Interracial Relationships in To Kill a Mockingbird

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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...

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...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.

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