A reference to Ethiopia occurs in chapter 16 of To Kill a Mockingbird. Jem speaks the quoted line during a conversation with Dill and Scout about race and biological inheritance. Their conversation occurs when they watch Dolphus Raymond outside the courthouse. Raymond is white and lives with a Black woman; they have several children together. Scout asks what a “mixed child” is, and she and Dill demand to know how one can tell a person’s race.

Jem cites their Uncle Jack in bringing up references to Ethiopia in the Old Testament of the Bible. He is repeating Jack’s point that the Finches, who are all white as far as they know, might have Black ancestors in the distant past. He means that if ancestry is traced back far enough, all human beings are related. Although Scout claims that such an origin would be too long ago to matter, Jem mentions the contemporary “one-drop rule” that determines race.

Ethiopia is a country in East Africa. During the early 1930s, when the novel takes place, Ethiopia was a kingdom ruled by Emperor Haile Selassie. In 1935–1936, Italy invaded and occupied the country, and the emperor went into exile.