In The Secret Life Of Bees By Sue Monk Kidd

In the 1960’s, the peak of the Civil Rights Movement had been reached. The other races besides whites were gaining rights, which was revolutionary given the racism that took place. Although all the states had to agree with allowing black people to have rights, there were also many people who refused to change their ways. This caused hatred of the other races to an even more extreme level, deaths such as Martin Luther King Jr., and impacted the lives of millions. In the Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, The 1960’s: A Decade of Promise and Heartbreak by Kenneth T. Walsh, and LIFE and Civil Rights: Segregation in 1956 South Carolina by Ben Cosgrove, capture the struggles of being another race in the 1960’s and the setting of the story changed

In the novel, Rosaleen is beaten by two men and assisted by a cop. She is beaten and sent to jail due to her spitting on two rich, racist white men’s shoes, which resulted in them calling the cops. Since racism still exists, the cop allowed the two men to do what they wanted when Lily left jail. When Lily went to pick up Rosaleen from the hospital, Rosaleen said, “‘ Two of them held me by the arms while the other hit me--the one with the flashlight.’” (Kidd, 46). The South has also been more racist especially seen when they refused to give up their slaves which led to the civil war. Given that Rosaleen lived in South Carolina, she was treated differently than if she were to live in New York given black people had rights for many more years up North. Found in the article The 1960’s: A Decade of Promise and Heartbreak by Kenneth T. Walsh, he writes ‘“For liberals, the period was a desperately needed corrective that drew attention to America's injustices and started us down the road toward greater fairness and equality for all.”’ There was an obvious inequality seen in the US, but little of the country did anything to stop it. The disgust on other races were growing, and people were growing more oblivious and denied change. In the article LIFE and Civil Rights: Segregation in 1956 South Carolina by Ben Cosgrove it says, “The white sharecropper’s wife, LIFE wrote, ‘also approves of segregation and will not let her 9-year-old daughter play with an 8-year-old Negro neighbor. This is the reason she gives: ‘If our landlord came down here and saw her playing with a colored boy, he wouldn’t respect us. Only poor class whites do that. We’re trying to keep our self-respect and keep the highest level socially we can. We’re willing to work with the Negroes, but that’s as far as we’ll go.’” The blacks were cast upon even through basic interface. White parents would not allow their kids to play with blacks