In the novel Ellen Foster, racial segregation was common in the community. Many white people treated the African-American people as if they were not completely human and did not give them the respect they deserved. Even Ellen Foster, whose best friend Starletta was African-American, felt uncomfortable communicating with African-Americans. Laws that created a semblance of equality became dominant, and they became known as “Jim Crow laws.”
They supported the idea of “separate but equal”, and required “racial segregation in schools, churches, housing, jobs, prisons, public accommodations, cemeteries - in virtually every aspect of public and private life”. These laws were merely a front by the government so it would seem as if they were doing something about the racism running rampant in the South, while actually the separation of the whites and the blacks made sure there would never be equality between the two. The effects of the Jim Crow laws were cruel and long lasting, and even many years later in Ellen Foster's life, they still plague the African-American population of the community.
