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Introduction |
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We are currently reading the novel A Lesson before Dying by Ernest Gaines. The setting of the novel is Bayonne, Louisiana, in the mid-1940’s. In this society, strong racial tension strained relations between African-Americans and “white” Americans as revealed in the novel. Segregation under the aegis of “Jim Crow Laws” prevailed. These laws caused segregation between African and “white” Americans in all public facilities. |
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A Lesson before Dying depicts the world of segregation in the rural South in the mid-20th century. Gaines depicts the racial tensions as many of the white citizens of Bayonne view African-Americans as inferior, and segregation is seen in all public places. Particularly, the reader sees the segregation and racism of African and “white” Americans in the court case of Jefferson who is accused of killing white men.
In this webquest we will investigate the social problem of segregation and racism in “Jim Crow” Louisiana in the 1940’s. Racism as we know it now in the South in the 1940’s began in the late nineteenth century by the failure of Reconstruction to enfranchise the “Freed” man into post-Civil War Southern society. The black man was politically, economically, and socially separated from white society. The federal authorities, state legislatures, and the United States Supreme Court conspired to create a public policy of segregation. We will also have a global overview of the evolution of African Americans’ situation between 1865 and 1965
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A Webquest |
