The Tom Robinson trial really shows how biased the whole legal system was during these times, with Tom being sentenced to the chair when the evidence clearly showed he was innocent. The evidence showed a left handed man had done the crime, so Tom’s innocence was proved by “His left arm was fully twelve inches shorter than his right, and hung dead at his side”. However, Atticus obviously did make the jury think long and hard about it as they were out considering their verdict for four hours.
Many more examples of community racial prejudice are detailed in this story. These include: the trial, at the church and in jobs in the town. In the trial none of the black community was allowed to be on the jury. “First purchase African M.E. Church was in the Quarters outside the southern town limits .... paid for from the first earnings of the freed slaves”, this shows that not only did the black community pay for their church out of their first wages, but that they also have to have their own church, as the white community would not let them worship in theirs. Furthermore, we are then told that “Negroes worshipped in it on Sundays and white men gambled in it on weekdays”, this shows the disrespect the white men showed to the black community and their place of worship. Nearly all of the black community worked for someone in the white community in Maycomb, for example most of the Negroes work in the fields that are owned by
Mr Link Dees. Other Negroes work in jobs such as rubbish collectors. White people do not have those kind of jobs in Maycomb, as they feel they are beneath them.
“Can’t but about four folks in First Purchase read”. Calpurnia mentions this to Jem and Scout when they ask how they sang the hymns. Calpurnia and her son are two of the four black people who can read, however when asked where she went to school she replies “nowhere.” This implies to us that she either had to work at an early age to help provide for the family, or that black people could not go to school as we never hear Scout mention any black people at her school. We then find out that Miss Maudie’s auntie, Miss Buford, had taught her to read and write. By finding out that nearly all the black community is illiterate it shows us why they do not have good jobs. Furthermore, even if they were literate would they have been given a decent job?
However, even though there is a lot of racial prejudice in ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’, there are also a few examples of when people speak up against the prejudice in Maycomb. Examples of this are Miss Maudie’s comments on Boo Radley, “I remember Arthur Radley when he was a boy. He always spoke nicely to me”. This shows that not everyone thinks of him as a monster but as a nice boy.
In conclusion, I feel that Harper Lee explores the issues raised by racial prejudice in ’To Kill a Mockingbird’ by highlighting the differences in circumstances and conduct in the community between the whites and the blacks. This was shown in detailed accounts of similar issues, such as the different jobs that whites do compared to the blacks. Also, this was shown in the disrespect that the whites showed to the blacks in the equivalent of what they had, eg that the whites gambled in the blacks’ church during the weekdays. In addition, Harper shows the racial prejudice by highlighting factual information which the jurors still refuse to believe so that a black man is sent down for something he obviously did not do. These were highly charged times lacking in respect from one human to another and this is something which Harper puts across very clearly.
