A Lesson Before Dying
Imagine living under the thumb of a legal system that failed to provide equality of rights, based on the color of one's skin. This was especially true for black's living in the South during the early 20th century. With little federal oversight and even less concern for the civil rights of minorities, the story of Jefferson in Earnest Gaines masterpiece "A Lesson Before Dying", accurately illustrates a black man's struggle for a fair legal system. But to understand the justice of today, one must first examine the injustices of the past. The history of so called "Jim Crow" laws, American legal reformers, and reform law give us an insight into the history and achievements of those who dedicated their life's work to the attainment of a just legal process. So than, who was Jim Crow anyway? Jim Crow was a generic name for any white man in black makeup, imitating black culture or music. However, when most people think of Jim Crow they think of laws, which excluded blacks from public transport and facilities, juries, jobs, and neighborhoods. Gaines effectively portrays this dichotomy throughout the novel with poignant examples of this type of discrimination even though the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitut
But Plessy v. Ferguson is not the case today. In recent years many reformers have worked to change the law in favor of equal rights for all people. People like Macon Bolling Allen, who in 1844 became the first black lawyer. After completing an apprenticeship with a white lawyer, he was than admitted to the bar to practice law in the state of Maine. Or judge Irvin Mollison, who, with his appointment on November 3, 1945 to the United States Customs Court, became the first African-American federal judge with life tenure. These men proved to a biased judicial system that, by becoming a part of the legal "boys club", both they and all African-American's deserve equal treatment. These are the men who Gaines probably used as role models for the character of Grant Wiggins. As strong-willed as they were intelligent they paved the way for the creation of agencies such as the NAACP. The NAACP or National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is the oldest, largest and strongest civil rights organization in the United States. The principal objective of the NAACP is to ensure the political, educational, social and economic equality of minority group citizens of the United States. The NAACP is committed to achievement through non-violence and relies upon the press, the petition, the ballot and the courts, and is persistent in the use of legal and moral persuasion even in the face of overt and violent racial hostility. In 1890, Louisiana passed the "Separate Car Law," which purported to aid passenge
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Approximate Word count = 1016
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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