Huckleberry Finn Racism

The 1880s marked a conflicting time in American history, as post-Civil War Reconstruction failed in the South and Jim Crow laws were instituted. During Reconstruction, Civil War Amendments passed to ensure the rights of newly emancipated African-Americans. Through these amendments, blacks became legally equal to whites; however, white Southerners remained prejudiced against blacks. Democratic southern whites disenfranchised African-Americans through Jim Crow laws, such as the requirement to pass a literacy test to vote. Likewise, in Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck appears to become increasingly moral, but his persistent prejudices towards blacks proves otherwise. Mark Twain published the novel in 1884 as a criticism of

Despite the loneliness they both felt when separated, Huck pretends Jim is a “tangle-headed old fool,” insisting that it never happened (Twain, 25). Huck believes he can be dishonest to Jim and not suffer any repercussions because Jim is black, highlighting the theme of white racial superiority. After Jim realizes that Huck tricked him, Jim understands that he deceived himself into thinking that Huck was any different from the racist whites of the South: “En all you wuz thinkin’ ‘bout wuz how you could make a fool uv ole Jim wid a lie. Dat truck dah is trash; en trash is what people is dat puts dirt on de head er dey fren’s en makes ‘em ashamed” (Twain, 25). Through this scene, Huck regresses morally, which highlights the remaining prejudice toward blacks, in the South. During Reconstruction, federal troops were stationed in the South, so whites were less racist towards blacks, since the Civil Rights Amendments were enforced. However, after the Compromise of 1877, federal troops were removed and Southern Democrats regained control over the South, reinstating the South’s old ways of life, including racism and prejudice toward

The cartoon illustrates blacks, during Reconstruction, in a political body in the South. The political body is dominated by blacks, who appear to all be fighting with one another and causing chaos. The blacks also appear to be standing on top of chairs and tipping them over, suggesting that blacks were tipping the balance of peace in Southern society. In contrast to the blacks, the whites are pictured as being peaceful and coexistent with the blacks, despite the chaos the blacks are causing. This suggests that whites were trying to integrate blacks into Southern politics, but that blacks were making that task impossible. In addition, a woman is pictured in the back trying to restore order in the midst of the fighting. That woman is often pictured in American cartoons as the symbol of manifest destiny and American hopes. By including this element, the cartoon suggests that integration of blacks into society and politics was ruining the American dream. In addition, the fact that a woman, who had still had not received the right to vote by the 1880s, was attempting to restore order to the political body, suggests that women were more fit to have the right to vote and participate in politics than blacks. This cartoon is biased toward the Southern point of view as it was published in Virginia,