Do Now:

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

2. To Kill A Mockingbird Background PowerPoint and Notes

3. 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.

4. 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

5. Plessy vs. Ferguson • Strengthened the already popular Jim Crow Laws • In 1892, 30-year-old Homer Plessywas 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.”

6. 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.”

8. 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.

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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.

13. 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