To Kill a
Mockingbird
by
The timeless classic
of growing up and
the human dignity
that unites us all
On your handout:
What makes a book,
poem, movie, sporting
event a classic?
Historical
Context of
the Novel
The Great Depression
The Stock
Market crashed
in 1929.
On your handout:
What do you know
about the Great
Depression?
People lost their jobs and savings.
The average income in 1929 was
about $750. Annual farm income
was only about $275.
By 1933, 25% of Americans were
unemployed (13 million people).
The Depression continued until the
U.S. entered WWII in 1941.
Southern Race Relations
in 1932
Jim Crow laws, passed in the
Southern states, segregated the races
in public places in an attempt to
create two separate societies, one
black and one white.
African Americans and
whites were forced to:
-sit in different sections of the bus,
streetcars, and trains
-attend different schools and churches
-use different bathrooms and water
fountains
-sit in different sections in theatres,
courtrooms, and restaurants
Blacks were forced to use separate restrooms
& drinking fountains
The culture at the time discouraged any social
contact between blacks and whites of opposite
sexes. Marriage between people of different
races was illegal.
In addition, a white person’s word was almost
always taken over the word of a black person,
particularly in the South. Most whites treated
blacks with an air of superiority, even in the
North. African Americans were supposed to
address whites with such titles as “Mr.” “Miss” or
“Mrs.”
Tension between
black and white
people intensified.
Lynchings
(primarily of African Americans)
were common.
MAIN
CHARACTERS in
To Kill a
Mockingbird
Scout Finch
(Jean Louise)
Six-year-old
daughter of Atticus
Story is told from
her point of view
Jem Finch
(Jeremy)
Ten-year-old
son of Atticus
Dill Harris
Scout & Jem’s
summertime friend.
Atticus Finch
Father of Scout & Jem
Lawyer
Widower
Jem & Scout
learn important life
lessons from their
father—Atticus Finch
You will also learn
important life lessons
from one of the
greatest literary
characters of all times—
Atticus Finch
The
structure of
the novel
PART
ONE
Sneaking
Up on Boo
Radley
Scout, Jem, and Dill
Three young children growing
up in Alabama in the 1930s
cross the line when trying to
unveil the mysteries of their
“unknown” neighbor. . .
Arthur “Boo” Radley
Arthur Radley
(Boo)
Scout & Jem’s
mysterious, never-seen
next-door neighbor.
On your handout:
What “monsters” were
you afraid of as a small
child?
PART TWO
The Trial
Tom Robinson
a Black man
is accused of raping
Mayella Ewell
a White woman
Tom Robinson’s
Trial is based on
the historical
Scottsboro Trial
It was in such a
distressing social and
economic climate that
the Scottsboro case
unfolded.
On March 25, 1931, several groups of white and black men and two
white women were riding the rails from Tennessee to Alabama in various
open and closed railroad cars designed to carry freight and gravel. At one
point on the trip, the black and white men began fighting. One white man
would later testify that the African-Americans started the fight, and
another white man would later claim that the white men had started the
fight. In any case, most of the white men were thrown off the train. When
the train arrived at Paint Rock, Alabama, all those riding the railsincluding nine black men, at least one white man, and the two white
women--were arrested, probably on charges of vagrancy. The white
women remained under arrest in jail for several days, pending charges of
vagrancy and possible violation of the Mann Act. The Mann Act
prohibited the taking of a minor across state lines for immoral purposes,
like prostitution. Because Victoria Price was a known prostitute, the
police were tipped off (very likely by the mother of the underaged Ruby
Bates) that the two women were involved in a criminal act when they left
Tennessee for Alabama. Upon leaving the train, the two women
immediately accused the African-American men of raping them in an
open railroad car that was carrying gravel.
The trial of the nine men began on April 6, 1931, only twelve days
after the arrest, and continued through April 9, 1931. The chief
witnesses included the two women accusers, one white man who
had remained on the train and corroborated their accusations,
another acquaintance of the women who refused to corroborate
their accusations, the physician who examined the women, and the
accused nine black men. The accused claimed that they had not
even been in the same car with the women, and the defense
attorneys also argued that one of the accused was blind and another
too sickly to walk unassisted and thus could not have committed
such a violent crime. On April 9, 1931, eight of the nine were
sentenced to death; a mistrial was declared for the ninth because of
his youth. The executions were suspended pending court appeals,
which eventually reached the Supreme Court of the United States.
•
CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
March 25, 1931
April 6-9, 1931
continue for
November 7, 1932
March 27, 1933
April 9, 1933
June 22, 1933
Nov./Dec.1933
•
April 1, 1935
•
May 1, 1935
•
•
•
•
July 26, 1937
1940s
June 9, 1950
October 25, 1976
Arrest of nine Scottsboro "boys."
First trials in Scottsboro, Alabama. Appeals begin and
a year and a half.
United States Supreme Court orders new trials.
Second trials begin.
Patterson found guilty and sentenced to death in June.
Judge Horton overturns guilty verdict.
Clarence Norris is tried, found guilty, and sentenced to death.
Appeals continue for two years while he remains on death row.
U.S. Supreme Court reverses the convictions of Patterson and
Norris.
Another round of trials begins and Patterson is given a 75-year
sentence.
Charges against four men are dropped.
All but one escape or are paroled.
The last Scottsboro defendant is released from prison.
Clarence Norris is pardoned.
Their interest in Tom
Robinson’s Trial and
fascination with Boo
Radley, help Jem and
Scout realize prejudgment
of people is generally
inaccurate.
Is it always
Black
and
White?
When and how was
To Kill a
Mockingbird
born?
The novel was first published in 1960. Many critics say that Harper Lee
modeled the character of Scout after herself as well as many others:
•
Harper Lee was born in Monroeville, Alabama in 1926, so she would
have been about the same age as Scout when TKAM takes place.
•
Lee’s father was a small-town lawyer, just like Atticus Finch.
•
Although there is no proof, it is rumored that a mysterious recluse
lived in Lee’s neighborhood on which the character of Boo Radley is
based.
•
Harper Lee’s mother’s maiden name was Frances Finch.
•
Harper Lee was well aware of the Scottsboro trials that took place
in April 1931. Even though she was only six years old when the first
trial took place, this trial had a significant impact on Lee, and it
served as the basis for the trial in TKAM.
•
Harper Lee’s close childhood friend was the famous author Truman
Capote. Lee and her brother spent their summers playing with
Truman. It is believed that Truman was the model for Lee’s
character Dill Harris in TKAM.
Civil Rights Movement
1954
 Brown vs. Board of
Education of Topeka– 
racial segregation in public
schools is illegal.
1955
 Rosa Parks 
arrested for not giving
up her seat on the bus
for a white person.
Also in 1955
(9 months earlier)
 Teenager Claudette
Colvin 
Decided she’d had enough of the
Jim Crow segregation laws and
refused to give up her seat on
the bus for a white woman.
1955

