Effects Of African Americans In To Kill A Mockingbird
Despite the utter devastation and all-encompassing severity of the Depression of the 1930s, Richard Wormser, author of Growing Up in the Great Depression, sums up the bleak outlook on African- Americans during the time: “The Negroe was born in depression so the Great American Depression didn’t mean too much to him. The best he could be was a porter or shoe shine boy. It only became official when it happened to the white man,” (71). Blacks in the Depression had an existence many would describe as unfair at best and inhumane at worst. Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, accurately depicts multiple aspects of their paltry lifestyle. African-Americans in Lee’s story such as Calpurnia or Reverend Sikes must wait for the whites to sit
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Harper Lee details just one of their many curtailments: “The Negroes, having waited for the white people to go upstairs, began to come in” (218). Blacks were not only forbidden to sit down before whites, but it was also illegal for them to do so. Nearly all aspects of their lives remained trammeled and in past tense of whites, even when merely mailing a letter. David Fremon, author of The Jim Crow Laws and Racism in American History expands on the issue: “In some places, such as post offices or banks, whites and blacks shared facilities. However, blacks had to wait until whites were finished before they could be served” (28). African-Americans could not avoid association with whites, and when doing so they were constantly reminded of their diminutive status in society by being forced to constantly yield to the other race. Subsequently, the immense amount of degrading comments and ignominious actions towards blacks resulted in a pervasive, despairing feel. Fremon again accurately describes the time: “After a while, the term Jim Crow became more than just a set of laws. It referred to a way of life that was full of limitations for African Americans. In some ways, these humiliations were as bad as slavery” (27). Laws as constricting as the Jim Crow laws made life hardly worth living. The constant reminders of their “inadequate” ethnicity in social life
Harper Lee details just one of their many curtailments: “The Negroes, having waited for the white people to go upstairs, began to come in” (218). Blacks were not only forbidden to sit down before whites, but it was also illegal for them to do so. Nearly all aspects of their lives remained trammeled and in past tense of whites, even when merely mailing a letter. David Fremon, author of The Jim Crow Laws and Racism in American History expands on the issue: “In some places, such as post offices or banks, whites and blacks shared facilities. However, blacks had to wait until whites were finished before they could be served” (28). African-Americans could not avoid association with whites, and when doing so they were constantly reminded of their diminutive status in society by being forced to constantly yield to the other race. Subsequently, the immense amount of degrading comments and ignominious actions towards blacks resulted in a pervasive, despairing feel. Fremon again accurately describes the time: “After a while, the term Jim Crow became more than just a set of laws. It referred to a way of life that was full of limitations for African Americans. In some ways, these humiliations were as bad as slavery” (27). Laws as constricting as the Jim Crow laws made life hardly worth living. The constant reminders of their “inadequate” ethnicity in social life