Essay On Segregation In To Kill A Mockingbird

Segregation is the exclusion of a certain racial, religious, or other categorized group from actively participating in aspects of society. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee, was set during a time period where segregation was customary in society; it affected the way people portrayed certain ideas and how people regarded one another. In the southern United States at this time there was a clash amongst races that separated people. Whites in particular served a less complicated lifestyle than blacks, as blacks were considered to be of lesser importance. The struggles endured by those dealing with segregation were overlooked by the discriminative inhabitants of Maycomb who were brought up in a society where their unjust actions were accepted. Engrained in their minds was an inequality that divided races, which lead to the inability to combine races into an integrated society.

Despite the thought that all men were created equally, African Americans weren’t treated as though they were, and were excluded from certain public facilities. Some accommodations that were divided by race included schools, theatres, taverns, bathrooms, religious centers, etc. (Appiah and Gates). As described in To Kill A Mockingbird, “The colored balcony ran along three walls of the courtroom like a second story veranda” (Lee 204). This passage exemplifies how colored individuals were treated differently than the white people. They weren’t just excluded from public facilities, but they were also excluded from society.

A court is an institution where inequalities should be leveled; however, segregation was still a component that stimulated injustice in the court. During this time period the ultimate crime was the rape of a white woman (Mo...

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... of Maycomb and other towns, primarily across the south, races were only to use their exclusive facilities. A place meant level inequalities only added to the immense imbalance of superiority; this place was a courtroom, where inequality was supposed to be diminished. As white supremacy developed, blacks weren’t as socially accepted and were mistreated. The novel brought focus to a multitude of injustices that would essentially spur change to create a more integrated society in the future. Just as the novel explained how change was in the making, history itself during this time shows how assimilation was in the working. Even though today racial integration is very prominent there are still instances where people are discriminated. Segregation, although not as furious of a fire as it was during this time period, is still an ignited spark in some people’s souls today.