1. Historical Context for To Kill a Mockingbird
The Great Depression

2. WEEKLY WAGES (general averages)
Then and Now: Prices
WOMEN'S CLOTHES
THEN
NOW
Winter Coat
$28.00
Leather or Suede Bag
$2.25
Bathrobe
$1.00
Sweater
MEN'S CLOTHES
Broadcloth Shirt
Wool Sweater
$4.90
Overcoat
$18.50
GAMES AND TOYS
Sled that Steers
$ $8.95
Ping Pong Table
$23.50 to $37.50
Mechanical Toys
3 for$.59
Doll
$1.95
ITEMS FOR THE HOME
Table Lamp
Portable Electric Sewing Machine
$23.95
Electric Washing Machine
$33.50
Gas Stove
$19.95
Then and Now: Wages
WEEKLY WAGES (general averages)
THEN
NOW
Manufacturing--Production Worker
$16.89
$500
Cook
$15.00
$236
Doctor
$61.11
$1800
Accountant
$45.00
$700

3. Many found being broke humiliating.
Stock market crash
Didn’t realize the effect it would have
No money to replenish what was borrowed
Many found being broke humiliating.

4. The Roaring 20’s The new concept of “credit” People were buying:
Automobiles
Appliances
Clothes
Fun times reigned
Dancing
Flappers
Drinking

5. Why was this bad? Credit system WWI
People didn’t really have the money they were spending
WWI
The U.S. was a major credit loaner to other nations in need
Many of these nations could not pay us back

6. The Stock Market People bought stocks on margins Stocks fall
If a stock is $100 you can pay $10 now and the rest later when the stock rose
Stocks fall
Now the person has less than $100 and no money to pay back

7. With people panicking about their money investors tried to sell their stocks
This leads to a huge decline in stocks
Stocks were worthless now
People who bought on “margins” now could not pay
Investors were average people that were now broke
And then….

8. President Hoover Herbert Hoover was president at the start
Philosophy: We’ll make it!
What He Did: Nothing
The poor were looking for help and no ideas on how to correct or help were coming

9. What about the people? Farmers were already feeling the effects
Prices of crops went down
Many farms foreclosed
People could not afford luxuries
Factories shut down
Businesses went out
Banks could not pay out money
People could not pay their taxes
Schools shut down due to lack of funds
Many families became homeless and had to live in shanties

11. Many waited in unemployment lines hoping for a job.

12. People in cities would wait in line for bread to bring to their family.

13. Some families were forced to relocate because they had no money.

14. “Hooverville” Some families were forced to live in shanty towns
A grouping of shacks and tents in vacant lots
They were referred to as “Hooverville” because of President Hoover’s lack of help during the depression.

15. Hooverville

16. Out of the Dust:
The South
and the
Dust Bowl

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

18. The South Was Buried Crops turned to dust=No food to be sent out
Homes buried
Fields blown away
South in state of emergency
Dust Bowl the #1 weather crisis of the 20th century

20. Two Families During the Depression

21. A Farm Foreclosure

22. Some families tried to make money by selling useful crafts like baskets.

23. *FDR* When he was inaugurated unemployment had increased by 7 million.
Poor sections (like Harlem) had 50% of the pop. unemployed
Instated the “New Deal”

24. People everywhere were effected by the depression
It wasn’t till President Roosevelt took over and tried to put the economy back together that people even saw a glimmer of hope

25. The Works Progress Administration (later WOR Projects Administration; WPA) was the largest New Deal agency, employing millions of people and affecting most every locality, especially rural and western mountain populations. It was created on May 6, 1935 by Presidential order (U.S. Congress funded it annually but did not set it up).

26. To Kill a
Mockingbird

27. Language, History & Prejudice
You will hear language that may make you uncomfortable.
You may hear about actions that make you uncomfortable.
You may see pictures that make you uncomfortable.
The sad truth is that these are facts of history and we must expose ourselves to these realities in order to understand the novel and our humanity.

28. Major Historical Happenings...
Jim Crow Laws
Scottsboro Trials
Recovering from the Great Depression
Racial Injustice
Poor South

29. Jim Crow Laws
After the American Civil War most states in the South passed anti-African American legislation. These became known as Jim Crow laws.
These laws included segregation in…
Schools -- Hospitals
Theaters -- Water fountains
Restaurants
Hotels
Public transportation
Some states forbid inter-racial marriages

30. These laws were instituted in 1896 and were not abolished till the late 1950’s (even then still not completely).

31. 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

32. Started on a train bound for Memphis
Several white men boarded and picked a fight with the black men
Whites were forced off train by the 12 black men. The white men reported the the black men had raped two white girls on the train to authorities
They were immediately arrested and tried in front of an all-white jury.

33. The trials caused a huge uproar amongst the black community.

34. Are these isolated incidents?
Discrimination Photographs of Racial
Emmet Till 1955
High Speed Chase
Jena Six
Houston Hate Crime Against Latino On Trial
Matthew Wayne Sheppard

35. Harper Lee

36. Wrote To Kill a Mockingbird in 1960
Based the story on her life growing up in Monroeville, Alabama
TKAM was the only novel she ever wrote

37. 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.

38. Main Characters
Scout (Jean Louise Finch) – six-year-old narrator of story
Jem (Jeremy Finch) – her older brother
Atticus Finch – Jem and Scout’s father, a prominent lawyer who defends a black man accused of raping a white woman
Arthur (Boo) Radley – a thirty-three-year-old recluse who lives next door
Charles Baker (Dill) Harris – Jem and Scout’s friend who comes to visit his aunt in Maycomb each summer
Tom Robinson – a respectable black man accused of raping a white woman
Calpurnia – the Finches’ black cook

39. Social Class in the Novel
This is probably similar to how class structure existed during the 1930’s in the South. The wealthy, although fewest in number, were most powerful. The blacks, although great in number, were lowest on the class ladder, and thus, had the least privileges.
Poor Whites
Examples of each social class:
Wealthy - Finches
Country Folk - Cunninghams
Poor Whites – Ewells
Black Community – Tom Robinson

40. In 1962 the novel was turned into a film starring Gregory Peck.
It received a humanitarian award and several Academy Award nominations

41. Review The Great Depression Jim Crow Laws & Lynching
Current Events of Intolerance
To Kill a Mockingbird
TKM Survival Guide
The Best Study Guide for To Kill a Mockingbird