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What Are Jim Crow Laws In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Recommended: Racial prejudice events in to kill a mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee incorporates a sufficient number of racial concerns which took place long before the author's story rises and remained for a long time after. It is vital to mention that Lee in her novel exposes multiple layers of prejudice and in order to comprehensively understand them all, it is necessary for the reader to learn the complicated account of the past events related to the race relations in the South. Concretely, the cases of Jim Crow laws and Scottsboro trials. The main purpose of the essay is to provide an evidence concerning the influence of aforementioned examples on the plot development in To Kill a Mockingbird. To begin with, it is important to explain the nature of Jim Crow laws. In their essence, …show more content…

“The Jim Crow laws and system of etiquette were undergirded by violence, real and threatened” ("Jim Crow Museum: Origins Of Jim Crow"). For instance, within the period when the laws were established, the membership of such supremacist groups as Ku Klux Klan reached the unbelievable point of six million members. If consider the times of the Jim Crow laws, it is possible to see that they truly exist in terms of the novel's setting. Particularly, in spite of the fact that the citizens of Maycomb are fairly satisfied with the Jim Crow laws, Atticus' protest is apparent in this case. “There’s nothing more sickening to me than a low-grade white man who’ll take advantage of a Negro’s ignorance” …show more content…

During the second trial for the Scottsboro "boys" that was ordered by the Supreme Court, one of the women recalled her initial statement and denied that any of women had been raped. “ The trial of the Scottsboro Boys is perhaps one of the proudest moments of American radicalism, in which a mass movement of blacks and whites—led by Communists and radicals—successfully beat the Jim Crow legal system” ("Scottsboro Boys, Trial And Defense Campaign (1931–1937) | The Black Past: Remembered And Reclaimed"). In To Kill a Mockingbird, Tom Robinson has features from all nine accused boys despite the fact he is far older. Tom Robinson was accused individually upon the word of a white woman. Atticus said to Jem concerning the death sentence of Tom that he is “a colored man, Jem. No jury in this part of the world's going to say 'We think you're guilty, but not very' on a charge like that. It was either a straight acquittal or nothing” (Lee). In conclusion, Jim Crow laws and Scottsboro trials significantly influenced the plot and character evolution of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. All these cases the author witnessed and perceived as a personal matter. Racial inequality and prejudice developed into truly horrible events, and though her novel, Lee appeals to the readers that it is vital to remember

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146 Words | 1 Pages

Harper Lee includes many Jim Crow laws in her novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Jim Crow laws were racial segregation laws that blacks were expected to follow and respect. A few examples of Jim Crow laws blacks and whites were not suppose to eat together, blacks were not allowed to display public affection toward one another. If a black person was riding in a car driven by a white man he would have to sit in the back of the vehicle (Pilgrim). Harper Lee incorporates many Jim crow laws inside of To Kill a Mockingbird.

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257 Words | 2 Pages

This novel came out just as people were fighting over school desegregation, and civil rights movements that sought to restore basic civil rights for African Americans. It was a time of group action in the United States during which African Americans and the NAACP’s objective was to fight racism, discrimination and racial segregation that denied them their fundamental and basic rights. Lee was inspired by a catalysing event that occurred in her hometown in the 1930s when she was only ten years old. The trial is famously known as the Scottsboro Boys Case, where nine young black boys were wrongfully convicted of a heinous crime. They were charged with raping two white girls on a train and were sentenced to the death penalty.

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2009 Words | 9 Pages

These trials focused around a group of black boys who were persecuted and treated unfairly due to the color of their skin. Harper Lee, the author of To Kill A Mockingbird, grew up during the time this was taken place and it shows in her writing. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird revolves around the trial of Tom Robinson, a trial very reminiscent of the Scottsboro Trials of the 1930s. The two trials have many similarities in characters, events, and the verdict.

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283 Words | 2 Pages

Every country on this beautiful sphere that we call earth has its own view on society. All countries around the world views America as being the land of the free and the land of being able to express yourself, but their just looking through a microscope .Whether those countries know it or not America has flaws. One of Americans biggest flaw is racial discrimination against people of color. When Jim Crow laws were introduced in the 1890’s it had a lasting effect on people of color socially, mentally, and their opportunities.

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1119 Words | 5 Pages

In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee teaches us about the town of Maycomb County in the late 1930s, where characters live in isolation and victimization. Through the perspective of a young Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, readers will experience prejudice Maycomb brings during times where people face judgement through age, gender, skin, and class. Different types of prejudice are present throughout the story and they all contribute to how events play out in the small town. Many of those in Maycomb face and express sexism, racial discrimination, and classism their whole lives. This disables the people who fall victim from living their life comfortably in peace.

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871 Words | 4 Pages

Tom was accused of raping a white woman who was Mayella Ewell, Mayella said he raped her while he was helping her with chores. She later on tells the readers that it was false allegations. The reason why she didn 't tell the truth at her first trial was because, Mayella was afraid of being embarrassed because she kissed a black male. She rather have an innocent man get charged with a crime than that. “However, Robinson was transferred from the state prison to Maycomb 's county jail on Saturday, two days before he stood trial on Monday, and Atticus had to defend him against a lynch mob”.

