Harper LeeHarper LeeBorn on April 28, 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama

Youngest of four children

1957 – submitted manuscript for her novel; was urged to rewrite it

Spent over two years reworking it

1960 – To Kill a Mockingbird (her only novel) published

SettingSetting

Maycomb, Alabama

1930’s—The Great Depression

Main CharactersMain CharactersScout (Jean Louise Finch) – six-year-old narrator of story

Jem (Jeremy Finch) – her older brother

Atticus Finch – Jem and Scout’s father, a prominent lawyer who defends a black man accused of raping a white woman

Arthur (Boo) Radley – a thirty-three-year-old recluse who lives next door

Charles Baker (Dill) Harris – Jem and Scout’s friend who comes to visit his aunt in Maycomb each summer

Tom Robinson – a respectable black man accused of raping a white woman

Calpurnia – the Finches’ black cook

Autobiographical?Autobiographical? Maycomb, AL is based on Monroeville, AL

where Lee grew up

Finch was Lee’s mother’s maiden name—it’s the last name of the main character, Scout

Lee’s father was a lawyer—so is the main character’s father, Atticus Finch

Lee would have been about the same age as Scout when the Scottsboro Trials took place—similar to the trial in the book

One of Lee’s childhood friend’s was Truman Capote, author of In Cold Blood—the character of Dill is based on him

The Scottsboro TrialThe Scottsboro Trial On March 25, 1931, a fight broke out between two

groups of boys, one white, one black, on a train heading from Tennessee to Alabama

When the train arrived, nine blacks were arrested and held for trial for allegedly raping two white women

The trail began on April 6, 1931 and lasted 4 days

Despite conflicting stories and a very weak case against the boys, they were found guilty and sentenced to death

The case went through a lengthy appeals process, but most of the accused remained in jail for a decade

It was the word of two white women against the word of the black men, and at the time, that was just part of the problem

Jim Crow lawsJim Crow laws Enacted in 1877 Brought about the segregation of whites

and blacks in all aspects of life:

• Transportation

• Cemeteries

• Schools

• Parks

• Theaters

• Restaurants

Social Classes in the SouthSocial Classes in the South

“Old Family”—upper class; proud of their ancestry; try to preserve the pre-Civil War values of elegant Southern society

“Poverty”—hard-working whites, often farmers, who had to struggle to make ends meet

“Blacks”—worked mainly as servants or farm laborers; often subjected to deprivation and humiliation

Racial prejudice was very evident—this can be seen throughout the novel

"Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." ~Miss Maudie Atkinson (90)