Interracial Relationships in To Kill a Mockingbird

903 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Racial and symbolism in to kill a mockingbird

What would it be like to be in a interracial relationship? Interracial relationships have been around since 1620. These relationships were banned when Americans started to own slaves. At that time, African Americans were seen as the minority and were not to be seen as equals. However, times changed and then the laws that banned interracial relationships were uplifted. As a result of these laws though, many white Americans today still discriminate because of the past. American still has those who discriminate and are against interracial relationships, however, the number of Americans who agree with interracial relationships outnumbers those against. Interracial relationships have improved society. As a result, the social issue of interracial relationships is evident in society as well as in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
The social issue of interracial relationships has been evident throughout history. Slavery in America greatly altered the views on interracial relationships. All African Americans were seen as less than dirt and treated any terrible way the white men or women wanted to treat them. According to Interracial Relationships: A Rundown of Issues, “African American men who so much as looked at a white women could be killed, and brutally so” (Nittle). This shows how much the white men and women despised African Americans. The whites would find anything the African Americans did as offensive. Therefore, the African Americans were afraid to even attempt a relationship because they would get killed for looking at a white. The white men were able to look at white women as much as they wanted, but race discrimination kept the African American men from doing so. Since the African American men and women were not s...

... middle of paper ...

...cceptable. Nowadays Americans do not react as drastically as they did in the 1800s. African Americans are not getting killed for looking at a white woman, and interracial couples are not getting arrested for being together. Therefore, interracial relationships are still a social issue, but it is not as prominent as it used to be.

Works Cited

Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. New York: Hatchette Book Group, 1960. Print.

Margolick, David. Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock. New Haven: Yale UP, 2011. Print.

Nittle, Nadra K. "Interracial Relationship Issues - History of Interracial Relationships." About.com Race Relations. Web. 12 May 2014.

Tropp, Linda R. "Perceived Discrimination and Interracial Contact: Predicting Interracial Closeness among Black and White Americans." JSTOR. American Sociological Association, 2007. Web.12 May 2014.

Show More
Related

  • The Strange Career of Jim Crow by C. Vann Woodward

    1056 Words  | 3 Pages

    Assumptions from the beginning, presumed the Jim Crow laws went hand in hand with slavery. Slavery, though, contained an intimacy between the races that the Jim Crow South did not possess. Woodward used another historian’s quote to illustrate the familiarity of blacks and whites in the South during slavery, “In every city in Dixie,’ writes Wade, ‘blacks and whites lived side by side, sharing the same premises if not equal facilities and living constantly in each other’s presence.” (14) Slavery brought about horrible consequences for blacks, but also showed a white tolerance towards blacks. Woodward explained the effect created from the proximity between white owners and slaves was, “an overlapping of freedom and bondage that menaced the institution of slavery and promoted a familiarity and association between black and white that challenged caste taboos.” (15) The lifestyle between slaves and white owners were familiar, because of the permissiveness of their relationship. His quote displayed how interlocked blacks...

    Read More

  • Bell Hooks Feminist Theory Analysis

    903 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...of affairs with the white females ultimately exclude the black female from few of the only possible friends she can have and allows the majority, dominant “norm” to not experience these oppressions and loss of choices.

    Read More

  • Race and Ethnicity in the United States Still Matters

    1274 Words  | 3 Pages

    Race and ethnicity is a main factor in the way we identify others and ourselves. The real question here is does race/ethnicity still matter in the U.S.? For some groups race is not a factor that affects them greatly and for others it is a constant occurrence in their mind. But how do people of mix race reacts to this concept, do they feel greatly affected by their race? This is the question we will answer throughout the paper. I will first examine the battle of interracial relationship throughout history and explain how the history greatly explains the importance of being multiracial today. This includes the backlash and cruelty towards interracial couple and their multiracial children. Being part of a multiracial group still contains its impact in today’s society; therefore race still remaining to matter to this group in the U.S. People who place themselves in this category are constantly conflicted with more than one cultural backgrounds and often have difficulty to be accepted.

    Read More

  • A Classless Society In Mantsios's Class In America

    1410 Words  | 3 Pages

    With each class comes a certain level in financial standing, the lower class having the lowest income and the upper class having the highest income. According to Mantsios’ “Class in America” the wealthiest one percent of the American population hold thirty-four percent of the total national wealth and while this is going on nearly thirty-seven million Americans across the nation live in unrelenting poverty (Mantsios 284-6). There is a clear difference in the way that these two groups of people live, one is extreme poverty and the other extremely

    Read More

  • INEQUALITY FOR ALL

    628 Words  | 2 Pages

    If I had to describe a moment from INEQUALITY FOR ALL that is really sticking with you – maybe you found it particularly inspiring or particularly troubling it would be the statement made by Robert Reich, “Of all developed nations the U.S. has the most unequal distribution of income.” What was it about that moment that is so memorable? He also states, “the richest 400 people in America have more wealth then the bottom 50 million of us put together.”

