To Kill A Mockingbird: 1930's Prejudice

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Resource Material

by David Claudon

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Teaching Prejudice 1930's Style

When I was growing up in the 1950's, I felt Life was one of those great educational magazines which told unbiased picture stories about world events. Looking back at issues of Life from the 1930's I realize how wrong I was.

An innocent looking Life magazine article chronicling the marketing of watermelons shouldn't be bigoted, should it?

Source: Life, August 9, 1937, pp. 50-52.

The watermelon starts its journey to market in an ordinary wheelbarrow, pushed by a grinning Negro. Picking Cuban Queens is no light work, for each melon weighs, on the average, about 30 pounds and the loaded barrow must be trundled across a soft, sandy field.

Why is it that the wheelbarrow is pushed by a "grinning Negro'?

Does this picture illustrate the following statement with Mrs. Merriweather?

...There's nothing more distracting than a sulky darky. Their mouths go down to here. Just ruins your day to have one of 'em in the kitchen. You know what I said to my Sophy, Gertrude? I said, 'Sophy,' I said, 'you simply are not being a Christian today. Jesus Christ never went around grumbling and complaining,' and you know, it did her good. She took her eyes off the floor and said, 'Nome, Miz Merriweather, Jesus never went and grumblin'.' (232)

The melons are loaded from wagons into railroad cars, where skilled packers place them three-deep on a bed of straw. The melon is a fragile fruit and unless packed tightly will crack open in transit. Even with the best of packing, shippers allow for a breakage of one in 20.

So the African American does the heavy work and the white packers place them in the railroad car?

How busy does the worker on the right appear?

A "watermelon king" is Roy E. Parrish of Adel, president of the National Watermelon Distributor's Assn. and a grower with many acres around Adel.
The broken stem must be painted to prevent decay before the watermelon is shipped. This worker is standing in a full car of melons, applying a paste made of copper sulphate. The cars are ventilated but not refrigerated.
Watermelons sell like hot cakes at roadside stands throughout the South. At this stand in Adel, Ga., a good melon costs 15 cents. In the North it would cost 40 cents.

Page 52

ALL SOUTHERNERS LIKE WATERMELON

(continued)

The watermelons which make the most money are those shipped North but the watermelons which are most appreciated are those consumed in the South. White or black, Southerners know how a watermelon should be eaten. For maximum deliciousness it should be sliced lengthwise and held in the hands. Old clothes or bathing suits should be worn.

A watermelon picnic is considered the height of fun by Georgia girls, who like to cool their melons in a creek. The girl seated at right is going to get sand in hers

Nothing makes a Negro's mouth water like a luscious, fresh-picked melon. Any colored "mammy" can hold a huge slice in one hand while holding her offspring in the other. Since the watermelon is 92% water, tremendous quantities can be eaten. What melons the Negroes do not consume will find favor with the pigs (below).

Is there a hierarchy implied by the layout of these pictures?

Could the pictures be changed in location and change the implication? Why is what the African Americans leave fed to pigs?

How comfortable do you think the average American woman, of whatever ethnic background, would have been to be seen breastfeeding in a national magazine?

What do the words "colored 'mammy'" connote to you?

And from the same issue:

page 21

FOUR SCOTTSBORO BOYS SET FREE AFTER SIX YEARS

Rushed to New York by their famed lawyer Samuel Leibowitz, four of the Scottsboro Boys--Williams, Roberson, Montgomery and Wright (LIFE, July 19)--posed goggling at the Statue of Liberty from his office (left). After six years in jail, Alabama set them free July 24 because they were sick or juveniles at the time of their alleged crime.

Mr. Leibowitz was congratulated by his wife and daughter (centre). Heywood Patterson (right) and the four other Boys remained in jail with sentences of 20 years to death.

Read more about the Scottsboro Boys Trial. Why are the boys posing "goggling" rather than just looking at the Statue of Liberty. What kind of bias do you see here?

This webpage was created by David Claudon, October 9, 2001. Last revision, October 15, 2003 .