Decade after decade, there was the cruel shadow of racism following people. The idea
terrified many, and led to the death of hundreds. Segregation walked hand-in-hand with racism,
which was equally as bad when it was a part of the southern society. Most people believe that
racism is the idea that separated African Americans from fair-skinned people. Really, it was
much more than that. The famous 1960s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, uses
racism from the 1930’s up to the year it was published to show a young girl’s childhood in one
of the most racist states, Alabama. Many historical events, such as the Scottsboro trials and the
addition Jim Crow laws, added onto common southern customs, contributed to influencing the
decisions of how Harper Lee set and wrote To Kill a Mockingbird.
The 1930’s was a time of racial discrimination and segregation. Harper Lee took the
average southern customs, such as racism and segregation from three decades, which helped her
write the novel. Although the novel was written in the 1960’s, the perspective on African
Americans hadn’t gotten much better (Historical Context 1). Blacks were treated unfairly, and
were thought of as unequal as opposed to the white society. Denied the basic rights all humans
should have had, African Americans were constantly under the oppressive world in the south. As
Gale Research Center has noted, “Blacks faced persistent problems in the 1900s, and their
communities were evolving in significant ways as they sought improved educational
opportunities, better housing and jobs, and safety from mob violence” (Baughman, Bondi,
Layman, 2). African Americans were challenged against the ideologies of racism, such as Jim
Crow Laws in the 1930s to the 1960s. This particular group of laws were especially harsh
models to control the differences in society, that were created by the government in order to
inflict rules as of how African Americans were to be treated and compared by white civilians
(Baughman, Bondi, Layman 1). The purpose behind these laws was “separate but equal,” which
was used in all parts of the daily living in southern lives (Baughman, Bondi, Layman 1). This
facet was never actually put into effect, and whites were commonly praised higher than blacks
were. There was little cause to make the two races equal. (Baughman, Bondi, Layman 1) Jim
Crow laws inflicted fear upon many African Americans. As Gale Research Center has said,
“Throughout the South in the 1900s, the process of depriving black citizens of their
constitutional rights continued as the doctrine of white supremacy held sway” (Baughman,
Bondi, Layman 1). This displays how for decades, minimalizing southern blacks had never
changed, and they continued to be part of racial discrimination. The segregation was a daily
threat to all African-Americans, and rarely did anyone of the opposite race do something to
vanquish it.
Discrimination was one of the frequent enemies to African Americans. Two inescapable
pressures greatly defined the relationships between whites and blacks in the south: segregation,
and violence (Baughman, Bondi, Layman 1). One wide-spread feature known to hundreds in the
1930s was the punishment of lynching blacks (Gale Research Center). This was a frequent
engagement between white men and black people. Throughout the south in the 1900s, “the
lynching of blacks was frighteningly common, though on the decline by comparison with the last
two decades of the nineteenth century: there were one hundred such incidents in the 1900 alone,
and eleven hundred between 1900 and the beginning of world war 1” (Baughman, Bondi,
Layman 1). Groups of white men hanged black people out of hatred and anger towards the race,
and it was never frowned upon until decades later. The danger of lynching was presented in the
novel in the suspenseful scene when a group of men, led by the Cunninghams, attempted to
lynch Tom Robinson, who was awaiting trial (Wilson, Jr.). These men felt it was the right thing
to do; by killing an innocent man because he was charged with harassing a white women. This
particular scene, along with other violent scenes from the novel were influenced by the threat of
lynching and other violence in the 1900s. The realism demarcated black/white race relations for
300 years before the book was released (Wilson, Jr.).
Harper Lee was influenced through all the common racism in the 1900s, added onto the
segregation, and harm African American’s faced, and helped her write set and wrote To Kill a
Mockingbird. It is affected by the surroundings in the 1930s, as well as the social aspects in that
period (Wilson, Jr.). For example, the social structure between races in the southern 1900s
provides a big contribution to how they were in the book. Charles E. Wilson, Jr. has noted,
“Another interesting historical truth addressed in the novel is the time-honored social order, both
racial and economic” (Wilson, Jr.). At the top of the social and economic structure, are wealthy
white people, followed be less wealthy whites, but who still believed blacks are inferior. Below
these groups are the poor whites and blacks. Yet, even at a similar economic standpoint as each
other, the social beliefs and expectations influence each race to hate the other (Wilson, Jr.).
