After reading the Ernest Gaines novel
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, I learned a key lesson about how deep the roots of racism were. In the novel, a character called Tee Bob falls in love with a creole school teacher, Mary Agnes, even though she has African heritage. He doesn't seem to understand the dangers of the potential relationship, and what's worse: she doesn't return his feelings. The realizations of his family's legacy and views of race ultimately lead to his suicide.
The lesson I learned from this is the time it took for the echoes of slavery to finally die out. This fictional event took place in the 1920's or 30's, a good 60 years after slavery had ended, and yet the viewpoints and mindset were very much present.
