Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Before MLK’s historic speech on August 28, 1963, primarily because of the color of their skin, African Americans were treated terribly in the USA by the rest of the population. This despicable act of prejudice done to African Americans by whites before 1963 is demonstrated in the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee--which takes place in Alabama in 1932--and in the movie The Help, which takes place in 1962. Unfortunately, even with Martin Luther King’s famous speech, prejudice has not gone away. In today’s world, blacks still experience prejudice from whites daily; therefore, prejudice is not just a thing of the past. Since it still exists today, it is a thing of the present, and hopefully not a thing of the future. In the 1960 book, To Kill a Mockingbird, African Americans, simply because of the color of their skin, are treated unfairly and disgracefully. In the novel, Tom Robinson, who is black, …show more content…
For example, during a late night violent storm, a trip to the outhouse is very dangerous.Concerned for her own safety, one of the maids, who is black--Minny Jackson--asks her owner, who is white--Hilly Holbrook--to use her [Hilly’s] family’s indoor bathroom. Hilly then tells her [Minny] that she cannot to use her bathroom; however, Minny uses it anyway. Hilly finds out, and proceeds to fire Minny. This shows prejudice against the African American maids because even when there is a storm raging, a white women would rather have her black maid risk her life than to let her use her indoor bathroom . If Minny was white, there would be no problem with her using the indoor restroom, but simply because of the color of her skin, Minny is fired for doing