Throughout the twentieth century, African Americans, particularly men, faced racist

portrayals and stereotyping on nearly every front. Ernest J Gaines A Lesson Before Dying tells
the story of a man named Jefferson who has been wrongly accused of a crime and sentenced to
death, as a result of racism in a fictional Louisiana town. During Jeffersons trial, his lawyer
attempts to get him acquitted on the basis that he is too dumb to be guilty, and that to kill him
would be to put a hog in the electric chair (Gaines 8). The novel focuses on the events leading
up to Jeffersons execution as the narrator, Grant, struggles to teach Jefferson to die not as a hog,
but as a man. The portrayal of African Americans as unintelligent and lesser than whites is
emblematic of both early twentieth century entertainment and the criminal justice system.
The prevalence of racism in the early twentieth century is hard to miss, and is
omnipresent in entertainment of the time, as can be seen with the use of blackface and the casual
degradation of African Americans in literature. Blackface has long been a cause of controversy,
having whites portray African Americans by painting themselves black and emulating racist
stereotypes. According to Mel Watkins, blackface is considered to be responsible for codifying
the public image of blacks as the prototypical Fool or Sambo (Driver). Black entertainers had
trouble becoming successful in the mainstream world of performance, and began participating in
blackface themselves, forcing them to embody the racism that prevented them from making it in
the industry as themselves. The acceptance of racism in mainstream culture was proliferated in
literature, with racist ideas and language filling many of the popular novels of the twentieth
century. Books such as The Great Gatsby include racist rhetoric without a second thought in a
casual conversation as if it means nothing, "It's up to us, who are the dominant race, to watch
out or these other races will have control of things" (Fitzgerald 19). This casual lowering of
African Americans and blatant racism only furthered ideas about the differences between blacks
and whites, carrying on the racist stereotypes common to the twentieth century. Not only did the
negative portrayal of African Americans in mainstream entertainment affect their daily lives and
interactions with non-blacks, but it even infiltrated the U.S. justice system.
The justice system of the United States has never treated African Americans equally, and
despite the reforms of the late 1900s, many innocent men of the early twentieth century found
themselves behind bars. While many of these cases did not end up in release, a lucky few did,
notably the Scottsboro Boys. After a fight, nine black men were accused of rape, and were all
given the death sentence, despite an absence of proof. After the accusations of rape were proven
to be false, and repeated appeals were the Scottsboro Boys gradually released (History).
Though the case had no evidence, the boys were initially convicted, and sentenced to the highest
form of punishment the legal system offers on the word of two white women. If the large number
of cases in which black men were put in prison for crimes they did not commit, Gaines himself
gives the basis for A Lesson Before Dying, a young man sentenced to death, for murder, who
received an unfair trial and whose prosecution presented no witnesses or legitimate evidence
(Writing A Lesson Before Dying). Gaines describes how many times he had seen cases like
this, scenarios where an entirely white jury could put a man to death with no witnesses, but
solely on the fact that the accused was black, and was assumed to be at the level of a criminal.
Gaines goes further to describe the lack of attention the accused received once in jail; after his
execution failed, he was forced to wait in jail without knowing what would happen next, as one
might treat an animal they intended to slaughter, not a human being. Despite what may be seen
as a willingness to comply with racist behaviors, few were truly happy with what was happening
around them.
With the participation of African Americans in blackface, some try to argue that there
wasnt a problem with blackface. While it may not have been looked upon highly by other
members of the black community, that was not the primary target of anger over blackface
performances. Rather the profiting of whites off of racist portrayals of African Americans, when
blacks could have played themselves in a non-racist way sparked the most anger, with Frederick
Douglass calling blackface performers the filthy scum of white society, who have stolen from
us a complexion denied them by nature, in which to make money, and pander to the corrupt taste
of their white fellow citizens (A History of Minstrel Shows). Not only do whites profit off of
making fun of blacks and expressing racist feelings, they also spread their message while they do
it. By presenting black caricatures, they further stereotypes and offer more ways for blacks to be
stereotyped, while making it seem acceptable, as it is a part of modern culture. Nevertheless,
black entertainers have persisted, forming their own ways to make fun of their culture, without
letting others profit off of it, or encouraging racism.
When many people are asked about how black people were viewed in the early twentieth
century, they are able to speak to the blatant publicized racism that plagued society, but that
should never have to have been the case. What could be considered a classic portrayal of the
black man in the early 1900s, was that of someone unintelligent, and lowly, someone below the
level of non-whites, as was proliferated by mainstream entertainment and a faulty criminal
justice system. Though progression has been made since the early 1900s, there is still a long way
to go, and only by making the history of racist entertainment such as blackface and the
application of racial biases in the criminal justice system will society be able to take steps away
from the early twentieth century, and towards the liberal society the people of the twentieth
century claim to be.