Jim Crow Laws

The Jim Crow laws were in place throughout the Great Depression which is the setting of “Of Mice and men.”

Stetson Kennedy, the author of Jim Crow Guide, offered these simple rules that Blacks were supposed to observe in conversing with Whites:

      Never assert or even intimate that a White person is lying.

      Never impute dishonourable intentions to a White person.

      Never suggest that a White person is from an inferior class.

      Never lay claim to, or overly demonstrate, superior knowledge or intelligence.

      Never curse a White person.

      Never laugh derisively at a White person.

      Never comment upon the appearance of a White female.

Blacks who violated the Jim Crow Laws, for example drinking from the White water fountain, risked their homes, jobs and even their own lives. During The Great Depression and when the Jim Crow Laws were in place, Whites were superior to Blacks.