Jim Crow laws were enacted as a racial caste system primarily in the Southern and Border states between 1877 and the mid-1960s. The laws were a type of government-sanctioned racism, creating separate but equal facilities for whites and blacks. For example, segregating water fountains, forcing blacks to sit at the back of public buses and denying them access to lunch counters where whites frequented. The laws also reinforced some racial prejudices held by the population, including that whites were superior to blacks in intelligence, morality, and behavior. Ellen grows up in this system and is obviously influenced by the beliefs promulgated by authority figures (Pilgrim). Her best friend, Starletta, is black but Ellen assumes this makes her less intelligent when she states in her thoughts, “She's not as smart as me, but she's funnier” (Gibbons 24). Many of Ellen's relatives, including her grandmother, repeatedly refer to African Americans in the book as "niggers," a derogatory term that even in her 10-year-old mind can't help but be offensive. Despite these negative influences, Ellen maintains a friendship with Starletta and frequents her house on multiple occasions