Name___________________________
Ms. Capton
Period____
Date______
To Kill a Mockingbird
Web Quest: Life in the 1930s South
160 points
Rationale: To understand To Kill a Mockingbird, we will research what life was like during the setting of the novel.
While the town of Maycomb, Alabama is fictional, the economic and social atmospheres were real. So, what world did
Scout Finch grow up in? How did it shape the events of the novel?
Directions: Please complete all work on your own paper (You may choose to type your answers but make sure you
have it completed on the due date. I will not wait for a typed paper). You will staple your work to this assignment
sheet. Questions must be answered in complete sentences and paragraphs.
PART I: GROWING UP WHITE
Go to the web site, http://library.thinkquest.org/12111/girl.html, and read the interview, “Growing Up White in the
South.” Then read the excerpt from “The Charm of Fine Manners.” Use both primary documents to answer the
following questions:
1. According to the interviewees, what did it mean to be a good family? Did you have to be rich to be a good
family? Speech? How did “good families” view cheating and stealing? How did they feel about people who
weren’t as fortunate?
2. What relationship did Camille, Cecil and MaryAnn have with African Americans when they were little girls?
What was the respectful term for an African American person in the 1930s?
3.
What were girls supposed to be like (discuss the idea of “proper, dainty Southern girls”)? Discuss what they
were supposed to do, and what they weren’t supposed to do.
PART II: GROWING UP BLACK
Now go to the website, http://library.thinkquest.org/12111/mculley.html, and read the interview, ‘Growing Up Black in
the 1930s in McCulley’s Quarters, Alabama.”
1. Mrs. Peacolia Burge “defies all stereotypes.” of African Americans in the 1930s. Which character of To Kill a
Mockingbird is she like? What was her father like?
2. Describe McCulley’s Quarters.
3. What was Mrs. Burge’s experience with white people when she was a child? What differences did she come to
notice?
4. According to Mrs. Burge, what was her father’s experience with poor whites? How did they treat blacks?
5. What was education like for African Americans in the 1930s? What job opportunities were available to them?
6. Discuss the significance of Mrs. Burge’s quote, “Not all black people are the same, and not all white people are
the same.” What did she mean by this?
PART III: SEGREGATION AND JIM CROW
To Kill a Mockingbird is set during the time when segregation was legal. This system was called Jim Crow. Go to the
site, http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/remembering/index.html, to learn about Jim Crow. Start at the
link, “Jim Crow Laws” to answer the following questions.
1. What was the purpose of Jim Crow Laws? When did the Jim Crow era begin, and when did it end?
2. Read the sample of Jim Crow laws for all of the categories. Choose one from each of the nine topics –
education, entertainment, etc… and write them down.
3. Browse the web site and it’s links, including audio and slide shows to learn more about Jim Crow. Then write a
brief paragraph telling what you learned.
PART IV: THE GREAT DEPRESSION
To Kill a Mockingbird is set during the Great Depression. Got to the site,
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/depression/overview.htm, to learn more about the Great Depression. Read the
topics, The Great Depression, Roosevelt and the New Deal, and Unemployment. Then answer the following questions:
1. What was the Great Depression? How did it start?
2. What was the New Deal? What is Roosevelt’s famous quote from his inaugural speech?
3. About how many Americans were unemployed as a result of the Great Depression?
4. Go to “The Depression Photo Essay”. Look at the pictures there. After viewing, write a brief paragraph
describing what you saw and your response to it.
To Kill a Mockingbird
An Internet Hotlist on Mockingbird
created by Brodgers
Introduction
In addition to using books and magazines to find out about the 1930s in the American South, why not also
use the power of the Internet? The links below will get you started.
The Internet Resources
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Growing Up White - Primary source interview on life in the 1930s White South.
Growing up Black - Primary source interview on life in the 1930s Black South.
Segregation and Jim Crow - Information on the Jim Crow laws and segregation in the south.
The Great Depression - Information on unemployment, Roosevelt and the New Deal, and the Great
Depression.