Michael Harrington states: “To be a black is to participate in a culture of poverty and fear that goes much deeper than any law for or against discrimination.... After that racist statutes have been adopted all erased, after legal equality has been achieved in schools and courts, there remains the deep institutionalized and enduring wrong that white America has done to Negroes for so long.” (Frank 697). Racism plays a large role in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. The American dream is to live free and racism stops this dream for African Americans. Three main themes in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird are prejudice and tolerance, knowledge and ignorance, courage and cowardice. In To Kill a Mockingbird, prejudice and tolerance are the main themes. In the 1950s, African Americans were forced to sit at the back of the bus and were not allowed to serve on the jury; nor could they sit with white spectators, and had to attend separate churches (Bernardo 76-77). Prejudice and tolerance are shown when Atticus has to deal with a case involving a black man falsely accused of raping a white girl. Tom Robinson is the black man accused of the crime of which he is found guilty (Bernard 49). People send an innocent man to prison because of the color of his skin. There is hatred and fear towards the jury members during the Tom Robinson case. Atticus tells his sons (Scout and Jem) that any white man who takes advantage of a black man's ignorance is "trash" (Telgen 292). In To Kill a Mockingbird, Ewell is a struggling man on the outskirts of town, unable to provide for his family. He blames African Americans for his problems. He wishes to destroy their lives as they did to him. Ewell is a good example of...... middle of paper ......ee is one of the greatest books I have ever published on earth and contains many fixed themes. Three major themes in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird are prejudice and tolerance, knowledge and ignorance, courage and cowardice. Works Cited Bernard, Catherine. To Kill a Mockingbird: Understanding Great Literature. Michigan: Gale, 2003. Print.Frank, Roy Leonard. “Quotational”. New York: 2001, 697. Print.Howard, Melissa. “The theme of knowledge in Lee's novel”. October 23, 2013 Web.Telgen, Diane, ed. "To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee, 1960." Novels for Students: Presenting analysis, content, and criticism of commonly studied novels. Vol 2. Detroit: Gale, 1997. 292-294. Press. “To Kill a Mockingbird: Fears.” Book Rags. Book Rag. November 11, 2013 Web.