Feelings That Kill

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Feelings That Kill

Racism is defined as the mistreatment of a group of people on the basis of color, race, religion, or national origin. The term racism can also be used to represent a hatred or prejudice toward another group. The novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, takes place during an extremely racist time in America. Nella Harper Lee wrote this novel to give her readers a harsh sense of the segregation that went on in the south during this time period. Between the years of 1925 and 1935 there were many problems facing the south. The depression brought job and poverty issues to many blacks, which increased the segregation. To Kill A Mockingbird has many parallels between the fictional segregation in the novel and the factual racism that actually took place in this time span.

Between the years of 1882 and 1968 there were many different types of racial discrimination and mistreatment of blacks. One of the main types of this behavior was lynching. “Lynching is the practice whereby a mob, usually several dozen or several hundred persons, takes the law into its own hands in order to injure and kill a person accused of some wrongdoing. The alleged offense can range from a serious crime like theft or murder to a mere violation of local customs and sensibilities” (The Reader’s Companion to American History). Lynching can also occur just from the violation of a local law, as stated in the definition. An example of this occurred in Birmingham, Alabama in 1925. “A group of black women, including Indiana Little, who was a social worker, are beaten by election officials while attempting to register to vote” (Browne). These women were trying to register to vote, but were beaten by white officials only because it was against th...

... middle of paper ...

...001. University of California, Los Angeles. 10 Mar.

2002.<http://www.thediasporaproject.com/research_topics/race_timeline.htm#Tse

kani Browne>.

Lee, Nella Harper. To Kill A Mockingbird. Philadelphia: Harper & Row, 1982.

Ransdell, Hollace. "The First Scottsboro Trials." REPORT ON THE SCOTTSBORO,

ALA. CASE . 1999. American Civil Liberties Union . 10 Mar.

2002.<http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/scottsboro/SB_HRrep.h

tml>.

"The Handbook of Texas Online." The Texas State Historical Association. 23 July

2001. University of Texas at Austin. 12 March 2002. <http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/print/SS/jcs6.html>

Zangrando, Robert L.. "The Reader's Companion to American History." Houghton

Mifflin Co.. 1991. UIUC. 10 Mar. 2002. <http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/g_l/lynching/lynching.htm>.

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