Harper Lee shows the racist social values that most of the inhabitants of Maycomb County follow are one of the factors that cause Atticus Finch’s defense to fail. In Maycomb, hating black people is a never-ending trend. Even though almost everyone follows it, Atticus does not. He is one of the only characters in the novel that has good social values and does not judge one by his or her skin colour. Although he has a feeling that he is not going to win the case, he still does the right thing by
Both examples show how prejudiced the city in the South actually was. b. Depression happening at the time as well. j. In a court case, a black man named Tom Robinson was ruled guilty by an extremely racist jury. He was obviously (due to the evidence) innocent, but racist southerners of the jury ruled him guilty anyways.
Vicious beatings and lynchings were common acts of the Ku Klux Klan. Despite major advances in favor of blacks, racism is still an issue to this day making Dunbar's poem still relevant over one hundred years later. In order to get through day to day life, blacks often hid their pain and frustration from everyone, not only the whites but other blacks included. This was done mainly to protect themselves. If they were to share their true feelings and thoughts, the whites would have surely retaliated with beatings and other forms of mistreatment.
Lee enables readers to identify with the black community in a way that makes the townspeople’s unwillingness to do so seem stubborn. Simply because of their racial prejudice, the townspeople accept the word of the cruel, for example, letting the ignorant Bob Ewell over that of a decent black man. This indicates prejudice weights over justice in Maycomb. Moreover, according to Jam, who divides Maycomb into four layers of social class and while the Ewells are at the lower part of the social ladder, their accusation is still agreed by the court judges since they are white. This further proves that the prejudice in being a racist towards black do exist harshly, even the poor can accuse the black successfully without any evidence, just because they are white.
Basically all of the South’s resources were going to hell. Uncertain economic times make it pretty hard to make a living. African Americans found themselves to be politically limited during this time as Southern states passed laws that limited their access to exercise their right to vote. Literacy tests were used to keep blacks away from ballot boxes, as some states limited the right to vote to those who could pass a literacy test; a large majority of slaves had never learned to read or write. Not surprisingly, white voters were often given easier passages than blacks.
Angelou also states, “If Joe lost we were back in slavery and beyond help. It would all be true, the accusations that we were lower types of human beings”. With this statement she describes the mistreatment of African Americans that was ongoing at that time; even though slavery no longer existed many white people still treated African Americans as inferiors. Louis needed to win in order to eliminate all the false accusations once and for all. In the last paragraph, once it is revealed that Louis won the fight, Angelou once again addresses the racial conflicts.
The injustice that King described was the discrimination and segregation of colored people. King fought to break the racial barriers that prevented colored people from living peaceful lives. The only people who benefitted from these conditions of segregation were the Caucasians, because they were treated superiorly compared to colored people, and their lives were easier. King’s use of rhetorical devices strengthened the true depth and damage that discrimination and segregation caused on society. “One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination (1).” In this quote, King compares segregation and discrimination to the manacles and chains because they both held something down.
With the despair of millions of unjustified people, authors like Charlotte Watson Sherman made their stories those that would expose the importance of dreams in a world where people of color were told that no such thing was useful. In Loraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun", Walter Lee Younger represents all of the misunderstood black men reaching for their green light and fighting the prejudice shone upon them by the rest of society, including their own people. Hansberry does a perfect job using Walter as an illustration of the power of a dream, and that without a dream life would be nothing but a barren wasteland. After WWII, veterans of all races stood tall, proud of their involvement in the victory of the US. But reality quickly kicked them in the face, shattering their expectations when only white men were welcomed home with admiration.
So far, one of the major plots seems to be about his choice to defend a black man, Tom Robinson, in court. During this era, the residents of Maycomb county and the world in general were still extremely racist towards African Americans. They were considered slaves and not on the same level as normal people. The people who were poorer than the black people (for example: the Erwells) were even respected more. Because of this racism and prejudice, the decision of Atticus’ to defend this man (who would certainly be killed without a lawyer because he is black and the accuser is white) is widely discussed in the town.
The inhuman nature of racism against the African-Americans back in the 19th and 20th century is definitely seen as a dark part of America’s history. The institution of slavery from the Europeans back in the early 1600s to the settlement of white population in America, would be the most prominent and notable form of American racism, during which Africans were enslaved and treated as property. As the United States grew, so did the institution of slavery in the southern states, while the northern states began to abolish it resulting in a “war between the states” . After the Civil War, several draconian laws were inflicted that severely prejudiced the black community, and although civil rights for African-Americans were considered, the status of blacks never improved. Their image appeared to be subservient and inferior to the whites as they were not “naturalised” citizens, meaning they could play no part in voting, owning properties serving on juries, or holding offices.