These views on the social and economic structures of the southern lives in the 1900s affected
Lee’s views on her book. In the novel, black families are separated from the white families in
Maycomb, the town where the novel took place. Calpurnia, the Finch family’s housekeeper, lives
on the outskirts of town with her family, along with other black families. The separation that
occurred in towns like Maycomb provided a background in the novel.
Additionally, the typical segregation in the culture of the southern 1900s influenced the
writing. Education was a rarity for blacks, as there were no high schools that existed in the south
(Gale Research Center 2). This was no different in the novel, as it was described that there were
barely any black students who attended schools in Maycomb. “…Calpurnia tells the children she
is only one of the four members of the church who can read” (Gale Research Center 2).
Furthermore, racism was very alive in the book; because of the way Atticus was portrayed from
defending a black man on a trial. To southerners, whites integrating with blacks was against the
social beliefs (Gale Research Center). This type of situation was presented in To Kill a
Mockingbird. Scout was made fun of by other kids in her class at school, who were teasing her
for her father’s position in the Tom Robinson trial. It was unjust in the minds of people in
Maycomb, even children; that a white man sticks up for a black man. As Scout describes, “Cecil
Jacobs made me forget. He had announced in the schoolyard the day before that Scout Finch’s
daddy defended niggers. I denied it, but told Jem..." (Lee 77) People had made fun of Scout,
because it was not a normality in the minds of southerners to defend a black man on trial. Racism
was a daily concept dealt with by all in the 1930s (SIRS Discoverer). Harper Lee took
experiences and factors from the southern 1900s, and combined them together to write and set
her book.
The novel’s main focal point was the Tom Robinson rape trial. The accused, Tom
Robinson –a black man- was on trial for the rape of a young white woman. He was up against an
all white jury, and white prosecutors. The trial was a key section for Lee to use the segregation
and racism that was happening at the time. What the trial was based off of was the Scottsboro
Boys trial, which was a similar case in the 1930s. “Nine black youths were tried in Scottsboro,
Alabama, on the charges of raping to white women.” (Wilson, Jr.) Not only does the Tom
Robinson case reflect the Scottsboro case (SIRS Discoverer), but also it included the common
segregation that was expected in the south. For example, the court itself was separated between
the two races. White civilians lined the bottom floor and benches, and the juror stand; while
African-American civilians took the top level to the courthouse, all in a tight position together.
“The Negroes, having waited for the white people to go upstairs, began to come in. ‘Whoa, now,
just a minute.’ Said a club member, holding up his walking stick. ‘Just don’t start up them there
stairs yet awhile” (Lee 218). What this displays is how the settings were inside the courthouse.
Furthermore, Lee used the charges and details from the Scottsboro trials, to mirror the case
presented in the book. The Tom Robinson case was on a false charge and conviction of an
innocent man (SIRS Discoverer). The feelings attached to black male, white female relations are
grabbed in the book, (Wilson, Jr.) but mainly in the trial scenes. The trial imitates the Scottsboro,
and presents the reader with real-life situations and emotion-grabbing events involving innocent
men charged with crimes they can’t prove wrong.
Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a top selling, world famous book, detailing part of
the childhood of a young and tough girl, Scout. Throughout the novel, Scout experiences the
traumas and reality of living in a southern town in the 1930s, surrounded by harsh ideologies of
racism, segregation, and racial discrimination. The book was published in the 1960s, although it
had taken place thirty years before. The racial and social tensions in the earlier time period
influenced the writing, and setting of the book. Bases off of the Scottsboro trials in Scottsboro,
Alabama, the main event in the novel was the rape trial prosecuting Tom Robinson. The case,
along with the unforgiving Jim Crow Laws put into effect but never fully accomplished; and the
collective racism and racial discrimination from the 1900s, helped write, set, and overall produce
the classic novel, influencing readers of the real world factors of race and racism in literature.