Root Magic takes place in 1963 during the United States’ Jim Crow era in South Carolina. The Jim Crow era refers to the period of time following the Reconstruction era, which lasted from 1865 to 1877. During the Reconstruction era, federal law provided some protection for Blacks after the Civil War. However, this initiative ultimately failed, and new laws restricting voter registration and enacting segregation began to proliferate in the South in the late 1870s through the 1900s. These laws enshrined racist practices, and with institutions, businesses, and other services split between white and Black Americans, less funding went into supporting services and facilities for Black Americans. Additionally, Jim Crow laws also made it more difficult for Black Americans to register to vote, disenfranchising them so that they could not be more involved in local, state, and national elections. While racism was perhaps most explicit in the South, racist organizations like the Ku Klux Klan still existed across the US (“A Brief History of Civil Rights in the United States, Jim Crow Era.” Howard University, 2023).

In 1954, Brown v. Board of Education made it to the Supreme Court, and all nine justices ruled that segregation was unconstitutional.