What is segregation? According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, "segregation is the practice of restricting people to certain circumscribed areas of residence or separating institutions (schools, churches) and facilities (parks, restrooms) on the basis of race or racial presumed”. Segregation was a horrible thing that happened in the book To Kill a Mockingbird. In To Kill a Mockingbird he shows segregation, Jim Crow laws and the Great Depression. “‘Jim Crow’ was an antebellum minstrel show character. A white man (Tom “Daddy” Rice) – dressed as a black man – incorporated a character called “Jim Crow” into his show in 1832. Jim Crow sang a song to this music. Soon, the term “Jim Crow” became a euphemism for “Negro.” Soon, the term “Jim Crow Laws” became a euphemism for “legal segregation” (“Jim Crow Laws”). The Civil War ended and the slaves were free. No one knew how to treat free slaves; people in the South didn't like them ("Jim Crow Laws"). They had to find a “way to live with them” (“Jim Crow Laws”). To do this, they needed African Americans to separate themselves from whites. So laws grew that they had to be "separate" from whites ("Jim Crow Laws applied to 'all Southern States,'" and by 1914 every state had some sort of Jim Crow law ("Jim Crow Laws"). Jim Crow"). Blacks were soon "not allowed" to go where whites went and were not even allowed to ride in the same train car ("Jim Crow Laws"). respected” and even the Supreme Court “enforced” the laws (“Jim Crow laws”) really important at that time for whites. For example, in To Kill a Mockingbird, everyone enters the courthouse. but blacks must go upstairs and whites...... middle of paper ......m> .“Jim Crow Law.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 2010. Web, April 30, 2010. “Jim Crow Laws.” NetTrekker, nd Web, May 2, 2010. “Segregation Ordinances: Birmingham, AL.” NetTrekker, June 18, 2004. “Racial Segregation.” Np, 2010. Web, April 30, 2010. Simkin, John “Jim Crow Laws.” NetTrekker. Np, nd Web. April 23, 2010. Texas State Library and Archives Commission. “Women and children, around 1920”. NetTrekker. Np, November 2, 2005. Web April 29.. 2010. .