Real-Life Events In Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird

Mob mentality shows up in To Kill A Mockingbird when the mob left because Mr. Cunningham told them to go home (Lee 205). Not only did mob mentality influence To Kill A Mockingbird, so did the Scottsboro

It shows african americans as nothing more than imbeciles. By the 1890s the name “Jim Crow” was being used to describe laws and customs thats goal at segregating African Americans and others. These laws were made to eliminate social contact between white people and other groups and to limit the freedom and opportunity of people of color. . In the depression ridden 1890s, racism seemed to appeal to white people who feared losing their jobs to black people.

In both To Kill a Mockingbird and Mississippi Burning, the viewer is shown the distinctions of the social groups and racial segregation of the superior white lords in relation to the supposed trash like African-Americans. There is a clear discrimination in the societies. The negroes are treated like slaves and are pushed to live in the worst insufficient conditions, away from the urban, fancy and polished areas, in the centre of towns. Although the term ‘segregation’ has thought to have meant separate but still equal, it’s not the case in these stories and blooms sadly everywhere. One racial connection between the two is to do with the different churches for the white and the dark-coloured people and their customs.

Southerners were frustrated that their property would be taken from them and turned into citizens. The Freedmen’s Bureau was started to help blacks be integrated back into society, and to teach them. This group was created by the Federal government. Radical Southerners did not like this idea at all. In return, they created laws called the Black Codes to oppress African Americans.

Q: Discuss how and why Atticus challenges the dominant attitudes and values of the time. Back in the 1930s, racism was not abnormal in the society. In fact, racism often happened in America in the 1930s. The white people would always rule over the people of colour, known as African Americans. The novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” consisted of many discriminatory remarks against others, which would not be accepted anymore in the 21st century.

The South used different laws called black codes. These codes were like another type of slavery that would place whites higher than blacks, instead of everyone being equal. If a black man was not employed, he would be arrested and probably not be able to pay the fines. Even during this time, the whites struggled to see if the blacks should have the right to carry arms, but other codes told the African Americans that they could own property. During this time, a group was formed of former Confederate soldiers that met in secret.

The Jim Crow laws claimed to be “Separate but equal”, they were anything but. The laws separated the blacks from the whites. They had separate stores, schools, and even drinking fountains. The Jim Crow laws separated the blacks from the whites, made life harder for the blacks, and when they were separated their stores, restaurants, and other things were not equal. The Jim Crow laws started in the 1880’s in the southern states.

These laws were named after a traveling minstrel show character, and basically set up the law to be biased against African-Americans, deciding many issues in favor of whites. In Source C, it says, “By 1914 every Southern state had passed laws that created two separate societies- one black, the other white. This artificial structure was maintained by denying the franchise to blacks through the use of devices such as grandfather clauses, poll taxes, and literacy tests. It was further strengthened by the creation of separate facilities in every part of society, including schools, restaurants, streetcars, health-care institutions, and cemeteries.” By reading this, you start to find out that even after the Civil War, blacks were not truly free. The risk of them starting to run out of opportunity and hope was rapidly rising as their chances of being truly equal faded away.

Until 1865, the enslavement of African Americans was legal in the United States (History.com Staff). Most of the nation believed that African Americans weren’t equal to Whites and could be treated as property. Even after slavery was abolished, these racist ideals were ingrained in the minds of most Southerners. In the 1930s, racial ignorance still caused society to believe that African Americans were sinful and a lesser race. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee illustrates how important decisions are influenced by racial ignorance ingrained in a society.

For example, “The Southern legislatures, former confederates, passed laws known as the black codes, after the war, which severely limited the rights of blacks and segregated them from whites”. Before, white people thought they should have had more power than black people because of their skin color, who introduced them into slavery and did not let them go into certain places. As opposed from segregation, the author from the chosen novel Red Queen states that, “We don’t get seats here, just long concrete benches, but the few Silver nobles up above enjoy cool, comfortable boxes.” (Page 5). By this, the author shows the injustice that was created between the Silvers and Reds, where the Silvers were rich and had more power, and the Reds not being able to obtain the same things as them. The message the author is trying to portray is that by every circumstance, every human being is the same no matter what race they are, where they are from, their culture, and their way of life.