Agenda
• Slavery• The Civil War• Jim Crow Laws• The Civil Rights Movement• Montgomery Bus Boycott• Scottsboro trials• Traits of southerners• Harper Lee
Slavery
• The first record of African slavery was made in 1619.
• Slavery began because the plantations needed many workers.
• Before slaves were brought from Africa, some early settlers tried to make slaves of the local people.
• Later, slaves where brought from Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Slavery
• A slave is defined as “a human being, who is by law deprived of his or her liberty for life, and is the property of another. ”
• Death penalty for those who aid any slave in running away or departing from his master.
• In the novel, the morals of slavery greatly clashed with the morals of Christianity.
• Southern society classified Negroes as not human, but of an inferior race.
The Civil War
• Abraham Lincoln proclaimed war against the south.
• Southern States: Virginia, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana.
• It was fought from 1861 to 1865 over slavery.• In To Kill A Mockingbird, the black and white
had conflicts.
Jim Crow Laws
• Jim Crow is not a person, but a 19th century stereotype of African Americans.
• They mandated de jure racial segregation in all public facilities, with a supposedly "separate but equal" status for black Americans.
• The blacks didn't like it because it went against everything they believed in as a race.
• When Tom Robinson is being put on trial, the black people and white people are separated into different areas of the courtroom.
The Civil Rights Movement
• It began in 1955.• It was about the movements in the United
States aimed at outlawing racial discrimination against African Americans and restoring voting rights in Southern states.
• President John F. Kennedy supported it.• As the result, African-Americans became
equal to whites.
The Civil Rights Movement
• Significant Events:• Brown v. Board of Education, 1954• Desegregating Little Rock, 1957• Sit-ins, 1960• In the novel, Rosa Parks refused to give up her
seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955.
Montgomery Bus Boycott&Scottsboro trials
• Montgomery Bus Boycott was a political and social protest campaign that started in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama.
• It intended to oppose the city's policy of racial segregation on its public transit system.
• Scottsboro trials served as one of the inspirations for Harper Lee's novel.
• They are similar in the time they took place which is in the 1930s.
Traits of a Southern Belle
• Pants and trousers were not allowed on girls.
• They spent time to make tea.
• They clean the house.
• Mrs. Dubose was a stereotypical Southern Belle.
Traits of a Southern Gentleman
• Calling one Sir or Ma'am
• Opening doors for ladies
• Removing their hats when in the presence of a lady
• In the novel, Atticus is a gentleman
Harper Lee
• She was born on April 28, 1926.• She was awarded the Presidential Medal of
Freedom of the United States for her contribution to literature in 2007.
• The book was significant as it deals with the issues of racism that were observed by the author as a child in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama.
Harper Lee’s writings
• "Love—In Other Words". (April 15, 1961) Vogue, pp.64–65
• "Christmas to Me". (December 1961) McCall's• "When Children Discover America". (August
1965) McCall's• "Romance and High Adventure" (1983)