Understanding the Historical Background of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird

1. Historical Context of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird Mr. Pettine English 9 August 15, 2017

2. To Kill a Mockingbird • To Kill a Mockingbird was published in 1960 and won the Pulitzer Prize • Novel became standard of secondary classrooms (including ours!) • Novel turned into film in 1962, winnning Best Actor (Gregory Peck) and Best Screenplay

3. Harper Lee • Born in 1926; died February 19, 2016 • Resident of Monroeville, Alabama. Novel informed by her childhood • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs9sCCtsNhw • Studied at University of Alabama, but did not graduate • Attempted to publish Go Set a Watchman in 1957. Novel was rejected by publishers, but childhood flashback scenes became basis for To Kill a Mockingbird • Received Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007 • Go Set a Watchman, originally written in 1957, published to mixed reviews in 2015

4. Setting • Novel is set in Maycomb County, Alabama in the 1930s. Fictional county informed by Lee’s life in Monroeville. • The novel takes place during the Great Depression • The novel takes place in the Jim Crow South (segregation, racial injustice are key thematic elements of novel)

5. Characters • Jean Louise Finch – young girl and narrator of story. A tomboy, she is known by nickname “Scout” • Atticus Finch – father of Scout and Jem, city lawyer and state representative for Maycomb. He will defend Tom Robinson • Jeremy Finch – older brother of Scout • Tom Robinson – African American man falsely accused of rape • Calpurnia – Black maid to the Finches, serves as mother figure to Scout • The Ewells – Family that accuses Tom Robinson, known for low class behavior and low socioeconomic status • The Cunninghams – Second family with low socioeconomic status

6. Thematic Elements • Racial Injustice – The white community of Maycomb assumes Tom Robinson is guilty and that he does not deserve a fair trial • Economic / Class Issues – the disparity between the very poor, poor, and middle class is highlighted by the Ewells, Cunninghams, Finches, and African American characters • Loss of Innocence – To Kill a Mockingbird is a bildungsroman (coming of age tale). During the novel, Atticus Finch states that it is wrong to kill a mockingbird because they do not do anything but sing beautiful music.

7. Historical Background • African Americans slaves arrive via Spanish in South America in early 1500s • First twenty slaves arrive at Jamestown in 1620 • By late 1700s, over 800,000 slaves of African origin in American colonies

8. Historical Background • Growth of cotton industry in South leads to concentration of slaves in American South • Slavery is focal point of social unrest in 19th century. Nat Turner’s Rebellion (1831), anti-slavery movement, and rivalry between non-slave and slave states point towards Civil War • Civil War (1861-65) ends in Northern victory. Emancipation Proclamation declares slaves free

9. Historical Background • African American citizenship not accepted in South, seen as Northern humiliation • Rise of KKK first seen during Reconstruction (1865-1877) • Reconstruction fails to fully implement Reconstruction amendments to Constitution. Desire for union and end to hostility cools Northern zeal

10. Historical Background • Violence in eighteenth/early nineteenth century includes lynchings, burnings, disenfranchisement of black voters, and institutional segregation • Segregation becomes codified and Plessy v.. Ferguson (1896) upholds “separate but equal” as constitutional • Blacks in South become sharecroppers in large numbers (along with poor whites), large migration of African Americans to North during early 20th century

11. Historical Background • “Harlem Renaissance” among black intellectuals and artists in North during 1920s • African Americans fight in WWI an WWII, return to discrimination in South • Events of 40s and early 50s lead to Brown v Board (1954), overturning Plessy, and lead to Civil Rights Movement on 50s-60s

12. Great Depression • American victory during WWI leads to “return to normalcy” in 1920a • “Conspicuous Consumption” seen in stock investment, investment in luxury lifestyle and items • General loosening of American morality seen in flaunting of Prohibition, rise of provocative entertainment • 1929 Stock Market Crash sparks economic downturn

13. Great Depression • Economy’s downfall accelerated for over half decade • Hoover actively tries to staunch Depression, but is unable to control it. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, former Governor of New York, crushes him in 1932 election • Roosevelt begins “New Deal” to staunch Depression

14. Great Depression • Roosevelt declares “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself” • Regulation of banking, institution of Social Security, support for labor unions, public housing, and local minimum-wage laws instituted • America does not undergo full recovery until industrialization during World War II

15. Great Depression • At height of Great Depression, over 25% of Americans unemployed (compare to just over 10% in large 2008 downturn) • Only 48% of Atlanta citizens “gainfully employed” in 1930 census