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Examples Of Jim Crow Laws In To Kill A Mockingbird

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The Jim Crow laws are very prevalent in To Kill a Mockingbird and are shown in almost every aspect of the book. The first of these connections is the fact that black communities often struggled, and had facilities of a poorer quality than that of white people’s. The article states that although these communities were intended to be separate and equal, that was not often the case. One example of this is shown when Jem and Scout visit the First Purchase church. Unlike their own church, this church did not have any hymn books for the attendants and they would often have to repeat the hymns after the lines were announced out loud.
Another case of blacks being separate from whites in the book To Kill a Mockingbird is shown when the court case of Tom Robinson begins. In this scene, the white people enter the courthouse first while the colored people wait. Those with lighter skin sat on the first floor, while those with darker skin moved upstairs to a balcony to view the trial. The races typically were not allowed to mix, however Jem and Scout went upstairs with Reverend Sykes. This scene also shows that a few black people who had already sat down moved from their seats to make room for the group, likely because they were expected to move out of the way for white people. …show more content…

The article states that black people often dealt with public services of a lower quality than that of whites, and this is evidently shown with Tom Robinson’s case. In these chapters, Atticus provides clear and evident reasons as to why Tom Robinson did not commit the crime, and forges a case much greater than that of the opposition. Although the jury takes a longer time to consider than usual, the outcome was still clear: Tom Robinson is found guilty, due to his darker skin compared to the Ewells, who were convicting him at the time. Tom Robinson is sent to prison, and is later killed upon an escape

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