How Did Racism Affect The Lives Of African Americans During The Great Depression

During the Great Depression, many American’s lives were affected daily based off of their race. In the Great Depression there weren’t many jobs, and the only jobs available were mostly given to Caucasian males. If any Caucasian in the South during this time favored an African American, they would be treated as if they were one. The novel is focused in a rather racist fictional town known as Maycomb Alabama. In Maycomb, African Americans are seemingly scarce and so is the respect for them. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows the effect of racism on the lives of Tom Robinson, Mr. Dolphus Raymond, and Calpurnia. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Tom Robinson a middle-aged African American dealt with racism daily. Tom worked as a laborer on a large cotton field owned by Mr. Link Deas a kind farmer. Workers on farms were mostly black because laboring was usually the only job African Americans could get during this time period. One day walking to work, a young white lady asked him to help her do some simple chores. After Tom helped with her chores, the girl grabbed him and her father was appalled by her actions. After Tom ran away, the father beat his daughter. The father then decided to put the blame on Tom Robinson because a white man’s word during this time was always valued more than a black’s. The daughter helped frame …show more content…
Midst the Great Depression criticism was at a high and To Kill a Mockingbird shows this with three characters. Tom Robinson was an innocent African American who ended up being convicted of a crime because of his race. Mr. Dolphus Raymond was a Caucasian who was judged by others just because of his feelings for an African American. Calpurnia was a intelligent negro who wasn’t allowed to spend time with her bosses white children because of her color. Harper Lee displays that racism was a serious problem in the 1930’s and needed to be eliminated.