To Kill A Mockingbird Jim Crow Laws Essay

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Jim Crow laws have impacted the past but america has come a long way. Even though there are still racist people, every race has equal rights. Jim Crow laws were effective during the early to mid 1900s and were the main reason for African Americans being segregated. In Harper Lee’s fictional novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the audience is subjected to the harsh impact of Jim Crow in Maycomb, Alabama through which the innocent narrator, Scout Finch, struggles to understand the justification for such biased laws. By evaluating the impact of Jim Crow laws on black rights in America during the time period of the novel and present day, it is revealed that the influence of these laws have little effect to black rights today. In the 1930s, when Jim …show more content…

It's hard to explain—ignorant, trashy people use it when they think somebody's favoring Negroes over and above themselves. It's slipped into usage with some people like ourselves, when they want a common, ugly term to label somebody (pg.112). Nigger-lover was being used as an ugly term to label somebody. That means that liking black people was a bad thing and this shows that the African Americans were treated unfairly during this time. An article from Fordham University states “Smångs, assistant professor of sociology and anthropology, studied hundreds of lynchings in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, focusing on those that were public and ritualistic. By defining white identity in terms of a threat that black people supposedly presented, these lynchings paved the way for repressive Jim Crow laws.” During this time, African Americans were seen as a threat to whites. That’s why Jim Crow laws were developed. Jim Crow laws were in effect during the 1930s. “I seen that black nigger yonder ruttin' on my Mayella!”(pg.175). Mr.Ewell would not have the same reaction if that person was white, that’s why he says “that black nigger.” This shows that African Americans did not have the rights that whites did and Jim Crow laws were still in effect.

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