1 / 15

Historical Context of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird

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

psowell
Download Presentation

Historical Context of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  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

More Related