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1123 Words | 5 Pages

The ever present distaste from whites in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, shows the issues that blacks had to deal with constantly. Lee was able to portray this hatred by putting and important character, Tom Robinson a black man, on an unjust trial for the alleged rape of a white woman, Mayella Ewell. This classic story reveals the awful conditions and intense racism during this time in the southern Unites States. Some of the many African Americans affected by southern white racists in court or otherwise include the Scottsboro

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220 Words | 1 Pages

One of the first historical events in To Kill A Mockingbird relate to Jim Crow Laws. The Jim Crow Laws were laws used to make Whites feel more superior than Blacks. The Jim Crow Laws were a “series of rigid anti-Black laws” (Pilgram). Throughout the time period of the Jim Crow Laws, Christians thought that Whites were the chosen people (Pilgram). Whites used Jim Crow Laws to team up on Blacks, and used them to affect African-Americans to make Whites feel better about their self.

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1657 Words | 7 Pages

The Scottsboro Boys Case and To Kill a Mockingbird were cases of the injustice of black men. Harper Lee was trying to point out that a person 's skin color or race does not justify the actions they done, that anyone who practices prejudice is foolish. That prejudice is an actual reality that a person experiences first hand and hurts others in the process. Like Harper Lee with her father being a lawyer she must’ve experienced it first hand. These stories teach us that you shouldn’t judge a person by their race.

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721 Words | 3 Pages

Being fortunate enough to afford education, Atticus not only possess the “necessary intellect and unwavering morality” (20), but he is a renowned lawyer who understands that his skills should be put to better use than to encourage the exploitation of Negroes from the “negligence of unscrupulous racists” (3). In doing so, he understands the extra precaution needed to avoid “the storm of persecution” (4), and this personification manifests the growing hatred directed towards Atticus as the Maycomb community divides greatly enough to distinguish two groups of people that are for or against the actions of Atticus. Despite the incoming threats, Atticus ignores their efforts to stop him because he personally knows what it’s like to “be licked by low grade men” (16), and knowing what it’s like, he doesn’t favor the opinions of the majority over his own conscience which can be quite daunting. But unlike Hamlet who just prates about how he should just commit suicide, Atticus sees “through it no matter what” (27) because he already has a preconceived notion that he would fail so that he doesn’t go into grief if he

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2100 Words | 9 Pages

Al Sharpton radio host, and minister once said, “We have defeated Jim Crow, but now we have to deal with his son, James Crow Jr., esquire.” (cite) He then goes on to say that his “son” is smarter, slicker, and more cunning than him. This metaphor describes that even though the Jim Crow Laws have been ratified, there is a new racial discrimination in America that is growing and is harder to defeat than the last. The Jim Crow Laws were the set of laws that set the whites and blacks separate from each other in the 1900s, although they have been defeated, America today may be equal lawfully but not on an individual level.

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976 Words | 4 Pages

To Kill a Mockingbird Argumentative Essay Racial equality and discrimination is a founding issue that has been spread throughout every part of the world, To Kill A Mockingbird was written and published by Harper Lee in 1960, this time was dominated by civil rights protests and some of the first hippie movements following the crushing reality of the Vietnam War, the 60s also saw the struggle against segregation and racial equality. It is no surprise that the extreme political conflict affecting her life and world would greatly impact her writing and influence how she perceived the world during the writing of To Kill a Mockingbird. the influence of the fight for racial inequality is shown greatly in her book as she depicts the everyday life

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565 Words | 3 Pages

Jim Crow Laws are laws that segregated blacks from the whites and it also took a lot of rights from the blacks. After the reconstruction the whites were afraid of the blacks taking over, so they created these laws. After these laws took place the blacks were disrespected and limited rights. The whites wanted these laws so the blacks couldn’t take over the world.

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1244 Words | 5 Pages

In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee teaches us about the town of Maycomb County during the late 1930s, where the characters live in isolation and victimization. Through the perspective of a young Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, readers will witness the prejudice that Maycomb produces during times where people face judgement through age, gender, skin colour, and class, their whole lives. Different types of prejudice are present throughout the story and each contribute to how events play out in the small town of Maycomb. Consequently, socially disabling the people who fall victim from living their life comfortably in peace. Boo Radley and his isolation from Maycomb County, the racial aspects of Tom Robinson, and the decision Atticus Finch makes as a lawyer, to defend a black man has all made them fall in the hands of Maycomb’s prejudice ways.

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400 Words | 2 Pages

The Jim Crow laws claimed to be “Separate but equal”, they were anything but. The laws separated the blacks from the whites. They had separate stores, schools, and even drinking fountains. The Jim Crow laws separated the blacks from the whites, made life harder for the blacks, and when they were separated their stores, restaurants, and other things were not equal.

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