At this point in the novel, Jem and Scout tried to visit Calpurnia's church because Atticus was out of town. Lula, a member of the church, told them to leave because they were white. However, she was quickly corrected and the Finch kids were welcomed by the rest of the congregation.
The Jim Crow laws that existed at the time the novel was set called for the segregation of schools, restaurants, water fountains, transportation, entrances and exits, books, theaters, and churches, etc. One example in Durham was that the Carolina Theatre's balcony (the building went up in the 1920s) was for African Americans patrons.
Ideally, what should've happened is that no one should've protested their presence in an African American church that day. Even more ideally, the churches should not have been segregated at all. Much like the Carolina Theatre and churches of our community today, there should have been freedom in choice to go wherever one wished.
I agree with your point that nothing should have been segregated because that is wrong. I also think that if we didn't have segregation at all, maybe we wouldn't have the same society or problems that we do today.
ReplyDeleteThe real question is why did segregation happen in the first place? When did white people think that they were better than everyone else and why? Maybe if white supremacy was never a thing, we wouldn't have any of the problems we had or still have today. Nothing would've been segregated and no one would have protested their presence at a "colored" church.
ReplyDeleteIs this any different than our cafeteria at DSA? We almost always sit with people who look like us and that is not because we are racist. I've heard before that Sunday is the most segregated day of the week in America. That's because in the United States, most churches remain almost exclusively one race. This is a link to a 2010 Blog from CNN that discusses why churches remain segregated.
ReplyDeletehttp://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/10/06/why-sunday-morning-remains-americas-most-segregated-hour/