To Kill a Mockingbird

1. To Kill a Mockingbird By Harper Lee

2. Overview of Slideshow • Historical Context • Author’s Background • Introduction to main characters

3. Historical Context • Southern Alabama early 1930’s • Jim Crow Era • Miscegenation/ and segregation

4. Historical Context cont. • The Great Depression 1929 - WWII • Economic hardship leads to racial animosity • Competition for jobs/social stature

5. Historical Context cont. • America focused on domestic issues • Remained uninvolved in European and Asian politics • Federal govt. implements the New Deal

6. Harper Lee • Born (4/28/26) and raised in Monroeville AL • Life mirrors many events in TKM • Published only one novel in her life • TKM won Pulitzer Prize 1961

7. Harper Lee cont. • Father, Amasa Lee, attorney and state legislator in AL • Six years old during Scottsboro trial • TKM inspired by her childhood

8. Monroeville, Alabama • Harper Lee’s hometown • Model for Maycomb • Alabama site of many racially charged incidents in post Civil War America

9. Scottsboro Trials (1931-1937) • 9 African-American males charged with rape of two white women. • Specious evidence • Accusers using men as scapegoat • 8 were convicted and sentenced to death

10. Scottsboro Trials cont. • Judge Horton overturned guilty verdicts • All white jury • Brought racial inequality into sharp relief

11. Civil Rights • TKAM was published in 1960 amidst the struggle for civil rights • The book reflects on the causes of racial tension in pre-civil rights US

12. Civil Rights Timeline • 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education • “Separate but equal” was separate but not equal • Voting restrictions • Economic stranglehold

13. Civil Rights Timeline • 1955 Rosa Parks arrested • Led to boycott which caught national attention

14. Civil Rights Timeline • 1957 Federal troops sent to Little Rock AR to enforce desegregation at Central High School • Students were known as the “Little Rock Nine.”

15. Civil Rights Timeline • August 28, 1963 • “I Have a Dream” • Steps of Lincoln Memorial

16. Civil Rights Timeline • July 2, 1964 Civil Rights Act signed into law by LBJ • Criminalizes discrimination

17. Intro to TKM characters • Atticus Finch • Father and attorney based on Amasa Lee and Judge Horton • Moral compass

18. Intro to TKM characters • Jean-Louise “Scout” Finch, young girl who narrates the story in retrospect • Two perspectives, a young 6 year-old and an adult

19. Intro to TKM characters • Jeremy “Jem” Finch, Scout’s brother, 4 years older • Begins story as curious, yet childish. • Ends story as sensitive moralist

20. Intro to TKM characters • Calpurnia, housekeeper and surrogate mother • Window into African-African side of town

21. Intro to TKM characters • Tom Robinson, African-American accused of rape • Client of Atticus Finch whose trial anchors the story of TKM

22. Intro to TKM characters • Bob Ewell, impoverished, racist accuser of Tom Robinson • Daughter is alleged victim of rape

23. Intro to TKM characters • Arthur “Boo” Radley, mythical character living down the street from the Finches. • Creative muse for Jem, Scout, and Dill

24. Helpful Website http://www.lausd.k12.ca.us/Belmont_HS/tkm