    Read More

  • Wealth Inequality In America Essay

    1109 Words  | 3 Pages

    Inside of this video, this guy really targets an issue nobody has really been presented. He shows charts that talk about how we Americans think our wealth is distributed. We think distribution is doing alright. Americans think that the bottom 40% is getting a bit of money. They also believe that the middle class is doing reasonably well. Unfortunately, that is not the case. In the video, he breaks it down a little bit getter. He shows a graph that shows how money is actually being distributed. The poorest of poor don 't even register on the poverty line. The middle class is barely making it. And then there is this huge difference between "the rich" and the poor. It is proven that the 1% of America has 40% of the entire nation 's wealth ("Wealth Inequality in America."). The bottom 80% of America only share 7% of the nation 's wealth among themselves. The top 1% has 50% of the stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. The bottom 50% of Americans only own 0.5% ("Wealth Inequality in America."). The poor is not just getting by but they are scraping and fighting to get by. Now that it is clear that there is a lot of poor people in America, it is important to figure out how to fix

    Read More

  • Racism in To Kill A Mockingbird

    549 Words  | 2 Pages

    Racism presents itself in many ways in the town of Maycomb. Some are blatant and open, but others are more insidious. One obvious way that racism presents itself is in the result of Tom Robinson’s trial. Another apparent example is the bullying Jem and Scout had to endure as a result of Atticus’s appointment as Tom Robinson’s defense attorney. A less easily discernible case is the persecution of Mr. Dolphus Raymond, who chose to live his life in close relation with the colored community.

    Read More

  • The America Divided

    1066 Words  | 3 Pages

    One would expect that social equality would just be the norm in society today. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Three similar stories of how inequality and the hard reality of how America’s society and workforce is ran shows a bigger picture of the problems American’s have trying to make an honest living in today’s world. When someone thinks about the American dream, is this the way they pictured it? Is this what was envisioned for American’s when thinking about what the future held? The three authors in these articles don’t believe so, and they are pretty sure American’s didn’t either. Bob Herbert in his article “Hiding from Reality” probably makes the most honest and correct statement, “We’re in denial about the extent of the rot in the system, and the effort that would be required to turn things around” (564).

    Read More

  • The Acceptance of Interracial Marriages

    1464 Words  | 3 Pages

    Interracial marriage is a union between two people from different racial backgrounds. Over the past decades, interracial marriage has been on the rise and has predominantly become popular among recent generations. Interracial marriages, despites the challenges it faced in the early centuries due to slavery and racial segregations is now common across many cultures. Since the abolishment of laws banning interracial marriages in the late 1960’s, society has embraced interracial marriage disregarding racial and cultural differences in the process. Several researchers have attributed the growing trends of interracial unions to immigration. While there is popular support for the growing trend of interracial marriage, it is imperative to consider whether becoming a multicultural society has impacted interracial marriages. This paper will place much emphasis on the growing trends and patterns of interracial unions in America. In addition, more emphasis will be placed on marital satisfaction in interracial unions and finally societal attitudes towards interracial couples.

    Read More

  • History of American Race and Racism

    804 Words  | 2 Pages

    Racism, and discrimination, remains very predominate in America today. There are many authors who addressed this subject matter but the three chosen to discuss are W.E.B. Du Bois, Richard Wright, and Gunnar Myrdal. Their interpretations of the subject matter in America are similar in some ways and vary in other ways. The first author, Du Bois, indicated how the facts of American history in the last half century have been falsified because the nation was ashamed of its actions. The second, Richard Wright, depicted the interactions between white and black people, and the third, Gunnar Myrdal, discussed the essential points of race relations in America. All of these writers discuss their perspectives on the history of American race. The study of the American race has been ongoing many years. Even though some factors have changed, there is still an underlying division in America.

    Read More

  • Inequality In The Middle Class

    426 Words  | 1 Pages

    Thesis: We were all born into a place with income inequality, but we have the power to make sure our children aren't.

    Read More

  • Inequality And Economic Inequality

    847 Words  | 2 Pages

    Inequality today is one of the most significant problems that America faces. According to Inequality.org in 2015 Household income of the top 0.1% of the population gained $6,747,439 while bottom 90% of the population got $34,074 (Inequality.org). The gap between incomes only continues to grow every year, which requires a change in social and economic policies of the country. However, it should be remembered that economic indicators can tell about working conditions, living conditions, nutrition, education of representatives of various groups of the population, but they can not show a picture of the realizability and opportunities to be successful in life for different groups of the population. That is why at the end

    Read More

  • Social Class In The Film Inequality For All

    711 Words  | 2 Pages

    Growing up in one of the most developed nations in the world, the United States of America allows for opportunity for an individual to become successful and prosper financially. American sociologist, C. Wright Mills, argued that power was held within most of the individuals in the political, military and corporate sectors. After watching the film Inequality for All, my perspective on social inequality has influenced my perspective on social class.

    Read More

  • Homelessness Essay

    569 Words  | 2 Pages

    ​American society today is epitomized by the growing divide between rich and poor. What is significant about this fact is that both ends of the spectrum are accelerating away from each other, with poor individuals sliding further still into the doldrums of poverty, while those that have enjoyed success in the past to a large degree continue to accumulate even larger sums of riches.

    Read More

  • Essay On Income Inequality

    1524 Words  | 4 Pages

    Income inequality continues to increase in today’s world, especially in the United States. Income inequality means the unequal distribution between individuals’ assets, wealth, or income. In the Twilight of the Elites, Christopher Hayes, a liberal journalist, states the inequality gap between the rich and the poor are increasing widening, and there need to have things done - tax the rich, provide better education - in order to shortening the inequality gap. America is a meritocratic country, which means that everybody has equal opportunity to be successful regardless of their class privileges or wealth. However, equality of opportunity does not equal equality of outcomes. People are having more opportunities to find a better job, but their incomes are a lot less compared to the top ten percent rich people. In this way, the poor people will never climb up the ladder to high status and become millionaires. Therefore, the government needs to increase all the tax rates on rich people in order to reduce income inequality.

    Read More

More about Interracial Relationships in To Kill a Mockingbird

Open Document