Black rights then and now
“ today, tomorrow, and forever,” This is a quote from Governor George Wallace describing segregation. He was trying to stop the desegregation of the University of Alabama. It seemed as the nation was split. Some people wanted segregation and would take extreme measures to try to prevent changes. The others had to take extreme measures to make change happen. Even though Black rights faced turmoil and hate in the 1930s from the Jim Crow laws, they forced major improvement and change over the years to come.
Segregation is defined as the action or state of setting someone or something apart from other people or things according to the webster online dictionary. We are looking at segregation of black people and white people in To Kill a Mockingbird. According to key events in the American Civil Rights Movement segregation becomes legal by law in 1896 when the Supreme Court gives legal approval to Jim Crow laws. They do this by ruling separate but equal facilities for different races are legal. They do this despite the 14th amendment. The 14th amendment forbids any state from depriving citizen of their rights and privileges. The “Separate but equal laws” favored whites and deprives some
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One example we see of segregation in To Kill a Mockingbird is when the town disapproves of Atticus when he agrees to defend Tom Robinson as best as he can. Atticus was a respected man in Maycomb. He was also a very good lawyer. At the time it was unheard of for a white man to help a black man and because of segregation the town disapproved of Atticus. They almost saw him as an accomplice to Tom Robinson even though Atticus was just doing his job. He did not just face disapproval from the townspeople but also his family. “ If Uncle Atticus lets you run around with stray dogs, that’s his own business, like Grandma's says, so it ain’t your fault. I guess it ain’t your fault if Uncle Atticus