To Kill a MockingbirdThe Effects of Yesterday on Today

Trekas-13’

“The book to read is not the one that thinks for you, but the one which makes you think.”

Harper Lee

Harper Lee (1926)

o Nelle Harper Lee was born in Monroeville, Alabama to a lawyer (father), and a former newspaper editor (mother)

o Youngest of four

o Self-confessed tomboy, who enjoyed reading and writing at an early age

Harper Lee

o After high school, Lee attended Huntingdon College, then transferred to the U of Alabama to study law

o After 3 years, she realized her passion was for writing

o Moved to New York

Harper Lee

o In 1957, Lee submitted her short stories to J.B. Lippincott publishing company.

o Agents of the firm encouraged her to take a year to string short stories together to form a novel

o In 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird was published

Harper Lee

o To Kill a Mockingbird became an international success

o Translated to over 30 languages

o Won the Pulitzer Prize (is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher, Joseph Pulitzer, and is administered by Columbia University in New York City) for fiction in 1961, and adapted for the screen in 1962

o Nominated for 8 Academy Award, including Best Picture

Harper Lee

o In 1966, Lee was appointed to the National Council of Arts by President Lyndon B. Johnson

o Has received several honorary doctorates from universities

Harper Lee

o Today, Lee prefers a private existence, giving few interviews and speeches

o After decades of silence, Lee was prompted by Oprah to put pen to paper yet again.

o She wrote a letter which appeared in the July 2006 issue off Oprah’s O Magazine.

Harper Leeo The letter describes a time in

Lee’s life in which books were scarce, and there were no public libraries, yet her parents continued to read anything they could get their hands on

o She lamented our modern-day lack of attraction to books, asking Oprah, “Can you imagine curling up in bed to read a computer? I still plod along with books. I prefer to search library stacks because when I work to learn something, I remember it.”

Harper Lee

o Lee has also been recently seen at the annual essay writing contest of high school students, held for the last six years at the University of Alabama.

o In 2006, she gave her first interview since 1964 to the New York Times at the essay contest award ceremony.

o “They always see new things in it,” she said of the students essays about To Kill a Mockingbird. “The way they relate it to their lives now is really quite incredible.”

o To Kill a Mockingbird has remained her only published novel

With this, we find ourselves in the year 1935, in the fictional town of Maycomb, in the very real state of Alabama….

The 1920’s in America

o America was experiencing a time of great prosperity and living a life of excess

o People had a lot of money and weren’t afraid to spend it on new inventions such as automobiles, refrigerators and the radio

o For the first time, people had credit cards, and were spending more than they made

o Individuals were living life to the fullest and the US economy began to thrive

1929

o In 1929, on a day that came to be called “Black Friday,” the stock market crashed

o This meant that the value of money had lost its worth

o Essentially, what someone could have bought with one dollar the day before, now cost three to five dollars

The beginning of “The Great Depression”

o Businesses could no longer afford to pay their workers and began laying off hundreds of thousands of people

o Banks could not afford to give people their money, and were forced to declare bankruptcy

o Life savings disappeared, and as a result, people couldn’t afford to pay their house payments or buy food, clothing, and other necessities

The downward spiral continued . . .

By 1932, 30% (16-20 million people) of the American population was unemployed

o Since people couldn’t work, they couldn’t pay their debts, and many were left homeless

o When inflation (a rise in prices) hit, even more people were homeless, jobless, forced to beg, borrow, and steal food just to survive

o Because the American people could no longer afford to spend money, the economy worsened

1932 and a New Presidento Franklin D. Roosevelt was

elected President in hopes he could turn the economy around and help those who were suffering

o The New Deal was introduced which helped instill faith in the government by introducing new programs such as unemployment insurance and disability insurance

o Unfortunately mass unemployment and economic stagnation continued for several years

WWII

o Onset of WWII sparked the economy as foreign countries began buying from American producers

o Great Depression officially ended after the US entered WWII in 1941, but the scars of extreme poverty and despair had left their mark

o Still is viewed as one of the most difficult periods in US history

Responding to the Photo

oDescribe what you see (Who is in the photo? What is going on? Where is it taken? When is it taken?)

o Interpret the photo (What insights can you offer? Can you connect with this photo?)

Jim Crow Laws

• The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965.

• They mandated de jure (legal) racial segregation in all public facilities, with a supposedly "separate but equal" status for black Americans.

