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

Historical Paper The first historical event that influenced To Kill A Mockingbird was the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws perpetuated segregation. The Jim Crow laws were very appalling (Pilgrim). The Jim Crow laws were put in place to make blacks feel less important than whites (Pilgrim).

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 1890, despite of its 16 black members, the Louisiana General Assembly passed a law to prevent black and white people from riding together on railroads.

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.

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. These acts made sure the former slaves signed labor contracts, and they would be fined or forced into unpaid labor if they didn’t.

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.

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. This group was called the Ku Klux Klan, and they were determined to place the whites above the blacks. The most targeted by the Ku Klux were the black businessmen and landowners who were unsuccessful.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Rare exceptions to this mentality included William Lloyd Garrison, who wrote the abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator, expressing views similar to the black abolitionists (Berlin 208). Black abolitionists pursued full equality and freedom. While most white abolitionists concentrated on abolishing slavery, black abolitionists combined antislavery demands with appeals for racial equality and justice (Web). Violence did erupt confirming the white abolitionists worst fears in rebellions such as Nat Turner’s, one of the most violent slave uprising in the south (Oates 192). As such, reforms sought by blacks came slowly and not without setbacks.

This deal could be considered a good thing for the southerners but many people were upset about having to pass the thirteenth amendment, which guaranteed certain freedoms for the African Americans in the south. To retaliate for this seven states passed the “black codes”. The black codes made it so that the African Americans had to work for very little money and ensured that they were landless and an extremely dependent labor force. Section 6 of the Mississippi Black Codes of 1866 are a perfect example of how controlling these codes were, the section states that when African Americans go to work for someone they must have a contract and if the contract isn’t upheld or if the laborer quits before the contract is up then they forfeit their wages for that year up to the time of quitting. Though the codes couldn’t directly block the thirteenth amendment, they could make parts of the amendment illegal, for example African Americans could marry each other but the black codes made it illegal for them to marry people of other races.

Jim Crow laws were created to help the south keep Africans from contributing to society and keeping them separated from the “favorable white people.” They did this by making laws such as White and Black only water fountains, seats, bathrooms, etc. Even though Jim Crow was outlawed once the Civil Rights act was passed, it has created a long lasting tension between people. This is shown by radical groups such as the Black Panthers and KKK who have created a long lasting hatred towards each other. Jim Crow has created a long lasting effect on both past and present generations of different ethnic people by allowing certain people to obtain a job based on how their name sounds, keeping different ethnicities stuck in poverty, and by creating ethnic

The end of slavery through the successful military tactics of the Union in the Civil War had the single most important impact as it pertains to education for the creation of educational opportunities for the newly freed African Americans. Prior to this, it was common knowledge that educating a slave was a criminal offense. The Morrill Act of 1862, named for Justin Smith Morrill, was designed to make education more accessible to more people of all socio-economic and social classes. Only, this Act did not take into consideration the education of black people. Due to systematic racism against this minority group, it was not until slavery was abolished that the second Morrill Act was implanted to focus on this long overlooked group.

But what made them want to leave so badly? African Americans were not treated the same; the white Americans believed that they were superior to everyone else and they made sure African Americans knew that. Harsh segregation laws began, known as the Jim Crow Laws. Some examples of these laws are, “It shall be unlawful for a negro and white person to lay together..’ and, ‘Separate free schools shall be established for the education of children of African American descent...”