Racial Tension in American Literature
Racial tension in American literature 1930’s-1960’s
‘You know if I was a negro i’d probably think the same way they do’
Anderson
‘If you were a negro nobody would give a dam what you thought’
Ward- Mississippi Burning (1988)
During the 1930s-1960s America was a place of racial tension. The blacks and white were
not equal. It was a time of black oppression an injustice. These themes are shown through the texts, ‘The Help‘ by Kathryn Stockett, ‘Mississippi Burning‘ directed by Allan
Parker, ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird‘ by Harper Lee and ‘Caged Bird‘ by Maya Angelon. These texts depict a society of white supremacy, injustice, opression and fear of the other.
White supremacy is depicted throughout the texts with whites having all the power. This is shown through their ownership of blacks and their segregation systems. In the three texts the writers describe how the blacks are not allowed in the white areas and not permitted to use white facilities. For example, in ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird‘ they have a ‘niggar‘ church, and in ‘The Help‘ Miss Hilly demonstrates how the whites enforce segregation when she says, “We don’t want our children growing up thinking segregation is not okay!” This suggests that she wants the younger generation thinking that they over rule the blacks. Similarly in ‘Mississippi Burning‘ Miss Pell is like Miss Hilly as she promotes ‘segregation‘ is what it says in the Bible Genesis 9 verse 27. This conveys that she believes the white people have authority from God to segregate. Another way the whites have supremacy is through ownership. The whites own the blacks by employing them in low paid jobs. This control is also alluded to in ‘The Cage Bird’. ‘The free bird thinks of another breeze and the trade winds to the whites advantage. All the products (cotton, rice, fruit and goods) would have been sent all around the world. The slaves would have obviously made this happen and helped the white man to become rich. The ‘fat
not equal. It was a time of black oppression an injustice. These themes are shown through the texts, ‘The Help‘ by Kathryn Stockett, ‘Mississippi Burning‘ directed by Allan
Parker, ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird‘ by Harper Lee and ‘Caged Bird‘ by Maya Angelon. These texts depict a society of white supremacy, injustice, opression and fear of the other.
White supremacy is depicted throughout the texts with whites having all the power. This is shown through their ownership of blacks and their segregation systems. In the three texts the writers describe how the blacks are not allowed in the white areas and not permitted to use white facilities. For example, in ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird‘ they have a ‘niggar‘ church, and in ‘The Help‘ Miss Hilly demonstrates how the whites enforce segregation when she says, “We don’t want our children growing up thinking segregation is not okay!” This suggests that she wants the younger generation thinking that they over rule the blacks. Similarly in ‘Mississippi Burning‘ Miss Pell is like Miss Hilly as she promotes ‘segregation‘ is what it says in the Bible Genesis 9 verse 27. This conveys that she believes the white people have authority from God to segregate. Another way the whites have supremacy is through ownership. The whites own the blacks by employing them in low paid jobs. This control is also alluded to in ‘The Cage Bird’. ‘The free bird thinks of another breeze and the trade winds to the whites advantage. All the products (cotton, rice, fruit and goods) would have been sent all around the world. The slaves would have obviously made this happen and helped the white man to become rich. The ‘fat