During the 1930’s African Americans faced segregation and discrimination in nearly every area of their lives. In addition to the poverty that the rest of the country also faced, the colored people had to follow strict rules, and were not treated well. We can see some examples of the discrimination in the book To Kill a Mockingbird. In addition, we can also see that there is still a lot of segregation in America today. Racial Discrimination is a huge problem that began in the 1930’s and still exists today.
The main thing that affected colored people living in the Great Depression were the Jim Crow Laws. These laws gave a “separate but equal” status to African Americans, which included the separation of public schools, public transportation, and restrooms. This shows the segregation that African Americans had to face during the 1930’s. Even though the law was supposed to give them equality, they were not treated the same as the white people in America. Josh Gibson was a famous baseball player who competed in the Negro leagues from 1930-1941. He was affected by discrimination because he couldn’t play with or compete against white baseball players. This shows how all African Americans were treated during the time that the Jim Crow laws were in effect: like different kinds of people. The Jim Crow Laws made life difficult for people of color, because they were not treated with the respect that they had been promised.
In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, we get a glimpse of what life was like for African Americans facing discrimination. On page 238, Reverend Sykes says to Jem, “I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man.” This shows that the colored people were not treated the same as white people, and had a great disadvantage in many situations. I think this is very unfair, but I can see that this was reality to the people of that time. On page 136, a woman from Calpurnia’s church says,