Do Now:
Write down at least three things that
you know about the 1930s.
(think about what life was like, events
that happened, etc.)
To Kill A
Mockingbird
Background
PowerPoint and
Notes
The Great
Depression
• Overspending in the
1920s
• Stock Market crash of
Even people with great
1929
careers suffered because of
America’s economy. In To
• Poverty & Hoovervilles
Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus
• President Franklin D.
Finch is a lawyer in
Roosevelt and the New
Alabama who accepts
Deal
things like food rather than
money from his clients.
• World War II
Racial Segregation
• January 1, 1863: Lincoln
issued the Emancipation
Proclamation, which
declared freedom for all
slaves.
– Intended to weaken the
South’s power during the
U.S. Civil War
– Although slaves were
“free,” black people were
affected by state laws that
prevented equality
– These laws were known as
the Jim Crow Laws
Plessy vs. Ferguson
• Strengthened the already
popular Jim Crow Laws
• In 1892, 30-year-old Homer Plessy was jailed for
sitting in a “white” section of a railroad car
• Plessy was 1/8th black, but under Louisiana law,
he was considered “colored” and was supposed
to ride in the “colored car.”
• Plessy argued that his arrest was a violation of
the Constitution
• Ferguson, the judge, found Plessy GUILTY of
refusing the leave the “white car.”
Plessy vs. Ferguson
• After an appeal, the case
went to the Supreme
Court, which upheld the
decision and perpetuated
the concept of “separate
but equal.”
• This enabled schools,
courthouses, libraries,
hotels, theaters,
restaurants, public
transportation, etc., to
segregate “coloreds” from
“whites.”
Jim Crow Laws
• The term Jim Crow comes from
the minstrel show song “Jump
Jim Crow” written in 1828 and
performed by Thomas
Dartmouth “Daddy” Rice, a
white English migrant to the U.S.
and the first person to make
blackface performances popular.
• A caricature of a shabbily
dressed rural black named “Jim
Crow” became a standard
character in minstrel shows.
etiquette
• Blacks were expected to refer
to whites with titles of
superiority like BOSS, SIR,
CAPTAIN, MISS, or MRS.
• Whites referred to blacks
using derogatory terms like
BOY, LADY, GIRL and the “N”
word.
• Blacks were expected to let
whites walk in front of them
on the sidewalk and signs
reading things like “Negroes
and Dogs Not Allowed” were
common
Harper Lee
• Born Nelle Harper Lee, April
28, 1926
• Grew up during the Great
Depression
• Grew up in Monroeville,
Alabama, in the heart of the
South, where racial tension
was high
• Dad was a lawyer
• Mother’s maiden name was
Finch
The Scottsboro Trials
• In 1931, a fight between white and black teen boys occurred on
a train between Tennessee and Alabama.
• Two girls on a train, one well-known prostitute and one minor,
were accused of violating the Mann Act (crossing state lines for
prostitution).
• They immediately accused all nine black men of rape.
The Scottsboro Trials
• Eight of the nine
boys were
sentenced to
death despite the
fact that
testimonies were
changed and there
was no real
evidence.
• Appeals continued
for years and only
two were
acquitted.