After the civil war ended, the United States of America was still being exposed to vast amounts of racism, while people continued to fight for equal rights and freedom. Slavery was officially over in 1865, but there was still no equality for the blacks. In place of having the Negroes enslaved, the former white slave owners and racists alike would instead continue to oppress them by further segregation and assault, while the white authorities turned a blind eye because they were often part of the problem. In society, they were viewed as second-class citizens; forced to use segregated areas of washrooms, entrances, restaurants, public transit, and recreational facilities; such as churches. It took nearly one hundred years for the black population
The name “nigger” was used commonly as if it had no pejorative signification. Furthermore, when Tom Robinson is being interrogated by Atticus in court, Scout states with surprise that “… [his] manners were as good as Atticus’s” (260). Even if Scout is not racist herself, she is exposed to all sorts of opinions coming from racist people in Maycomb. Her affirmation shows that she has been influenced by other people’s sayings. The fact that she has been influenced means that other individuals believe not possible for a black person to share the same manners and values as them (black people’s manners and values were not as worthy as white people’s in Maycomb at the time).
There was racism that was directed towards the whites when Jem and Scout were brought to First Purchase and were not welcomed by Lula. Negroes didn’t want to be near whites and vise versa. This affected the children of Maycomb County, going back to when Jem cries because he was aware that the jury knew Robinson was innocent and wasn’t given justice. Therefore, there was a time where racial prejudice was to blacks and as well as whites. Social prejudice was also a big topic in To Kill A Mockingbird.
If there was an argument between a black person and a white person, the white person was right. In an argument that Crooks had with Curley’s wife, he was threatened with being lynched. People had that kind of power over black people as they were always right. Steinbeck protested against this treatment by showing to the world what was at the time, a stereotypical black person who would withdraw into himself for protection. Then Steinbeck opened the character up by talking him to Lenny.
Master Hugh’s reprimand serves as the beginning of her desensitization. Douglass’s mistress now no longer believes that a slave is a human being and deserves to be treated like a white person, she has now been burdened with the belief that a black man is
Alex Rounds Swafford Pre-AP English 10 April 23, 2012 Tom Robinson’s Struggle with his Alienation Societal alienation is perhaps the cruelest way an individual or group can be treated by a community. When alienated, or alone and without any support, it is human nature for person a person to break down. In the American classic Too Kill a Mockinbird by Harper Lee, the character Tom Robinson struggles with this societal behavior ultimately leading to his downfall. He is an example of seclusion and shunning by society for the pure fact of being black. This alienation stems from untrue stereotypes and the disturbing moral values exhibited by the inhabitants of Maycomb.
Justice Racism has been one of the worst problems black people have endured since they came in touch with the white race. Racism is a belief that one's own race is superior and has the power to rule others. In Martin Luther King's writing “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, he answers the criticism given by his fellow clergyman that judged his actions as “unwise and untimely” (King5). King makes the reader understand that black people are tired of being treated as outcasts and as an inferior race thus, reassures the clergyman that black people's inalienable rights are being ignored. However, King proves to the clergyman, in his writing, that black people deserve equal rights by appealing to the reader's emotions, appealing to logic and
Whites were corrupt and inhospitable while blacks were cultivated and good-natured. Harriet Jacobs also made the point that many black slaves had white relations within their family, disputing the idea of racial clarity. She writes, “They seem to satisfy their consciences with the doctrine that God created the Africans to be slaves. What a libel upon the heavenly Father, who "made of one blood all nations of men!" And then who are Africans?
Hollinger writes about "hypodescent" (the one-drop rule) and anti-miscegenation laws (laws prohibiting intermarriage between people of different race). His general point is that these two features of the American racial system (both of which were institutionalized in various ways, in national, state, and local laws and in local or regional systems of etiquette) segregated or marked African Americans in ways that no other group has experienced, which is why the Black-White divide in the U.S. is so hard to overcome. Hollinger highlights the peculiarity of the one-drop rule by comparing the place of "African [or Black] blood" to "Indian blood." It is commonplace for White Americans to proclaim proudly that they are "one-eighth Cherokee" or "part Indian." The Indian, as a racialized other, can be depicted as a
Corruption Based on Color Alveda King once said “Racism springs from the lie that certain human beings are less then fully human. It’s a self-centered falsehood that corrupts our minds into believing we are right to treat others as we would not want to be treated.” Unfortunately in 1930’s Alabama people treated others based on their skin color causing racism to be a reoccurring problem. Therefore, racism and segregation was harsh, and seemed never ending for African American citizens, even after slavery, but it could have been avoided if people treated other the way they wanted to be treated. Segregation or “separation of the races,” was one of the many ways for people to promote racism in the 1930’s (Novak, Julie). Birmingham, Alabama was one of the most tightly segregated cities at the time (“Alabama”).