To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird

1. About Author, Harper Lee

   • Would have strong Southern beliefs
     • Lived in Alabama her whole life
       • Where they had Jim Crow Laws, they wanted slavery, and they still want to segregate schools

2. 1930s and The Great Depression

   • World War II was what got the Americans out of the Great Depression, similar to how Martin Luther King Jr. and others spoke out about racial discrimination, bringing the colored out of that problem

3. Jim Crow Laws

   • Group of laws about how blacks and whites should behave around one another
     • Mainly in place in Southern and border states
       • Alabama is one of these states, where Harper Lee lived in her entire life
         • Could have highly influenced her perspective on race
     • Separate ticket windows based on race
       • Similar to the rich and the poor in the Great Depression
     • Schools were separate based off of race
       • Limited the colored people’s education, similar to if you were unemployed and went into poverty because of the Great Depression, your kids wouldn’t be able to go to school

4. Scottsboro Boys

   • The case where 9 African-American boys were wrongly accused of rape on white women, and were sent to jail
     • Jim Crow Laws made colored and white people behave a certain way around one another
       • Originally, the boys had a white judge, inadequate defendants, and weak evidence, which was unfair, just like the Jim Crow laws
     • These boys were arrested in Scottsboro, Alabama
       • Alabama was where Harper Lee llved her entire life
       • Alabama was also one of the Confederate states that wanted to keep slavery

5. Current Connections

   • A county in Alabama, named Gardendale, wants to secede, which could lead to an all-white school
     • Black students won't get as good of an education if that happens
       • Similar to when Jim Crow laws were in place, schools were separated based off of race

6. The Civil Rights Movement

   • In 2003, the Supreme Court rules that race can be considered as a factor in college admissions
     • Similar to Jefferson County's situation and the Jim Crow laws, race can affect your education