The timeless classic of growing up and the human dignity that unites us all.

What was happening? Historical Background

SLAVERY  Southern states, especially those where cotton was grown, relied on slave labour  most slaves from Africa  by 1850 over 3 million slaves were bought and sold by white men

THE CIVIL WAR  north and south fought each other in a civil war  North won  On January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued the “Emancipation Proclamation” declaring “all persons held as slaves are, and henceforward shall be free”  This still did not change attitudes

 First appeared in Minstrelsy of the early 19 th Century  Thomas Daddy Rice  Caricature of his understanding of black life  This name was adopted for the system of segregation that ruled the south from the 1890s well into the 1960s.  Skin colour determined where one lived and what one was permitted to do. Jim Crow Jim Crow

Jim Crow Segregation Laws

Who was Jim Crow?

Segregation

Violence Jim Crow represented the legitimization of anti-Black racism. Many African- Americans resisted the indignities of Jim Crow, and, far too often, they paid for their bravery with their lives. Violence was used to keep “Blacks” at the bottom of the racial hierarchy, the most extreme forms of violence were lynchings.

1930’s The Nineteen Thirties

THE GREAT DEPRESSION  known as the “Dirty Thirties”  depression lasted over a decade  many people lost everything (jobs, money)

The SCOTTSBORO TRIAL  1931,Scottsboro, Alabama, 9 black men accused and convicted of raping a white woman  Woman later admits to lying  Similar to trial in TKAMB

CIVIL RIGHTS  1930s African Americans rebelled against notion of being third class citizens  “Harlem Renaissance” movement but ended because of WWII in 1939  1950s Civil Rights Movement started and laws slowly began to change  By 1964, had more rights than ever before

Nelle Harper Lee About the Author

Harper Lee in her father's law office. Harper Lee in the Monroevill e Courthouse.

Best Seller

I never expected any sort of success with Mockingbird. I was hoping for a quick and merciful death at the hands of the reviewers but, at the same time, I sort of hoped someone would like it enough to give me encouragement. Public encouragement. I hoped for a little, as I said, but I got rather a whole lot, and in some ways this was just about as frightening as the quick, merciful death I'd expected. -Harper Lee, Harper Lee, 1964

The novel is set in fictional town of Maycomb, but believed to represent Monroeville, her hometown. Similarly, the Characters are fictional, however, there are clear connections between the characters in her story and the relations in her life.

“Nelle had a reputatio n as a fearsome stomach- puncher, foot- stomper, and hair- puller who could talk mean like a boy.” “It was true she was tough and independen t. She preferred wearing a scruffy pair of overalls to a dress and hanging upside down from the chinaberr y tree in her yard to sitting quietly in church.” “Nelle was just like a boy! She got rid of all her surplus hair in the summer time, and she could climb tall trees. When we played capture the flag at night, she held on longer than anybody! ”

“People are people anywhere you put them.” -Harper Lee, 1961 Discuss the meaning.