1. Warm Up: 16 May
How would a verbose person tell a story about their dream?
Think of a movie that has an ambiguous ending and write it down.
Think of a food or movie that you disdain and write it down.
What is a situation that would cause a cacophony?
How would a person react when they have a prodigious fear?

2. Intro Notes for To Kill a Mockingbird

3. Nelle Harper Lee
Born 1926
Died February 2016

4. To Kill a Mockingbird Published in 1960 Pulitzer Prize 1961
2015 Go Set a Watchman published
GSAW tells the story of 26 year-old Jean Louise “Scout” Finch
GSAW first draft of TKAM
Publishers asked for the story of young Scout

5. Parallels between Lee’s childhood and the novel
Grew up in 1930s
Rural southern town of Monroeville, AL
Father was a lawyer
Older brother
Childhood friend, Truman Capote—worked together as adults, too
Voracious reader and tomboy
Mother’s maiden name Finch

6. Monroeville = Maycomb

7. Monroeville in the 1930s

8. Truman Capote = Dill

9. Amasa Coleman Lee = Atticus

10. Historical Context: Scottsboro Boys
March 25, 1931, freight train stops in Northern Alabama
9 black teenagers arrested, ages 12-19
2 white women accuse the boys of rape
Names: Roy Wright, Olen Montgomery, Clarence Norris, Haywood Patterson, Ozie Powell, Willie Roberson, Charlie Weems, Eugene Williams, and Andy Wright
Many of the boys remained on death row for years
Case settled in 1976 with pardon of last defendants
Jury ignores evidence: no injuries

11. Emmett Till 1955 14 year-old boy From Chicago visiting Mississippi
Flirts with a white female cashier
Days later, 2 white men kidnap, beat, and murder him
White men on trial for murder, but acquitted by an all-white, male jury
Launched the Civil Rights Movement

12. To Kill a Mockingbird
This book has been considered one of the major civil rights books of the 20th century
However, not everyone agrees
Book vilifies racist characters, but also includes white people using the N-word
Over the unit, you will be reading differing opinions on these issues and will decide for yourself
“Being uncomfortable with history is not means to change it. People need to figure out how to confront issues.” – Chris Sergel