Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to shoot a mockingbird.” –Atticus Finch In your journals write 4-8 sentences on what you think this quote means.

1930s TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD By Harper Lee BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Characteristics of Mockingbirds: Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to shoot a mockingbird.” –Atticus Finch The mockingbird was given its name because of its ability to mimic the calls of dozens of other bird species. Latin name, Mimus polyglottus, Means “many-tongued mimic” The mockingbird has even been known to mimic the sounds of dogs and sirens! The mockingbird is especially vocal on moonlit spring nights. The mockingbird is very territorial. It dives and attacks intruders that come too close to its territory. It may even attack its own reflection!

Blue Jays….. The blue jay is very aggressive and territorial. Groups of blue jays often attack intruders and predators. They often drive other birds away from bird feeders. The blue jay is also very vocal. It makes a number of different calls including its distinctive "jay- jay." It also growls, whistles and chatters.

The 1930s…. The Great Depression Jim Crow Laws CLASS RACE

THE GREAT DEPRESSION The 1929 stock market crash marked the beginning –P–Prior to the crash the stock market had been an important source of funding for industry –L–Lasted through the 1930s Unemployment and homelessness soared. – Construction virtually halted in many countries. Farmers and rural areas suffered as prices for crops fell by 40–60%. Class rankings...

THE CLASSES CONFLICT Upper class: most retained much of the wealth which they had held before the Depression and in most cases did not suffer from unemployment. WORKING CLASS: suffered greatly, struggling to find work, save money, and LIVE.

RACE Jim Crow Laws: –State and local laws enacted in the Southern and border states of the United States and in force between 1876 and 1967 that required racial segregation, especially of blacks, in all public facilities. Because of the Great Depression, the conflict between races, especially black and white was stirred. –By 1932, approximately half of black Americans were out of work. In some Northern cities, whites called for blacks to be fired from any jobs as long as there were whites out of work. –Racial violence again became more common, especially in the South. Lynchings, which had declined to eight in 1932, surged to 28 in

TIMELINE TO BOOK PUBLISHING: 1954 –United States Supreme Court rules in Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, that racial segregation in the public schools is inherently unequal and, therefore, illegal Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery city bus. Boycott of Montgomery County city buses begins officially. Emmett Till, a young African American man, is murdered while visiting the South Autherine Lucy receives permission to enroll at the U. of Alabama Home of Martin Luther King, Jr. is bombed in Montgomery. Motions are filed in U.S. District Court ending bus segregation. Violence erupts on the campus of the U. of Alabama (Autherine Lucy is forced to flee U. of Alabama campus) Warrants are issued for arrest of 115 leaders of the Montgomery bus boycott. Autherine Lucy ordered by the courts to be re-admitted to U. of Alabama, only to be expelled by Board of Trustees. U.S. Supreme Court decides in favor of Montgomery bus boycotters, by ruling bus segregation illegal Federal troops sent to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce court- ordered desegregation of schools Publication of To Kill A Mockingbird in the Fall

Harper Lee Nelle Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926 in Monroeville Alabama. She is the youngest of four children of Amasa Coleman Lee and Frances Finch Lee. She attended Huntingdon College , studied law at the University of Alabama , and studied one year at Oxford University. In 1957 Lee submitted the manuscript of her novel to the J. B. Lippincott Company. After being instructed to rewrite it, Lee worked on it for two and a half more years In 1960 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, Lee's only book, was published. wikipedia.org

Background Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to shoot a mockingbird.” –Atticus Finch EXIT SLIP: Considering the time period who are the blue jays and who are the mockingbirds? *Include your book number on the exit slip.