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Introduction to the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by: Harper Lee. Harper Lee - author. Nelle Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926 , in Monroeville, Alabama . Her father was a lawyer, editor, and senator during Lee’s childhood.
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Introduction to the novelTo Kill A Mockingbirdby: Harper Lee
Harper Lee - author Nelle Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926, in Monroeville, Alabama. Her father was a lawyer, editor, and senator during Lee’s childhood. Her home town is the main influence on her novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”. She studied at a community college, the University of Alabama, and at Oxford University in England.
Harper Lee - author She moved to New York and worked as an airline stewardess while attempting to write her first novel. She gained experience and inspiration by helping friend, Truman Capote with his novel, In Cold Blood. Lee’s novel was published in 1960, and received the Pulitzer Prize in 1961. In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson named Lee a member of the National Council of the Arts. In November of 2007, Lee was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The Great Depression Lee’s novel is set during the Great Depression that struck America in 1929, when the stock market crashed. The Great Depression has been blamed on many causes such as high spending, costly trade policies, overextended credit. Many of the authors that grew up during this time of turmoil used the experience and devastation to set their own novels.
The Civil Rights Movement After the Civil War, the U.S. government began passing constitutional amendments and civil rights legislation to allow all peoples their basic rights. In the southern states, the “Jim Crow” laws enforced racial segregation and put a hold on civil rights. These laws enforced poll taxes and literary tests for voting; segregation of education, housing, transportation, and public facilities; as well as forbade marriage between blacks and whites.
The Civil Rights Movement By the 1920’s, the Civil Rights Movement was marred by race riots, lynchings, and the opposition of the Ku Klux Klan. From 1882 to 1968, some three hundred blacks were lynched in Alabama alone. Lee’s writing is based on her own childhood in small town Alabama.
