1. To Kill a Mockingbird About the Author, Historical Background, Setting and Characters

2. About the Author Harper Lee grew up in Monroeville Alabama Born Nelle Harper Lee on April 28,1926 The youngest of three children Lee’s father was a small-town Lawyer Descended from Robert E. Lee, the Confederate Civil War general

3. Historical Background After the American Civil War, in 1865-1877 the Union restored relations with the confederate states in hopes to rebuild the South. Reconstruction was difficult since the South lagged behind the rest of the nation economically, largely remaining an agricultural area. Reconstruction of the state governments were largely ineffective, due to the lack of support from most southern whites. The North lost interest in reconstruction and Southern Whites regained control of their state governments This led to many of the rights that blacks had won during Reconstruction to be taken away. ( Jim Crow laws of the South) Poor of the South were more affected by the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression.

4. What Was Jim Crow? Jim Crow was the name of the racial caste system which operated primarily, but not exclusively in southern and border states, between 1877 and the mid-1960s. Jim Crow was more than a series of rigid anti-Black laws. It was a way of life. Under Jim Crow, African Americans were relegated to the status of second-class citizens. Jim Crow represented the legitimization of anti-Black racism. Many Christian ministers and theologians taught that Whites were the Chosen people, Blacks were cursed to be servants, and God supported racial segregation. Craniologists, eugenicists, phrenologists, and Social Darwinists, at every educational level, buttressed the belief that Blacks were innately intellectually and culturally inferior to Whites. Pro-segregation politicians gave eloquent speeches on the great danger of integration: the mongrelization of the White race. Newspaper and magazine writers routinely referred to Blacks as niggers, coons, and darkies; and worse, their articles reinforced anti- Black stereotypes. Even children's games portrayed Blacks as inferior beings (see "From Hostility to Reverence: 100 Years of African-American Imagery in Games"). All major societal institutions reflected and supported the oppression of Blacks.

5. Beliefs and Rationalizations The Jim Crow system was under girded by the following beliefs or rationalizations: Whites were superior to Blacks in all important ways, including but not limited to intelligence, morality, and civilized behavior; relations between Blacks and Whites would produce a mongrel race which would destroy America…

6. Jim Crow Etiquette Norms Just a Few Examples: A Black male could not offer his hand (to shake hands) with a White male because it implied being socially equal. Obviously, a Black male could not offer his hand or any other part of his body to a White woman, because he risked being accused of rape. Blacks and Whites were not supposed to eat together. If they did eat together, Whites were to be served first, and some sort of partition was to be placed between them. Blacks were not allowed to show public affection toward one another in public, especially kissing, because it offended Whites. Jim Crow etiquette prescribed that Blacks were introduced to Whites, never Whites to Blacks. For example: "Mr. Peters (the White person), this is Charlie (the Black person), that I spoke to you about."

7. Jim Crow Etiquette Norms Just a Few Examples: Stetson Kennedy, the author of Jim Crow Guide, offered these simple rules that Blacks were supposed to observe in conversing with Whites: Never assert or even intimate that a White person is lying. Never impute dishonorable intentions to a White person. Never suggest that a White person is from an inferior class. Never lay claim to, or overly demonstrate, superior knowledge or intelligence. Never curse a White person. Never laugh derisively at a White person. Never comment upon the appearance of a White female.

8. Jim Crow Inside the South Alabama, the setting of the novel: To Kill a Mockingbird

9. Enacted 27 Jim Crow segregation laws between 1865 and 1965: including six each against miscegenation and desegregated schools. A 1915 health care segregation law prevented white nurses from caring for black male patients. Unlike other former Confederacy states, no laws were enacted during the Reconstruction period barring segregation. Miscegenation violations carried the harshest penalties. Violators could be sentenced to the penitentiary for two to seven years of hard labor. After the Brown decision, six segregation laws were passed, including a Birmingham city ordinance requiring segregated public accommodations and recreational areas. Jim Crow Laws: Alabama

10. Setting Summer of 1933-Halloween night, 1935 Fictional town of Maycomb County in southern Alabama Town is isolated The progress of the twentieth century has changed it little. The country is in the grips of the Great Depression There is widespread poverty and unemployment Franklin D. Roosevelt, with his “New Deal” program is trying to improve the desperate situation. A rural area that is poor and undeveloped

11. Map of Setting Maycomb Twenty miles southeast of the nearest river – Alabama River Thirty miles from Selma, the nearest city Finch’s Landing Maycomb

12. Characters Scout (Jean Louise Finch)-is the narrator of the story Jem (Jeremy Finch)-Scout’s older brother Atticus Finch – small town lawyer and Scout’s and Jem’s Father Calpurnia – Finch’s cook and housekeeper Dill (Charles Baker Harris) – friend of Jem and Scout Arthur Radley (Boo Radley) – recluse neighbor Miss Maudie Atkinson – the children’s favorite neighbor Aunt Alexandra – Atticus’s youngest sister Miss Stephanie Crawford-prejudice, unkind, and a gossip Mrs. Henry Lafayette – old neighbor of the Finches Bob Ewell – a poor farmer Mayella Ewell – Bob’s 19 year old daughter Tom Robinson – Black man accused of a crime Black people of the area receive low wages as field workers and house servants White farmers are likely to own land, but their crops are often meager, trade is slow of sporadic, and they are often cash poor.