Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1852

According to legend, President Abraham Lincoln credited Stowe’s novel as the direct cause of the Civil War. It was people in the North who initially fought against slavery, and discouraged its extension to the West, putting them at odds with the South, leading to the American Civil War. Stowe’s novel followed the passing of the Fugitive Slave Law Act, 1850, which stated that everyone had to help catch runaway slaves, and refusal to do so would lead to a $1000 fine, and six months in jail. The South still advocated the existence of slavery, explaining Stowe’s decision to set his novel in Kentucky. In the novel, black Uncle Tom is sold into slavery and is eventually whipped to death by his white owner Simon Legree. Uncle Tom is portrayed as a religious man, who is morally superior to the white people within the novel. The stereotype of the simple, but kind black slave is established with Uncle Tom, making the savage murder of him all the more upsetting. Stowe’s novel made people acknowledge the harsh lives of slaves; she had herself helped runaway slaves escape the South. The novel reflects the attitudes of Stowe, and other northerners like her who opposed slavery, encouraging others to do the same. Its publication alone shows that perceptions of race relations were beginning to change.

 

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain, 1884

The novel follows the relationship of black slave Jim and white child Huck Finn, as Finn begins to realise how harshly black people were treated as slaves

Twain used satire and the perspective of a child to subtly critique the institution of slavery, maintaining some of the themes set up by Stowe. The book was published twenty years after the Civil War, a time when some still argued that black people were inferior beings. Twain did not criticise slavery as heavily as Stowe did, as he wished to sell his book to both the North and the South, taking into account their differing views on slavery. The novel follows the relationship of black slave Jim and white child Huck Finn, as Finn begins to realise how harshly black people were treated as slaves. Like Uncle Tom, Jim too is killed when sacrificing himself for his white owner, Tom Sawyer. Speaking through Finn, Twain’s views mirrored northern views that slavery was an unjust and unfair institution.

 

Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell, 1936

The novel taps into Southern beliefs about slaves at the time of the Civil War, and the ‘Positive Good’ argument

This controversial novel proposed an idyllic view of slavery in the South. It chronicles the lives of the O’Hara family, living at their plantation at Tara, where the slaves are treated well and lead happy lives. This deters the slaves from leaving, even when they are freed by Lincoln’s ‘Emancipation Proclamation’, based on a real act in 1863, which freed 3.5 million slaves. The social disruption caused by this forces characters in the novel to conclude that black people were better off as slaves. The novel taps into Southern beliefs about slaves at the time of the Civil War, and the ‘Positive Good’ argument. White people argued that black people could not take care of themselves, and therefore had to be cared for through the institution of slavery, for their own safety and protection.

At the time of the novel’s publication, in 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was pushing his New Deal. This was a series of economic programs and reforms that were designed to help the American economy following the Great Depression. This appealed to black Americans, as they believed that the Deal would help them, and further the civil rights movement. However, this was criticised by white senator Josiah W. Bailey, in his 1937 Conservative Manifesto. He protested at the amount of money being spent on New Deal programmes, inspiring others, especially in the South, to oppose further social and economic reforms. In retrospect, the reforms did not last, and only helped black people moderately.

The novel accurately reflected perceptions of race relations at the time, as white people were unwilling to help black people. This is highlighted in the book, through the characterisation of certain black characters, like the simple Uncle Peter, and the dishonest Prissy. Their portrayal reflected white people’s stereotypical perception of black people, which prompted their advocation of slavery, as they believed black people to still be inferior.

 

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee, 1960

‘Mockingbird’ follows the story of Tom Robinson, a black man who is falsely accused of rape. White lawyer Atticus Finch defends him in court, but the town condemns Tom because of his race. The novel is told from the perspective of Atticus’ daughter, Scout, who learns from Atticus that people should not be treated differently because of their race. Black journalist Ida B. Wells argued that being accused of rape was the main reason why a black man would be lynched in the 1890s. Considering that the novel is set in 1933, it could be argued that Harper Lee took inspiration from this fact. Tom Robinson is portrayed as a respectable young man, in contrast to white characters such as Bob Ewell, an idea established in Stowe’s novel.

The 1950s marked the beginning of the active Civil Rights movement, starting with Brown vs Topeka in 1954, which led to the desegregation of schools. Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1956, which, following black peoples’ refusal to board public buses, led to their desegregation. The Greensboro and Nashville sit-ins followed in 1960, as groups of students sat at lunch counters and refused to move, which led to their desegregation. The ideas in Lee’s novel mirrored the desegregation laws being implemented by the Supreme Court, in attempts to secure racial equality. It is upsetting to think that Scout’s own changing view of race relations, and advocation of absolute racial equality, has not been fully realised, even today.

 

Beloved, Toni Morrison, 1987

Although slavery no longer exists, its ramifications are still felt

This novel details the story of former slave Sethe, who is haunted by her baby that she killed in an attempt to stop it being sold into slavery. The baby, known as ‘Beloved,’ represents the haunting legacy of slavery. The novel informs the reader that although slavery no longer exists, its ramifications are still felt. Morrison lived in Ohio in the north, and her novel follows a long line of northern ideas, that slavery was an unjust institution.

The novel was written in a period after the end of legal segregation, following President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Civil Rights Acts of 1964, which prohibited racism in public places, and 1968, which discouraged racism in housing and employment. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 gave government agents permission to ensure that voting practices were being carried out properly, and that black people were allowed to exercise their right to vote. The establishment of Affirmative Action, a set of laws ‘intended to end and correct the effects of a specific form of discrimination,’ also emerged from the Regents vs Bakke case in 1978. This demonstrates that the novel reflected changing perceptions of race relations at the time, as people in power continued to push for legal racial equality.

 

The Help, Kathryn Stockett, 2009

This novel focuses on black maids, and their mistreatment by their white owners.

White journalist Skeeter publishes the stories of several black maids in a book, giving them a voice and empowering them. Stockett gained her ideas from Mississippi maid owners and maids, demonstrating that the novel accurately reflected changing perceptions of race relations, especially in light of Obama’s election in 2008.

The novel isn’t without its problems though. It came under criticism for its portrayal of a white saviour in the form of Skeeter, and accusations that Stockett stole the life story of several real-life maids without their knowledge. Although it may be argued that historically, black people wouldn’t have had the platform that Skeeter provided them with, works of fiction don’t have to be accurate. Obama himself heralded his presidency as a new era and people around the world recognised the importance of America’s first black president. Over 200,000 people assembled in central Chicago to see the announcement, and black activist Jesse Jackson, who took part in the sit-ins in the 1960s, was caught weeping with joy on camera.

 

Literature can help us track and trace changing attitudes towards race relations, and, despite the changes that these novels have tapped into and encouraged, recent events have proven that more needs to be done to ensure racial equality.

 

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More from Redbrick on this topic: 

Redbrick Culture’s Anti-Racist Reading List

Cultural Figures for Black History Month