1. DIN: Do It Now How do you define integrity and do you have it?

2. Introductory Information
To Kill a Mockingbird
Introductory Information

3. Author Harper Lee Born (and raised) in Monroeville Alabama, 1926
Descendant of General Robert Lee (commander of the confederate army during the civil war)
Went to law school in Alabama, but never finished; briefly lived in NYC
1961: won the Pulitzer Prize, among other awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, highest national civilian award
Parallels exist between her own life and events in the book: Her father is the model for Atticus Finch, and the trial is based on a real life event as well.

4. Birmingham*
-MLK Letter
Montgomery
-Rosa Parks

5. Lynchings were popular activities
While Lee was writing TKAM…
Lynchings were popular activities

6. Segregation was still prevalent

7. African American Leaders emerged and people began to question and challenge the persisting racial ideologies.

8. Integration Famous pictures of Little Rock Nine 1957

9. Other Important Events The 1960s
Man on the moon
Woodstock
Jackie Robinson
Vietnam War begins
Kent State Tragedy
Marilyn Monroe dies
Martin Luther King Jr.’s march on Washington and assassination
JFK: 1st Roman Catholic President

10. The Setting of Lee’s
book is the 1930s.
*Note:
The Civil War
began in 1861, but 100
years later, African
Americans were still
oppressed.

11. What we know about the 1930s:
Population: 123 million in 48 states
Life Expectancy: Male, 58.1; Female, 61.6
Average salary: $1,368
Unemployment at 25%, (average=5%); proposal of a guaranteed annual income of $2,500
Car Sales: 2,787,400
Food Prices: Milk, 14 cents a qt.; Bread, 9 cents a loaf; Round Steak, 42 cents a pound
WHAT ELSE?

12. Images from the Great Depression
Unemployment
lines
Sign reads “ Line for
restaurant…I will feed 20

13. A home during the Great Depression

14. A Town of Shanties

15. One of the most famous images from the G.D.
…The Great Depression was especially hard on southerners because many people left rural areas in hopes to find work and prosperity in larger cities.
*Pause for Questions

16. Era, Setting, Environment
Of and within TKAM
While Lee was writing TKAM
Small town of Maycomb Alabama,
Great Depression, which began in 1929, with the stock market crash, and lasted through the 1930s. *essentially began 10 years earlier in the south
Ripe with racial tensions, poverty, traditional morals and ideals
Era: the heart of the Civil Rights Movement
1955 Montgomery bus boycott
1954: Segregation deemed unconstitutional
Racial tensions were intense: KKK activity, hate crimes, lynching, Jim Crow Laws

17. Why do we read this book?
Understand and be aware of certain ideologies that persisted and still exist in society (racism, sexism, classism, etc)
Because it is a timeless story with lessons about justice, challenges, prejudices, courage (physical and moral), identity, family, and growing up emotionally, intellectually and physically…Which of these don’t relate to you?
Make discoveries about ourselves and our world, as with most great stories

18. Presenting your narrator: Scout Finch
Characterization: we learn about characters by being told about them, by seeing them in action and/or through internal viewings
Is Scout a boy or girl? Black or white? How do you know?

19. Scout is our narrator and is between the ages of 6-9 when the story takes place. We see her view of the world when she was this age, but she tells the story in 2 ways: what she believes she saw, heard, felt and thought and her re-evaluation of the events. Examples of times you witnessed something and only understood it later, looking back. Questions? Comments? Discussion of reading

20. Works Cited