This was a time where black activists such as Martin Luther King were rising and fighting for black rights. Blacks lived in constant fear that they would do something wrong and end up killed. The rumors and lies made up about these women prevented them from living a free life. Mrs. Hilly was keen on spreading unnecessary lies about the help “All these houses being built without maid quarters. It’s just plain dangerous.
Sometimes they weren’t able to vote for fear of being lynched by racists. People who tried to speak out were threatened with violence. Ida Wells, a newspaper writer, had her offices destroyed for writing an article on anti-lynching and was told to never return back to her home town on pain of
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus defends Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman, in a court trial. The town of Maycomb turns against him due to this. Atticus, furious about the reaction from his town, explains, “…why reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a negro comes up, is something I don’t pretend to understand” (Lee 88). Atticus does not have any racial biases, and he does not agree with the views of the majority of the people of Maycomb. Atticus, describing his beliefs to Jem, “…The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be
These people felt that if they tried to rock the boat and fight for equality the rights they have already acquired will be stripped away. In Melba Patillo Beals autobiography Warriors Don’t Cry the anger against her integration of Central High School was evident in the African-American community around her. Melba and the other 8 students integrating Central High School not only endured the constant bullying by their tormentors inside the school they had to endure the loneliness of being abandoned by their community and all their friends because the community was afraid of the repercussions they would endure because of their involvement with the
Furthermore, sometimes raped black women it leads them to be stressful, depression and sometime death. Black men were unable to help or defend their women because they were slaves themselves, therefore they had no power which means they just have to see and do nothing about it. Davis describe the important information about how badly is the black women being treated. “Many white men, who began by taking a slave girl in an act of sexual exploitation ended by loving her and the children she bore” (Davis, 1981:25). This shows that black women were treated like animal and treasure just for having high number of children.
Because the color of Robinson’s skin he is given an unfair trial and is found to be guilty by the jury. This sort of thing would never happen in modern day America. It all starts because of one white trash family, the Ewells. Mayella Ewell is a nineteen year old girl who is lonely and does not have any friends. She is so lonely that she tries to befriend a negro.
Mayella had a hard, lonely life. She took care of her many brothers and sisters, was mentally, emotionally, and physically abused by her own father, lived in extreme poverty, and was looked down upon by the rest of the town. She looked for acceptance in a black man named Tom Robinson, the only man (or perhaps the only person) that was ever decent to her. When she was found out the guilt of breaking a social barrier so thick caused her to accuse an innocent man of rape. This shows that even though Tom was so good to Mayella, he was black, and even she let her racism get the best of her and took him to court.
Anti-slavery I think that people should be against slavery because it’s wrong to force a person to do something they don’t want to do. Many African Americans were split up and lost their families because of slavery. They were treated terribly and got hurt from the people that bought them. They were beaten and hundreds died. They weren’t allowed to do anything that white people were allowed to do, they were discriminated.
Now, while a wolf whistle towards the woman was inappropriate, it wasn’t something to be punishable by death, especially by civilians, regardless of race. Emmett Till’s murder led the young Anne, Essie Mae at the time, to question people in society. Moody stated, “I was 15 years old when I began to hate people (136).” She hated the men that murdered Emmett Till, but the incident brought to her realization that this had been happening for quite a while. She remembered all the bodies of Negroes floating in the river. Obviously she was angry with the white people who were abusing and even murdering
The Faults in Human Nature In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the author Harper Lee highlights the negative aspects of human nature through the eyes of a 7-year-old girl named Scout. Throughout the novel there are situations where the people of Maycomb fall under the influence of their neighbours, leading them to bring out a repugnant side of themselves. The townsfolk were filled with prejudice against the blacks in their community simply for the fact that they did not understand the way they live. This is usually caused by heredity because children are taught from a young age only one opinion, and presume it is right. Sadly, not knowing any better, they discriminate against them, not knowing what else to do.