1. To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee

2. Author Information  Nelle Harper Lee (born April 28, 1926) is an American novelist known for her 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel To Kill A Mockingbird.  Lee was born in the small, southwestern Alabama town of Monroeville.  The youngest of four children, Lee was born to Amasa Coleman Lee and Frances Cunningham Finch Lee.  Her father worked as a newspaper editor as well as a lawyer and eventually served on the Alabama State Legislature from 1926- 1938.

3. Author Information  As a child, Lee was a tomboy yet a committed reader.  She also enjoyed a childhood friendship with Truman Capote.  After graduating from high school in Monroeville, Lee enrolled at Huntingdon College in Montgomery (1944-1945).

4. Author Information  After Huntingdon, Lee pursued a degree in law from the University of Alabama (1945-1949).  While there, she wrote several student publications and spent a year as editor of the campus humor magazine, Rammer Jammer.

5. Author Information  Though she did not complete her law degree, she pursued studies for a summer in Oxford, England before eventually moving to New York City in 1950.  In New York, Lee worked full time as a reservation clerk for Eastern Airlines.  She worked with the airline until the late 1950s when she devoted herself full time to writing.  She lived a frugal lifestyle, traveling between her cold-water- only apartment in New York and her family home in Alabama to care for her ailing father.

6. Author Information  Having only written several long stories, Lee was hesitant to begin a career as a writer; however, within a year, she had completed the first draft of the novel that would bring her world-wide acclaim.  Working closely with her editor, she completed To Kill A Mockingbird in the summer of 1959.

7. Author Information  The novel was first published on July 11, 1960. It became an immediate bestseller and won her critical acclaim.  In 1961, she won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.  Today, there are over 15 million copies in print, and a 1999 poll voted To Kill A Mockingbird as the “Best Novel of the Century”

8. Author Information  “I never expected any sort of success with Mockingbird. I was hoping for a quick and merciful death at the hands of the reviewers but, at the same time, I sort of hoped someone would like it enough to give me encouragement. Public encouragement. I hoped for a little, as I said, but I got rather a whole lot, and in some ways this was just about as frightening as the quick, merciful death I’d expected.” Harper Lee, 1964

9. Author Information  After the success of Mockingbird Lee accompanied Truman Capote to Holcomb, Kansas to assist him in researching what they thought would be an article on a small town’s response to the murder of a farmer and his family. Capote expanded the material into his best-selling book, In Cold Blood.  Since the publication of Mockingbird Lee has granted almost no requests for interviews or public appearances, and with the exception of a few short essays, she has published no further writings.  She did work on another novel for years, eventually filing it away as unpublished.

10. Author Information  In 1962, Mockingbird was transformed into a wildly successful film, starring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch.  The film won two Academy Awards for Screenplay (Horton Foote) and Best Actor (Gregory Peck).

11. Author Information

14. Southern Gothic Literature  Southern Gothic Literature is a subgenre of the Gothic writing style.  It relies on the supernatural, ironic or unusual events to guide the plot.  Often it uses these tools (characters) to explore social issues and reveal the cultural character of the American South.  Many Southern Gothic writers avoid general southern stereotypes like “the demure Southern belle,” “the chivalrous gentleman,” or “the righteous Christian preacher.”  Instead the author presents the characters in a more modern and realistic manner.

15. Southern Gothic Literature  One of the most notable features of Southern Gothic Literature is “The Grotesque.”  This includes situations, places or stock characters that possess negative qualities (i.e. – racial bigotry, self-righteousness).  Many writers use flawed characters to further highlight the unpleasant nature of Southern culture.

16. Southern Gothic Literature William Faulkner 1897-1962 The Sound and the Fury As I Lay Dying Absalom, Absalom! Light in August “A Rose for Emily”

17. Southern Gothic Literature Flannery O’Conner 1925-1964 Wise Blood The Violent Bear It Away A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories Everything That Rises Must Converge

18. Southern Gothic Literature Tennessee Williams 1911-1983 A Streetcar Named Desire Cat on a Hot Tin Roof The Glass Menagerie

19. Southern Gothic Literature Truman Capote 1924-1984 In Cold Blood Breakfast at Tiffany’s

20. Southern Gothic Literature Cormac McCarthy 1933- Child of God All the Pretty Horses No Country For Old Men

21. The Scottsboro Boys  The case of the Scottsboro boys arose in Scottsboro, AL during the 1930s when nine black youths (ranging from 16-20) were accused of raping two white women.  The trial is considered one of the worst American judicial travesties.

22. The Scottsboro Boys  All the defendants were found guilty and sentenced to death.  Despite the fact that one of the woman denied being raped, the appeals courts found them guilty as well.  Finally the case was appealed all the way to the Supreme Court where the sentences were overturned.  All of the defendants were eventually acquitted, paroled and pardoned after serving years in prison.

23. Setting  The American Civil War (1861-1865) had staggering and long- lasting effects on the nation.  More than 600,000 Americans were killed. Property damage was enormous, especially in the South.  Many Southern cities, factories, plantations and railroads lay in ruin.  Between 1865-1877 the Union restored relations with the Confederate states in hopes of rebuilding the South.  Reconstruction was only partially successful.  The South lagged behind the rest of the nation economically, largely remaining an agricultural area.

24. Setting  During Reconstruction, there was a lack of support from most Southern whites.  Many Southern whites could not accept the idea that former slaves were now landowners as well as voters and eventually holding office.  In time, Southern whites regained control of their state legislature and many of the rights slaves had won were quickly taken away.  Lee’s fictional small town of Maycomb is an isolated setting. The outside perspective and industrialization has changed it little.  Maycomb’s citizens, by and large, hold the same opinions as their grandparents.

25. Setting  The story begins in the summer of 1933 and ends on Halloween night, 1935.  The country is faced with widespread poverty and unemployment due to the Great Depression.  Former slaves work as field workers or house servants, whereas white land owners grow and trade crops. Both groups are cash poor.  Situated 20 miles southeast of the nearest river and more than 30 miles from Selma, Maycomb is slow to respond to any type of change.  Because of location, new ideas and newcomers are not easily accepted.