Do Now: Write down at least three things that you know about the 1930s. (think about what life was like, events that happened, etc.)

Background PowerPoint and Notes To Kill A Mockingbird Background PowerPoint and Notes

The Great Depression Overspending in the 1920s Stock Market crash of 1929 Poverty & Hoovervilles President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal World War II Even people with great careers suffered because of America’s economy. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch is a lawyer in Alabama who accepts things like food rather than money from his clients. The market fluctuated the week of the crash. People started to panic about that value of American products and sold stocks. So many investors sold their stocks that the market lost over $30 billion in just two days. Hoover was president during this time and was not successful at pulling America out of this horrible situation that left millions of people out of work, forcing them out of their homes and onto the streets. Then FDR ran for president and won largely because of his idea to bring America out of the Great Depression with the proposal of the New Deal. The New Deal would put social programs in place that would cause employment to rise, unions to exist and the economy to turn around. Despite FDR’s attempts, it wasn’t until America became involved in WWII that the states pulled out of the depression. The war created jobs, people once again had money, bought homes and stimulated the economy.

Racial Segregation January 1, 1863: Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared freedom for all slaves. Intended to weaken the South’s power during the U.S. Civil War Although slaves were “free,” black people were affected by state laws that prevented equality These laws were known as the Jim Crow Laws

Plessy vs. Ferguson Strengthened the already popular Jim Crow Laws In 1892, 30-year-old Homer Plessy was jailed for sitting in a “white” section of a railroad car Plessy was 1/8th black, but under Louisiana law, he was considered “colored” and was supposed to ride in the “colored car.” Plessy argued that his arrest was a violation of the Constitution Ferguson, the judge, found Plessy GUILTY of refusing the leave the “white car.”

Plessy vs. Ferguson After an appeal, the case went to the Supreme Court, which upheld the decision and perpetuated the concept of “separate but equal.” This enabled schools, courthouses, libraries, hotels, theaters, restaurants, public transportation, etc., to segregate “coloreds” from “whites.”

Jim Crow Laws The term Jim Crow comes from the minstrel show song “Jump Jim Crow” written in 1828 and performed by Thomas Dartmouth “Daddy” Rice, a white English migrant to the U.S. and the first person to make blackface performances popular. A caricature of a shabbily dressed rural black named “Jim Crow” became a standard character in minstrel shows.

etiquette Blacks were expected to refer to whites with titles of superiority like BOSS, SIR, CAPTAIN, MISS, or MRS. Whites referred to blacks using derogatory terms like BOY, LADY, GIRL and the “N” word. Blacks were expected to let whites walk in front of them on the sidewalk and signs reading things like “Negroes and Dogs Not Allowed” were common

Harper Lee Born Nelle Harper Lee, April 28, 1926 Grew up during the Great Depression Grew up in Monroeville, Alabama, in the heart of the South, where racial tension was high Dad was a lawyer Mother’s maiden name was Finch

The Scottsboro Trials In 1931, a fight between white and black teen boys occurred on a train between Tennessee and Alabama. Two girls on a train, one well-known prostitute and one minor, were accused of violating the Mann Act (crossing state lines for prostitution). They immediately accused all nine black men of rape. Two Huntsville Mill Girls Hobo to Chattanooga On March 24, 1931, two mill girls from Huntsville in Madison County, northern Alabama, dressed up in overalls and hoboed their way by freight train to Chattanooga, Tenn., about 97 miles away. The older of the two, Victoria Price, who said she was born in Fayettesville, Tenn. and gave her age as 21, planned the trip, urging the younger one, Ruby Bates, 17 years old, to go with her. All that is in known so far of this trip is what Victoria Price later told concerning it on the witness stand. No check on the truth of her story was made at the trial. According to this story, the two girls arrived in Chattanooga late Tuesday, March 24, and went to spend the night at the home of Mrs. Callie Brochie, who lived, according to Victoria, several blocks off Market Street on North Seventh. Victoria said she did not know the number of the house, but found the place by asking a boy on the street where Mrs. Brochie lived. He pointed it out to the two girls, she said, and all she could say was that it was the fourth house in the block. A thorough investigation of the neighborhood later by the attorney for the defense failed to discover either Mrs. Brochie or the house she was said to live in. The Return to Huntsville As the story of Victoria Price goes, the two girls spent the night with Mrs. Brochie, and set out the next morning with her to look for work in the mills. Victoria was not clear in her trial testimony as to the number and location of these mills where she said they tried to get work. Finding no jobs open, they decided to return home to Huntsville. This was around ten o'clock on the morning of March 25. Boarding an oil tanker at first, they later climbed over into a gondola, or open topped freight car used for carrying gravel. The car was partly filled with gravel. Here they met seven white boys and began talking to them Ruby declared in a private interview later that she did not speak to them but stayed in one end of the car by herself, while Victoria was talking, laughing and singing with the white boys in the other end of the car. Victoria, however, said that both she and Ruby had talked to the boys. As the freight neared Stevenson, less than half the way to Huntsville, Victoria testified that the 12 Negroes climbed into the gondola in which the two girls were riding with the seven white youths, walking over the top of a box car in front and jumping into the gondola. Ruby said in a personal interview later that she did not know how many colored boys were in the crowd. She said she was too frightened to count them. The Negroes gave the number of their gang as 15. Victoria maintained emphatically that there were 12.

The Scottsboro Trials Eight of the nine boys were sentenced to death despite the fact that testimonies were changed and there was no real evidence. Appeals continued for years and only two were acquitted. Acquittal Link