To Kill a Mockingbird By Harper Lee

What is the setting of the book?

People were poor . . . Jobs were scarce

A drought in the South led to dust storms that destroyed crops. “The Dust Bowl”

And then there was Hoover President during the Crash A whole new vocabulary was created to describe programs started by this president “Hooverisms”

Hooverville The little towns of ramshackle tin houses and lean-tos that grew up around the country after the Crash

Hoover Blankets The only thing many people could find with which to cover themselves

Hoover Cars There was no money for gas, so . . .

Jim Crow Laws segregation From the 1880s to the 1960s, many states used “Jim Crow” laws to enforce segregation. Public businesses and institutions were not allowed to let their black and white patrons intermingle. segregation

Schools were also segregated

In Alabama, buses had to have different waiting rooms as well as separate ticket windows Theater customers were directed to separate seating for whites and blacks

and in Alabama where our story is told: No Caucasian nurses were allowed to do their jobs in wards or rooms in hospitals where black men were placed It was unlawful for a black person and a white to play together in a game of billiards (pool) All toilet facilities were separate **pg. 195-201**

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

Civil Rights Movement P. 212-214

This story is about a girl in Alabama and her brother about courage and cowardice Justice and prejudice

and about her father, a man named Atticus

Who believed in justice . . . for all men even when his family was threatened

Then there’s the mockingbird, but you will have to figure that out as you read.

About Harper Lee, the author Won Pulitzer Prize in 1961 for To Kill a Mockingbird Born in Monroeville, Alabama-also Truman Capote’s town Received her degree from the University of Alabama in 1945 Did not publish a successful book after this one Many details of this book are autobiographical Her father was an attorney Maycomb is very much like her hometown Her story parallels Scout’s

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.

To Kill a Mockingbird Genre: historical novel, Southern drama Published in more than 40 languages Themes: are people essentially good or evil, the existence of social inequality, and the importance of moral education Point of View: told from Scout’s view looking back as an adult, first person

Summative Assessment P. 225