The Great Depression

Many found being broke humiliating. 1929-1939 Stock market crash Didn’t realize the effect it would have No money to replenish what was borrowed Many found being broke humiliating.

With people panicking about their money investors tried to sell their stocks This leads to a huge decline in stocks Stocks were worthless now People who bought on “margins” now could not pay Investors were average people that were now broke And then….

President Hoover Herbert Hoover was president at the start Philosophy: We’ll make it! What He Did: Nothing The poor were looking for help and no ideas on how to correct or help were coming

What about the people? Farmers were already feeling the effects Prices of crops went down Many farms foreclosed People could not afford luxuries Factories shut down Businesses went out Banks could not pay out money People could not pay their taxes Schools shut down due to lack of funds Many families became homeless and had to live in shanties

Many waited in unemployment lines hoping for a job.

People in cities would wait in line for bread to bring to their family.

Some families were forced to relocate because they had no money.

“Hooverville” Some families were forced to live in shanty towns A grouping of shacks and tents in vacant lots They were referred to as “Hooverville” because of President Hoover’s lack of help during the depression.

Hooverville

Dust Bowl Buried the South Crops turned to dust=No food to be sent out Homes buried Fields blown away South in state of emergency Dust Bowl the #1 weather crisis of the 20th century

Two Families During the Depression

A Farm Foreclosure

*FDR* When he was inaugurated unemployment had increased by 7 million. Poor sections (like Harlem) had 50% of the pop. unemployed Instated the “New Deal” Yea! Frankie!

New Deal helped recover from Great Depression It wasn’t till President Roosevelt took over and tried to put the economy back together that people even saw a glimmer of hope

Major Historical Happenings... Jim Crow Laws Scottsboro Trials Recovering from the Great Depression Racial Injustice Poor South

Jim Crow Laws After the American Civil War most states in the South passed anti-African American legislation. These became known as Jim Crow laws. These laws included segregation in public places and even in marriage.

These laws were instituted in 1896 and were not abolished till the late 1950’s (even then still not completely).

More about Jim Crow Laws Most American states enforced segregation through "Jim Crow" laws (so called after a black character in minstrel shows). From Delaware to California, and from North Dakota to Texas, many states (and cities, too) could impose legal punishments on people for mingling with members of another race. The most common types of laws forbade intermarriage and ordered business owners and public institutions to keep blacks and whites separated.

Some Facilities that Were Separate: Bus station waiting rooms and ticket windows Railroad cars or coaches Restaurants and lunch counters Schools and public parks Restrooms and water fountains Sections of movie theaters There were even separate cemeteries

At the bus station, Durham, North Carolina, 1940.

Greyhound bus terminal, Memphis, Tennessee. 1943.

A rest stop for bus passengers on the way from Louisville, Kentucky to Nashville, Tennessee, with separate entrance for Blacks. 1943.

A sign at bus station, Rome, Georgia. 1943.

A highway sign advertising tourist cabins for Blacks, South Carolina

Cafe, Durham, North Carolina. 1939.

Drinking fountain on the courthouse lawn, Halifax, North Carolina. 1938.

Movie theater’s "Colored" entrance, Belzoni, Mississippi. 1939.

The Rex theater for colored people, Leland, Mississippi. June 1937.

Restaurant, Lancaster, Ohio. 1938.

Water cooler in the street car terminal, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. 1939.

Sign above movie theater, Waco, Texas. 1939.

Beale Street, Memphis, Tennessee. 1939.

Scottsboro Boys Trial 9 young African-American men (13-20) accused of raping 2 white girls in 1931 Immediately sentenced to death by an all white jury Trials went on for nearly 15 years before all the men were dismissed

The trials caused a huge uproar amongst the black community.

To Kill a Mockingbird

Harper Lee

HARPER LEE (Nellie) Harper Lee BORN: April 28, 1926 PLACE OF BIRTH: Monroe, Alabama PARENTS: Amasa C. and Frances (Finch) Lee Related to Robert E. Lee

EDUCATION Monroe, Alabama Public School Huntington College in Montgomery, Alabama (1944) attended Oxford College one year as a Fullbright scholar

Wrote To Kill a Mockingbird in 1960 Based the story on her life growing up in Monroeville, Alabama TKAM was the only novel she ever wrote

OVERVIEW OF THE NOVEL AUTHOR: Harper Lee PUBLICATION DATE: 1960 SETTING: Maycomb, Alabama 1933-1935 THEMES: Lack of and need for human compassion Need for individual conscience Discrimination in various forms POINT OF VIEW: First person narrative by elder Scout (that’s why she sounds smart)

Finch Family JEAN LOUISE “SCOUT” FINCH – adult narrator as story begins; narrates story in retrospect; relates events that begin when she is 6 years old. ATTICUS FINCH – lawyer, father of Scout and Jem; widower JEM FINCH – Scout’s brother, who is 4 years older than she. CHARLES BAKER “DILL” HARRIS –

MORE CHARACTERS ARTHUR “BOO” RADLEY – CHARLES BAKER “DILL” HARRIS - CALPURNIA – TOM ROBINSON – MAYELLA EWELL –

The character of “Dill,” Scout and Jem’s playmate in the novel was based upon Lee’s actual neighbor, Truman Capote Capote is famous for amongst other things, In Cold Blood and Breakfast at Tiffany’s. It has been said that he gave Lee Mockingbird as a gift.

AUTHOR’S LINKS TO THE NOVEL’S PLOT AND CHARACTERS Harper Lee’s father was a Southern lawyer. He served as the prototype for Atticus Finch. Harper Lee’s age (6 to 8) correlates with Scout’s age during 1933-1935, the time period of the book. The courtroom in Maycomb is patterned after the one in Monroeville where Harper Lee observed her father in courtroom proceedings. Tom Robinson’s trial appears to be a composite of many trials in the South, specifically the Scottsboro trials. Some of the novel’s characters are composites of people Harper Lee knew personally; for example, the author Truman Capote as Dill.

In 1962 the novel was turned into a film starring Gregory Peck. It received a humanitarian award and several Academy Award nominations

The End