“It took me fifteen minutes before I could get ready to go and humiliate myself before a nigger; but I did it, and I never complain about it afterwards either. I didn't play any more tricks on him, and I wouldn't have done that one if I'd known it would make him feel that way” (Twain 49). Despite the times in which he lived and the extremely racist atmosphere in which he was placed, this is an example of how young Huck Finn is able to see a black man with the human qualities that the upbringing of Huck was supposed to take away from all the black people. . Huck's mind, from the beginning, is open to the possibility that Jim is just another human being, even though he has been taught otherwise. At the time that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is loosely based (1830-1845, roughly), slavery was widespread throughout the United States and there was very little precedent for some of the ideas contained in the story of Jim and Huck. Huck was raised by a family with extreme animosity towards black people, and so at first his attitude towards all black people is apparently very narrow-minded, much like the majority of people at that time. In order to fully appreciate this book, one must have a comprehensive understanding of what precisely this period was like. Between 1830 and 1860, the free colored population nearly doubled and the slave population was cut in half. Free blacks belonged to the following classes: those whose families had never been slaves, but perhaps indentured servants; those who were born to a free parent, those who purchased their own freedom (usually with the help of their loved ones), and those who managed to escape. Strict regulations were added to the slave codes, resulting in regulations such as every free black...... middle of paper...... ERA ABOLITIONNISM, NORTHERN ABOLITIONNISM. " - Slavery, Slave, Slaves, and American. Web February 15, 2012. Morrison, Toni "In Defense of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." Social Issues in Literature: Race in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Ed Claudia Durst Johnson and Elizabeth Des Chenes, Greenhaven Press, 2009. 103-109. Lester, Julius. Black Perspectives on Huckleberry Finn Ed James S. Leonard, Thomas A. Tenney and Thadious M. Davis, Duke University Press, 1992. 207. Smith, David "Huck, Jim et. Black Perspectives on Huckleberry Finn."., 1993.