Examples Of Racial Injustice In To Kill A Mockingbird

For innumerable decades, egregious amounts of discrimination towards a race deemed to be less superior, African Americans, were legalized by the Jim Crow laws of southern America. In fact, Jim Crow laws sanctioned racial injustice and took African Americans natural rights, like the right to vote, away from them. Also, almost any act of violence towards African Americans was overlooked, and segregation was regulated. The normalization of racial injustice essentially puts whites on a pedestal, making African Americans seem inferior. In literature, this time period was looked back upon and written about to discuss and emphasize the consequences of hatred and racial injustice. For example, the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee depicts
Two of the many documentaries made on the topic include "The Untold Story of Emmett Till" and "The Injustice of the Scottsboro Nine.” Thus, many types of literature and media were made to depict the conditions African Americans faced during this time. Given this, each piece of literature relates to the overarching theme of racial injustice in Jim Crow South. They each discuss racial violence, racial prejudice, and the struggle for justice people of color faced while Jim Crow laws were enacted. To start, racial violence is represented in the written works, To Kill a Mockingbird and “The Dark Brown Dog.” First, in To Kill a Mockingbird, the close-knit county of Maycomb is swayed by a court case in which Tom Robinson was falsely accused of raping a girl named Mayella Ewell. In fact, Tom Robinson is wrongly accused of rape solely because he is a man of color, indicating that he is facing racial discrimination. Furthermore, Scout’s father, Atticus Finch, decides to defend and associate with Tom Robinson so he can have a fair
Similarly, in “The Dark Brown Dog,” which is an allegory about a dog that is abused by its family, which alludes to the violence emancipated slaves endured under the pretense of freedom. In the story, the father is the dog’s main abuser, and feels no remorse. Furthermore, it is stated that the father “advanced with glee upon the dog,” (Crane 4). Thus demonstrating how the father took joy in abusing the dog. Therefore, the father represents Jim Crow laws, which were enacted after the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery. This is because Jim Crow laws overlook almost any act of violence towards people of color. Furthermore, violence fueled by racism is depicted in the two videos, “The Untold Story of Emmet Till” and “The Injustice of the Scottsboro Nine.” To begin, in the documentary “The Untold Story of Emmet Till,” Emmet Till’s story is told through the words of his family, friends, and others involved with his case. In summary, Emmet Till was a 14-year-old boy who was falsely accused of flirting with and touching 21-year-old Carolyn