TKAM Background

 Jim Crow was the name of the racial caste system that operated in the southern states between 1877 and the mid 1960’s.  Under Jim Crow, African Americans were referred to as second-class citizens  Many Christian Ministers taught that whites were the chosen people, blacks were cursed to be servants, and that God supported segregation.

 Whites were superior to blacks in important ways.  Sexual relations between whites and blacks would produce a mongrel race that would destroy America.  Violence must be used to keep blacks at the bottom of the hierarchy.

A rest stop for bus passengers on the way from Louisville, Kentucky to Nashville, Tennessee, with separate entrance for Blacks

 A black male could not shake hands with a white male because that would mean that they are socially equal.  A black male could not touch any part of a white female (even if she was in danger) because he would risk being accused of rape.  Blacks and whites could not eat together. If they were in the same restaurant, whites must be served first.  A black male could never offer a light to a white female, this implied intimacy.

A sign at bus station, Rome, Georgia

 Blacks could not show affection to one another in public because it offended whites.  Blacks were always introduced to whites, never the opposite.  Whites did not use Mr., Mrs., Miss, Sir, or Ma’am, when referring to black people; they were called by their first name. Blacks must use courtesy titles when referring to whites.  If a black person rode in a car with a white person, they must sit in the back.  White motorist had the right of way at all intersections.

Restaurant, Lancaster, Ohio. 1938

 Never say that a white person is lying  Never suggest that a white person is inferior  Never curse a white person  Never laugh at a white person  Never comment on the appearance of white female

Movie theater’s "Colored" entrance, Belzoni, Mississippi

 Jim Crow Signs were placed above water fountains, door entrances, and in front of public restrooms.  There were separate hospitals, prisons, schools, churches, cemeteries, and restrooms.  Georgia-No colored barber shall serve white girls or women.  Georgia-Distinct arrangements should be made in mental hospitals so that no whites and blacks share a hall  Georgia-People that are licensed to sell beer or wine may not sell to two races within the same room

The Rex theater for colored people, Leland, Mississippi. June 1937.

 Blacks risked losing their homes, jobs, and even their lives.  Whites could physically punish blacks.  There was no help from the legal system because all judges, policemen, and juries were white.  The most extreme form of violence were lynchings:  Most victims of the lynch law were hanged or hot, but some were beaten with clubs, burned at the stake, castrated, or dismembered.  This all took place in public.  The lynch law believed that lynchings were necessary to protect white women from black rapists.

 9 black young men accused of rape by two white women in 1931  The men were nearly lynched before being brought to court.  They were not provided with a lawyer until the first day of the trial.  The women were rumored to be prostitutes (they eventually recanted their testimony)

 Despite medical testimony that the women had not been raped, the all-white jury found all of the men guilty and sentenced all but the youngest (a 12 year old) to death.  Trials and retrials lasted over seven years  Convictions eventually overturned due to lack of evidence  All but one man was freed  The Scottsboro case left a deep impression on the young Lee, who would use it later as the rough basis for the events in TKAM.