How Did Harper Lee Use Jim Crow Laws In To Kill A Mockingbird

The first influence on Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws were a set of rules that perpetuated racism and segregation. These rules were sickening and appalling. The Jim Crow laws were made to keep Blacks from interacting with Whites. For example, if a white woman were to fall a black man could not offer her, his hand to help her up because it was considered rape (Pilgrim 2). Many scientists and religious leaders justified these laws. One reason was that scientist thought that black peoples brains were inferior to those of white people. Also, many religious leaders believed that Whites were the chosen people and Blacks were just there to serve them (Pilgrim 2). If you were not following these laws, there were sever consequences. People believed these punishments were necessary to “keep Blacks in their place”. One example is mass lynching. This punishment is when a mob of people would take a black person, accused of breaking a rule, and beat them, torture them, and kill them. The police didn’t just not stop these rampages, often they would participate. The Jim Crow laws can be seen in To Kill a Mockingbird in many ways. One of the laws was that a black person could not say that a white person was lying (Pilgrim). This is shown in the book when Tom is accused of calling Mayella a liar, by Mr. Gilmer (Lee 224).

The scars and stains of racism are still deeply embedded in the American society (John Lewis www.BrainyQuotes.com). In the book To Kill a Mockingbird there are real life events that Harper Lee used. There are different ideas such as the Jim Crow laws, mob mentality, and the Scottsboro trials that Harper Lee uses to help her write her book.

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.

the real case of Emmett Till, in which an innocent man was persecuted simply because the color of skin was not favored with the all white jury. A case very similar to this can be seen within To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel used to bring up the topic of racism. Harper Lee uses her book To Kill a Mockingbird to bring awareness to racism by demonstrating how it can bring despair to a community. Although, people who fight against racism can bring hope to those who have been effected.

Why did a poor black man lose a court case because he’s black? Why are girls told they have to sit and be pretty? Why does it matter if you are wealthy or poor? We are all people, aren’t we? The answer is prejudice. Harper Lee gives many examples, race, class, and gender, in her fascinating book To Kill a Mockingbird. In the town of Maycomb a white man takes a case about a black man (Tom) raping a white girl, but at court, everyone knows Tom shouldn’t be found guilty. But tom is found guilty. To Kill a Mockingbird takes place during the Great Depression. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, prejudice is shown as a good and bad thing. Prejudice is shown through race, class, and gender.

The first influence on Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws perpetuated segregation. The Jim Crow laws were appalling. It was a racial system that had many terrible anti-Black laws (“Jim Crow laws”). These laws were huge in the south and border states. People treated and acted horrible towards the Blacks. Some examples of these laws were how Blacks and Whites could not eat together and how African Americans had to sit in the back of a White person's car(“Jim Crow laws”). These laws were basically cutting off almost all communication and action with any Black. Jim Crow had separate bathrooms, schools, churches, cemeteries and public accommodations for each race(Pilgrim). There were many reasons for the laws. For example, a black male could not offer or shake hands with a white woman because he would be accused of rape(“Jim Crow laws”) A Black could also never offer to light a white females' cigarette or show public affection toward another in public because it showed intimacy and offended Whites(“Jim Crow laws”). Boating implied social equality(“Jim Crow laws”). These examples just showed how disrespected African Americans were treated. Pilgrim points out that the Jim Crow laws were trying to keep Blacks and Whites separated. With these laws and reasons came punishments. Punishments were done if a Black broke a law and used as intimidation(“Jim Crow laws”). When a group of black males tried sitting in the White section of a bus they were arrested(“Jim Crow laws”). Blacks could get physically beat by a White if they drank out of the Whites water fountain or tried to vote(“Jim Crow laws”). The most extreme punishments were lynchings and occurred for demanding civil rights riots and violating laws(“Jim Crow laws”). Lynchings were public and most

In the book To Kill A Mockingbird, author Harper Lee shows many subjects that took place during this difficult time. The Jim Crow Laws, Mob Mentality and the Scottsboro trials influenced her to write the book and inform the readers of To Kill A Mockingbird.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a historical fiction novel written by Harper Lee. The novel is set in Alabama during the time of segregation. This novel conveys many themes such as hypocrisy, discrimination, and prejudice. Religious hypocrisy and lack of empathy is also found in this novel and contributes to those three themes. Religious hypocrisy is stating that you are a follower of that religion, however your actions directly contradict that. Empathy is when, as Atticus stated it, “you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” (Lee 3).

To Kill A Mockingbird is a novel with demonstrations of many unfair things. One example of these unfair things is the demonstration of the Jim Crow Laws in action. The Jim Crow Laws were the laws that allowed segregation between whites and blacks. These laws could deny blacks education, jobs, and transportation. They completely violated the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments. White people tried to defend this by saying that blacks were more likely to commit crimes

The novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” written by Harper Lee was published during the Civil Rights movement, which aimed to abolish segregation, discrimination and disenfranchisement in the United States in the 1960s. The text reflects racial discrimination events in the southern states during the 1930s because of the state’s history with slavery. The common thread of social injustice is evident throughout the plot of the novel. In the 1930s, a case called ‘The Scottsboro Boys’ involved nine young men, on trial, who were falsely accused of raping two white women on a train to Tennessee, based on the colour of their skin. This caused an uproar within the Black community because of racial discrimination, which added to the rise of the Civil Rights Movement.

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.

“Most people seem to think they’re right and you’re wrong,” (105). Set in the 30’s and written in the 60’s, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird influenced America in ways that changed our history forever. Lee created a universe of living characters in an attempt to show our flaws and try to end racism. Though there are many themes in To Kill a Mockingbird, three of the most prominent are discrimination, justice, and fear.

A chapter on Harper Lee's now-classic To Kill a Mockingbird deiûy analyzes the novel's ideological contradictions, showing that Lee's insistent locaLIsm at once acknowledged the continuing impact of the Scottsboro Narrative and undermined its significance as a register to the injustices of the American legal system. In a trenchant epILogue. (Foley 768)

When Harper Lee was writing about the trial of Tom Robinson in “To Kill a Mockingbird,” she had a very real case to look to for inspiration. The trial of the Scottsboro Boys was a world renowned case in the 1930’s in which nine black youths were accused of raping to white girls in Alabama. Lee’s novel took this case and created the fictional case of Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a lower class white girl in a small town in Alabama during the Depression-era. The Scottsboro trials were the main source of inspiration for Lee’s novel, and although the circumstances of the novel differed from the real-life scandal, the similarities between the two cases are quite abundant.

Racism, classism, and ageism have been around since humans realized there are people of different skin color; Since wealth had begun to carve your importance; Since age held back your physical capabilities. To Kill a Mockingbird was based on the Scottsboro Boys Case and even the childhood of the author Harper Lee. The unfairness and racism of the trial influenced Lee to write a book based upon the Scottsboro Boys. To Kill a Mockingbird was considered “a simple love story” by the author Harper Lee herself, but contains real world problems such as racism, classism, ageism, stereotyping and many others.