• Some examples of Jim Crow laws are the segregation of public schools, public places and public transportation, and the segregation of restrooms, restaurants and drinking fountains for whites and blacks.

Jim Crow Etymology

• The phrase "Jim Crow Law" first appeared in 1904 according to the Dictionary of American English, although there is some evidence of earlier usage.

• The origin of the phrase "Jim Crow" has often been attributed to "Jump Jim Crow", a song-and-dance caricature of negroes by white actor Thomas D. Rice.

• The character of “Jim Crow” was the stereotypical and derogatory image of an ignorant black “fool” who sang and danced for white audiences

Jim Crow Laws

Alabamao All passenger stations in this state operated by any

motor transportation company shall have separate waiting rooms or space and separate ticket windows for the white and colored races

o It shall be unlawful for a negro and white person to play together or be in company with each other at any game of pool or billiards

Arizonao The marriage of a person of Caucasian blood with

a Negro, Mongolian, or Hindu shall be null and void

Jim Crow Laws

Floridao Any negro man and white woman, or any white

man and negro woman, who are not married to each other, who shall habitually live in and occupy in the nighttime the same room shall each be punished by imprisonment not exceeding twelve (12) months, or by fine not exceeding five hundred dollars

o The schools for white children and the schools for negro children shall be conducted separately

In addition to Jim Crow Laws

There were also unwritten rules, or rules of etiquette that blacks were expected to follow. For example:

o Blacks were expected to refer to whites with titles of superiority such as “Boss,” “Sir,” “Captain,” etc.

o Whites referred to blacks using derogatory terms such as “boy,” “lady,” “girl,” or the “n” word

o Rules of racial etiquette also required black to “give the wall” to white, meaning blacks were expected to step off of the sidewalk when walking on the street

o In parks, signs such as “Negroes and Dogs Not Allowed” were a common sight

o Both the Jim Crow laws and etiquette emphasized the simple rule that all blacks were, and must behave as if they were inferior to whites

The End of Jim Crow Laws• Remained in existence until

1960s

Your task . . .

o Wikipedia “List of Jim Crow law examples by State”

o Choose a few of the Jim Crow laws that most strongly affected you and discuss your feelings about them

The Scottsboro Trials

o In 1931, when Lee was five, nine young black men were accused of raping two white women near Scottsboro, Alabama.

o The alleged incident occurred after a fight between black and white men occurred while they were “riding the rails” looking for work

o Most of the white men were thrown off the train, and when the train arrived in Paint Rock, Alabama, everyone who was left was arrested for vagrancy (homelessness)

o The two women who were on board (one of whom was a known prostitute, the other, a minor), were also accused of violating the Mann act, which forbade the transportation of minors across state lines for a criminal act, including prostitution

o After exiting the train, the women immediately accused all nine black men of rape

The Scottsboro Trials

o The trial of the nine black men (one of whom was only 12 years old) began twelve days after their arrest, on April 6th, 1931, and lasted three days.

o Eight of the nine men were given death sentences, despite the face that the defense attorney pointed out that one of the men was blind, the other too elderly and crippled to commit the crime, another underage, and that they were not even in the same rail car.

The Scottsboro Trialso The cases were ultimately tried three times. For the

third time a jury—now with one black member—returned a third guilty verdict.

o Long prison sentences remained for five of the nine. o In 1943, on the condition that the imprisoned Scottsboro

boys promised to behave well, the state of Alabama began to allow the five men to leave prison one by one.

The Scottsboro Trial

o The “Scottsboro Boys” as they came to be called, were tried and convicted – for a crime that we can assume never happened

o There can be little doubt that the Scottsboro Case served as a seed for the trial that stands at the heart of Lee’s novel

The Scottsboro Trial: An American Tragedy

Daniel Anker and Barak Goodman produced the story of the Scottsboro

Boys in the 2001 documentary Scottsboro: An American Tragedy,

which received an Oscar nomination.

Summary

• Write a 1 page (approximately) summary and reflection of the Scottsboro case. Make sure to include the major events and discuss their significance. The summary must be in your own words and not copied from a web site or other source.

• Summary and Reflection Evaluation:• 10: Excellent summary, reflection, title, and is the proper length • 8-9: Good summary, reflection, title, and is the proper length • 7-4: Satisfactory summary, reflection, and may or may not include

a title or proper length• 3-1: Insufficient summary, reflection, and may or may not include

a title or proper length

To Kill a Mockingbird Predictions