dismissed. However, a recent Associated Press poll has shown that this is not the case (AP, 2012). In fact, racial prejudice has increased slightly since 2008”, (Ponds 3), Many Americans think that we as a whole are past racial prejudice however it is not the truth.

Let’s say you are a stray dog and you’re taking a stroll through the local junkyard. As you walk, a crowd of dogs with the same sparkly white fur as you started showing up. A few paces later, a black dog appears near you. Just looking at him disgusted you, he looked so different than everyone else…so you took it upon yourself to bite and kill him. Does that sound right? Nowadays it’s wrong to do that, but at one point in history, it was the right. It seemed so right that even humans had behaved in this manner. People have been (and are) dealing with racists for a long time. The story, “To Kill a Mockingbird”, explains in a brilliant manner how people should stop treating others badly.

An Eternal Disease: A World Without Racism is a World Without Humans In regards to global issues, have we truly combat racism, or is it simply a figment of our imagination? An issue that individuals avoid addressing because they are too busy immersed in their own personal issues? That is exactly what has happened up until now, and perhaps it is too late to change what lies ahead of us.

The historical events that influenced and inspired Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird are the Scottsboro boy’s trials, the Emmitt Till case, and the Ku Klux Klan. Racism, segregation, and death are all events that occurred and similar in many ways. In our history there have been many acts of segregation against blacks. There were many fights and murders because of racism against blacks, like the Emmitt Till case. Emmitt was accused of flirting with a white woman therefore he was kidnapped, beaten, and killed a few years later. Also in our history there were the many cases against blacks that had been wrongly accused of crimes and they had to deal with racism and non-fair trials. In addition, there were many historical events that may

Racism What constitutes racism? Some would say that their definition only includes how a majority acts toward a minority. While that definition usually describes most racism, it is not all-inclusive. In Harper Lee’s creation To Kill a Mockingbird, set in the 1930’s, she explores many facets of the human gem, including some with cracks and some ruined by canyons gouged into them.

This novel introduced that racial tension still continued in the South during the 1960’s. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee introduces literary devices to address the racial tensions that still continue in the South during the 1960’s. The conflict in this story is external because it incorporates how the black community is severely criticized by the other residents in Maycomb, Alabama. These racial tensions caused many black people to be accused of to cleanse the south and return it to how it originally was.

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD ESSAY In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird the author reveals that it is a “sin to kill a mockingbird.” The innocent people of the world should not get destroyed. They are compared to the mockingbirds, "Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy... but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.

Racism existed in the time of 1930s, in the southern state of Alabama. In this period of time, people took racism to another level. If a black person is accused of a crime, it is extremely likely for the person to get thrown in jail or executed without proper courting. The book, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, described just that. a young black man, named Tom Robinson is accused of rape towards a white woman named Mayella Ewell. In the end, even with all the evidence pointing the opposite direction of Tom Robinson, he is found guilty by those racist jury members. Harper Lee wrote this book to reflect on the current events because conflict between races never ended. She wrote this book to tell her readers how dark humans can be when they humans are being racist. Harper Lee also specifically pointed out that during the early 1930s and late 1950s, people judge other people by their looks instead of the truth. She did that by putting the book in that specific setting of time.