Cases Quote by John Simon

“Why reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up, is something I don't pretend to understand. ~Harper Lee, To…

— Harper Lee

'To Kill a Mockingbird' is really two stories. One is a coming-of-age tale told from the point of view of Scout Finch, a girl…

— Charles J. Shields

“As Tom Robinson gave his testimony, it came to me that Mayella Ewell must have been the loneliest person in the world. She was…

— Harper Lee To Kill A Mockingbird

The worst kind of novel is one that blames other people for the racial problem in order to make the reader feel good about…

— George Pelecanos

Race is the true protagonist of the American novel. Our most popular classic fictions have known this, from 'Moby Dick' to 'Beloved;' all these…

— Kevin Young

The idea that a person can be both black and white - and at the same time neither - is novel in America.

— Thomas Chatterton Williams

“In other ways my story didn’t follow the tradition. Its subversive elements attracted little attention, no doubt because I was deliberately sneaky about them.…

— Ursula K. Le Guin

In fact, some reviewers have said that as they got into the story they forgot that the protagonist is a black woman. They were…

— Christopher Darden

“on what we heard—” “Now don’t you be so confident, Mr. Jem, I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored…

— Harper Lee

We need to eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white.

— Barack Obama

Too often a story is examined through biased eyes, without a sensitivity for everyone who forged it. It's seen from the point of view…

— Jeffrey Wright

“Jem,” I asked, “what’s a mixed child?” “Half white, half colored. You’ve seen ’em, Scout. You know that red-kinky-headed one that delivers for the…

— Harper Lee