To Kill a Mockingbird

1. To Kill a Mockingbird About the Author and Historical Context “[A Writer] should write about what he knows and write truthfully.” –Harper Lee

2. Characters Scout- Narrator Atticus Finch- Scout and Jem’s father Jeremy Atticus “Jem” Finch- Scout’s brother Arthur “Boo” Radley- Jem and Scout’s recluse neighbor that dominates their imagination Nathan Radley- Boo’s older brother

3. Setting • Maycomb County, Alabama • Fictional town (It might be modeled after Monroeville, AL where Harper Lee grew up) • Maycomb has the characteristics of most small southern towns of that time • The people of Maycomb care very little about what goes on outside of Maycomb • There is a very distinct social hierarchy due to the fact that most of the families have lived in Maycomb for decades

4. When • “To Kill a Mockingbird” is set in the 1930s • During the 1930s America was suffering from The Great Depression which meant many people were out of work and poverty was ramped especially in the South. • During the Great Depression many poor families had very little money for food and essentials.

5. About the Author : Harper Lee • Grew up in a small town in Alabama during the 1930s (Just like the setting of the book!) • “To Kill a Mockingbird” was the only novel Lee ever published • Lee wrote Mockingbird in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement. In many ways, the book was her way of protesting the injustice that was occurring for so many African Americans in the South at the time.

6. Brown Vs. Board of Education (1954) • This was the landmark decision that required all schools to desegregate • Many see this decision as the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement

7. Emmett Till (1955) • A 14 year old northern boy who was visiting family in Mississippi was brutally beaten and murdered because he whistled at a white woman. • His murderers gouged his eyes out and beat him so badly that he was unrecognizable. They killed him by shooting him. • His killers were tried for his murder, but not convicted. They later wrote a detailed article about how they killed him and it was published in a southern magazine. (The killers were protected by double jeopardy).

8. Montgomery Bus Boycott (12/1/1955-12/20/1956) • Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat to a white woman on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama • The black citizens of Montgomery reacted by boycotting the buses in the city which crippled the Montgomery mass transit system. • The boycott lasted an entire year. Most of the participants chose to walk to work rather than riding the public buses

9. Autherine Lucy-U. of Alabama (1956) • Autherine Lucy is the first black student admitted to the University of Alabama • She was banned from the dorms and from all of the dinning facilities • She was expelled on her third day because the University claimed they could not provide her with a safe environment to learn.

10. The Little Rock Nine (1957) • Nine African American students enrolled in Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas • The governor refused to allow them into the all white school • President Eisenhower sent the National Guard to escort the students to school. The troops stayed with the students for the entire school year.

11. “To Kill a Mockingbird” is Published (1960) • In the midst of all the turmoil in the South Lee publishes “To Kill a Mockingbird” • Mockingbird provides a strong protest of the racial inequality that was occurring in the American South • Mockingbird shot to the top of the “New York Times” bestsellers list in the same year it was published, probably because the country was captivated by the Civil Rights Movement that was occurring before their eyes.

12. Has society changed since Mockingbird was published? • The following slides contain some questions/statements. We will discuss them as a class. • Please make sure your responses are appropriate and that you are respectful of you classmates and their opinions.

13. What do you think? In America, everyone has the same chance to succeed as everyone else.

14. What do you think? A hero is someone who succeeds at whatever he or she sets out to do.

15. What do you think? If someone stays away from people, he or she probably has something to hide.

16. What do you think? Majority rule is the best way because most people do what is right.

17. What do you think? A model family consists of a father, a mother, and children.

18. What do you think? In America, we all know that a person is innocent of a crime until proven guilty in a court of law. If he or she is judged guilty, we know it is true.

19. What do you think? You can usually tell what kind of person someone is by how he or she looks.

20. What do you think? Sticks and stone may break your bones, but words will never hurt you.

21. What do you think? A good father sets limits for his children.

22. What do you think? Some words are so offensive they should never be said or written.

23. What do you think? Killing another human is always wrong.