1. Background Information
To Kill A Mockingbird
Background Information

2. About the Author Early Life –
* Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama, a small town about sixty miles west of Montgomery. Her family was related to Robert E. Lee, the famous Confederate general. She was the youngest of three children. She enjoyed writing, but did not seek publication.

3. About the Author Education –
Harper Lee attended local schools until she entered Huntington College in Montgomery, Alabama in Later as a Fulbright Scholar, she spent a year at Oxford. Then from 1945 – 1949 she studied law at the University of Alabama. In 1950, she left the university without completing all the work for her law degree.

4. About the Author Life after college -
Harper Lee moved to New York City where she was employed for a time in the reservations department of Eastern Air Lines and later for British Overseas Air Corporation. During her stay in New York she contacted a literary agent and showed him five of her manuscripts one of the a short story which became the novel To Kill A Mockingbird. Encouraged by her agent to expand on the short story, she gave up her reservations job and moved into a small, cold-water apartment and devoted her energies to writing. She submitted the lengthened version of the story to a publisher in 1957 but was told to rewrite it because it seemed like a series of short stories and not a novel. She spent the next two years writing and rewriting.

5. About the Author Publication and Honors –
In 1960, the book was finally published and was soon to be awarded the 1960 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished fiction by an American author. The book also received the Paperback of the Year Award and the National Conference of Christians and Jews Brotherhood Award. It was a favorite choice with four major book clubs and eventually remained on the bestseller list for more than 85 weeks! The book eventually became and Oscar-winning movie.

6. Setting Southern Society in the 1930’s –
Jim Crow Laws – “Separate but Equal”
Separate drinking fountains and restrooms
Separate schools
Designated portions of buses and restaurants
Interracial dating was forbidden; Interracial marriages were illegal
Judicial terms that did not apply to Black people
“Innocent until proven guilty”
“Equality under the law”
Jury Duty
Receiving Legal Representation

7. Setting The Great Depression – 1929 – 1930’s
1933 – 25% unemployment vs – 4.2% unemployment
Black Thursday
October 24, 1929
13 million shares traded and prices dropped
$40 billion dollars were lost
Stock market crash was considered the start of the Great Depression

8. Setting American Presidents – Herbert Hoover Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Republican served from 1929 – 1932
Increased tariffs on farm products causing economic pressure
Later urged the passage of laws to support businesses, but it was “too little too late”
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Democrat
Created “New Deal” – programs and projects created to end the Depression
Raised the National Debt immensely, but helped America return to prosperity.

9. Characters
Atticus Finch – a lawyer in a small southern town (Maycomb, Alabama) who defends a Negro
Scout (Jean Louise) Finch – Atticus’ young daughter who functions as the narrator of the story
Jem (Jeremy) Finch – Scout’s older brother
Cal (Calpurnia) – The Negro cook who has been responsible for helping Atticus raise his children

10. Characters
Aunt Alexandria – Scout and Jem’s very proper aunt who comes to care for the children during the difficult time of the trial of Tom Robinson
Uncle Jack Finch – Scout and Jem’s unmarried uncle who comes and visits them every Christmas
Dill (Charles Baker Harris) – playmate of Scout and Jem who lives in Mississippi but comes every summer to Maycomb
Miss Rachael – Dill’s aunt who lives next door to the Finches

11. Characters
Miss Maudie Atkinson – another neighbor who is very fair-minded (like Atticus) and serves to tell the children, and thereby the reader, of the humble Atticus’ accomplishments.
Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose – an old lady who lives down the street and who screams insults at the children as they pass by their house
Boo (Mr. Arthur Radley) – the mysterious neighbor whom the children have never seen
Mr. Nathan Radley – the stern, distant brother of Boo who seldom speaks even though he is seen every day

12. Characters
Heck Tate – the sheriff, who is also a good friend of the Finches
Judge John Taylor – the presiding judge at the trial
Mr. Gilmer – the prosecuting attorney at the trial

13. Characters
* Tom Robinson – a hard-working, kind-hearted young Negro man who is accused of a crime against Mayella Ewell

14. Characters
Bob Ewell – the irresponsible and disgraceful father of a brood of children; receives welfare checks and spends them on alcohol rather than food for his children
Mayella Ewell – Bob Ewell’s daughter who accuses Tom Robison of attacking her

15. Characters
Mr. Walter Cunningham – an upright farmer who refuses to accept charity but does owe Atticus for legal services
Reverend Sykes – a Negro minister who takes care of Scout and Jem during the trial

16. Characters
Miss Stephanie Crawford – a gossipy neighbor who knows the family histories of the entire neighborhood
Miss Caroline Fisher – one of Scout’s teachers
Miss Merriweather – a local lady who writes the Halloween pagent
Dolphus Raymond – a white man who prefers to live with the Negros
Mr. B.B. Underwood – owner of the town’s newspapers
Mr. Link Deas – Tom Robinson’s boss