Racism In To Kill A Mockingbird And The Help

The 1960’s was a very prejudice time in history, though slavery was over the civil rights movement had (the protest against racial segregation) only just began in the fifties, therefore the whites were still very racist and ignorant. During the sixties, it was common for black women to be maids and caretakers for white families. It was very dangerous to be involved in any way with a coloured man or woman outside of closed doors. In The Help and To Kill A Mockingbird Racial segregation is very apparent, but with this racial standard courage and understanding also came along with it, the acting up of a coloured person often cost them their jobs or their lives. The novel To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee and the movie The Help by Tate Taylor …show more content…
One of the main characters in the film named ‘Miss Hilly’ is a standard wealthy woman in Jackson, Missouri, meaning she is very ignorant and racist towards coloured people. Hilly cares about the judgment of others and how she looks within society, she has to look professional and hating blacks are one of the standards in society. Miss Hilly lets out all her rage and judgment on the blacks and fired Minny for using her guest washroom, she makes rumors saying that Minny stole from her to ensure she does not get another job. Her cruel attitude towards blacks completely contradicts in society because she is the + president of a charitable cause going towards giving to the poverty stricken black children in third world countries. This validates the theme of racism because in Hilly 's community they all talk and treat the coloured people poorly like they have some contagious disease, while she is trying to help the black children in poor countries through charity. The that are starving are the exact same as her coloured maids, but will not pay them any respect. This shows how hypocritical and racist hilly and her friends are. A very similar situation present in the novel of To Kill A Mockingbird is regarding Scout 's teacher ‘Miss Gates’. Her teacher shows racism through her lesson on democracy, Miss Gates explains to the class that the US is a democracy but Germany and Hitler government is a dictatorship. Miss Gates believes that what Hitler is doing to the poor Jewish people is unfathomably wrong, yet scout overhears her at the trial, saying that the black people are getting what they deserve and that they should stay in their place. “Well, coming out of the courthouse that night Miss Gates was—she was goin‘ down the steps in front of us, you musta not seen her—she