How the Jim Crow Laws Transfer to To Kill a Mockingbird
In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel set in a 1930s version of southern United States, we deal with the age-old issue of racism. As the story unfolds we see the people of Maycomb County judge Atticus for defending a black man who was accused of raping a white woman. While Atticus tries to defend Tom, the man on trial, he and his children, Scout and Jem, are faced with harassment from the people of Maycomb and their own family. Through all of the trials of racism they face, Atticus takes each teachable moment and uses it to his children benefit, teaching them to not blindly follow the ways of their county but rather to know what is right.
Looking through some of the ways Atticus teaches his children we find this great example of his calm way of helping his children understand difficult subjects. ”Scout,’ said Atticus, ‘ni**er-lover is just one of those terms that don't mean anything’like snot-nose. 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.” Then Scout said, ”You aren't really a ni**er-lover, then, are you?” Atticus replied with saying, ”I certainly am. I do my best to love everybody… I'm hard put, sometimes’baby, it's never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is, it doesn't hurt you.” (11.107-109). This is one of my favorites examples of Atticus teaching his children. Because he shows Scout how even in a society that hates black people and people who are just different in general that you are still expected to love people. The Jim Crow Laws stated in 1932 that ‘Race classification [State Code] Classified ‘Negro’ as any person with any Negro blood.’ So when we look into the ‘n-word’ there is nothing really technically wrong with it. Atticus knows different though and wants his daughter to understand that difference as well.
In chapter twenty-two we find Atticus explaining to Jim the unfair, but true, ways of the courtroom, ”The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box.” (23.38-40). In this scene, Jim is upset because Tom has just been found guilty from very little evidence. While Tom is given a fair trial, he is receiving the lowest treatment from the judge. Section one of the Fourteenth Amendment states that ‘All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.’ This amendment was meant to bring equality into the courtroom and everywhere else. Instead, the amendment was more of a, ‘check the box then send them to jail’ rather than the proper and fair trial that should constitutionally be given to every American citizen regardless of race. Jim sees this injustice and is made upset by the unfair treatment towards Tom. That when Atticus steps and passively explains the truths of the way of the law to his son.
After explaining to Jim that every person deserves fair treatment in the courtroom, Atticus states one of the most powerful lines in the book, ”As you grow older, you'll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don't you forget it’whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash.’ Atticus was speaking so quietly his last word crashed on our ears. I looked up, and his face was vehement. ‘There's nothing more sickening to me than a low-grade white man who'll take advantage of a Negro's ignorance. Don't fool yourselves’it's all adding up and one of these days we're going to pay the bill for it. I hope it's not in you children's time.” (23.40). Throughout the book, Atticus teaches his children in a mild-mannered way. He shows them how to walk away from situations calmly and how to keep the peace. He teaches them things in a calm and quiet way. That is what makes this part of the book so intriguing. This is the only time we see Atticus get angry. We see his disappointed and somewhat upset sides, but here we see a genuine anger. This catches his children's attention because they have never seen Atticus in this way. The way Atticus explains all of this is a threat to future generations. When we look through the Jim Crow Laws we see the way black people are treated poorly. As an example in Alabama we find the law, "It shall be unlawfully to conduct a restaurant or other place for the serving of food in the city, at which white and colored people are served in the same room, unless such white and colored persons are effectually separated by a solid partition extending from the floor upward to a distance of seven feet or higher, and unless a separate entrance from the street is provided for each compartment.’ Then in Kentucky, we see this law from 1873, ‘It was unlawful for a black child to attend a white school, and vice versa. No separate colored school was allowed to be located within one mile of a separate white school.’ The segregation of schools lasted until 1954. Black people were treated as though they were animals, not as humans. In section 1 of the 15th amendment, it is stated clearly, ‘The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.’ If black people are seen as animals and treated as animals, then why should they get to vote? The reason they vote is because they are human too and should be treated in such a way. So when we see Atticus asking his children to be the difference we see in the world, it is because he knows if something doesn’t change the crimes of all who mistreated will be repaid.
In closing, we find To Kill a Mockingbird fighting the battle of equality strongly. We see it giving warning to the people who discriminate against others. We see it teaching the people how too raise a child. Most of all though, we see it subtly coaxing America into a new era. Ms. Lee opened the eyes of the racist and the unknowing and influenced the moment of desegregation in our nation. Her book opposed the Jim Crow Laws and fought against oppression. The book fought using her words, and I believe that is something every person can take from. We can be the people who make the change. The battle of racism is not yet over, the fight for the end of sexism is not even close to done, and the struggle for the LGBTQ is just in its baby years. We still have so much to fight for, the war is not yet over. So use your brain and use your words. We can be the ones who make the difference in the world.