Montgomery City
Bus Boycott 
1956 Jan.
 Autherine
Lucy
accepted to
University of
Alabama 
1956 Feb.
Lucy forced to flee
after violence
erupts 

1957
 Federal troops sent to
Little Rock, Arkansas,
to enforce courtordered desegregation
of schools 
1960 Fall

Publication of
To Kill a Mockingbird 
1963
 Four children die
in church bombing
in Birmingham 
TODAY
 Racist Incidents Unnerve U-Va. After Slurs, Students Rally for
Change
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 17, 2005
After class at the University of Virginia
one night this week, sophomore Kyle
Miller found a note attached to the
windshield of his jeep. It wasn't a ticket; it
was something hateful, racist, written in
red ink, in all caps.
Just a few weeks into the school
year, U-Va. has had at least nine
racist incidents -- slurs shouted from
cars, ugly words written on message
boards, a racist threat scrawled on a
bathroom wall. And students,
parents and alumni are demanding
change.
"It's got to stop," said Miller's mother, Alice
P. Miller, executive director of the D.C. Board of
Elections and Ethics, who now tells her son to be
careful and stick with friends if he's out late.
Yesterday, U-Va. President John T. Casteen
III summoned students to the Rotunda, the
heart of the historic campus in Charlottesville,
and in a rare speech from the portico, he
invoked the name of Martin Luther King Jr. and
urged students to demonstrate unity against
racial intolerance.
FINAL
THOUGHT
Injustice anywhere
is a threat to justice
Everywhere.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
As you read
To Kill a Mockingbird,
consider this
question:
How does Jem Finch
change from beginning
to end?
AND
How does the symbol of
the mockingbird
contribute to his change?
Enjoy the journey!
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