1. n g b i r
d
by Harper Lee
The mockingbird is not
Alabama’s state bird, but
it is the state bird of Arkansas,
Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee,
and Texas.
2.
3.
4.
5. The whole story is
flashback since we spend
the entire book trying to find
out how Jem broke his arm
13. A True Story
Samuel Leibowitz
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, poor people would ride in
railroad freight cars, trying to get to a town that might have work. In 1931,
two white women were riding the trains along with two groups of men: one
white and another black.
A fight broke out between the two groups of men. The blacks won and threw
the whites off the train. The whites reported this to the local sheriff, and the
train was stopped in Scottsboro, Alabama. Everyone on board was arrested.
Victoria Price was in serious trouble because her friend, Ruby Bates, was a
minor. It's a federal crime to take a minor across state lines for the purpose
of prostitution. In order to get out of trouble, Victoria and Ruby said that the
black men had raped them.
In 1931, rape was punishable by death. Considering the races of the
accusers (white) and accused (black), the normal response would have
been a lynching (hanging someone who is suspected of a crime). But the
Victoria Price and Ruby Bates people of Scottsboro held a trial, instead. Of course, the result had been
decided before the trial began. The Scottsboro Boys were convicted and
sentenced to death - at the first trial.
14. In 1896, the US Supreme Court had ruled that “separate but
equal” facilities were constitutional. Thanks to the
Court, African-Americans suffered half a century from
legalized discrimination.
The Jim Crow laws, often referred to as merely Jim
Crow, were state and local laws in force mainly in the
Southern states of the United States between 1876 and
1965 (mostly voted by Democratic Party politicians). They
enforced the segregation of blacks and whites in all public
facilities (public schools, public places, phonebooths, public
transportation, restrooms, restaurants etc.) and led to
inferior treatment and accommodations for AfricanAmericans, although in theory they were designed to make
things “separate but equal” (separation being supposedly in
the interests of African-Americans because integration
would expose them to white racism and would create low
self-esteem).
The laws were overruled by Brown v. Board of Education
decision of the Supreme Court, and the Civil Rights Act
of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 pushed by
Lyndon B. Johnson, but the practices were brought to
complete end only in the 1970s. De facto
segregation, particularly in schools, continues until today, as
17. “Strange Fruit”
by Abel Meeropol (publishing as Lewis Allan)
Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.
Lynching, the putting to death (usually by hanging) of an
individual by a mob under the pretense of administering
justice, occurred throughout the United States in the 19th
and 20th centuries, although it was especially common in
the South. From the 1880s until the practice ended in the
1960s, the vast majority of lynching victims were AfricanAmerican.
Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
e bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
en the sudden smell of burning flesh.
Here is the fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.
"Strange Fruit" is a song performed most famously by Billie Holiday, who first sang and recorded it in 1939.
Written by the teacher Abel Meeropol as a poem, it exposed American racism, particularly the lynching of African
Americans. Such lynchings had occurred chiefly in the South but also in other regions of the United States.
18. Exposition—
“Simon Finch, a fur-trapping apothecary from Cornwall whose piety was exceeded only by his
stinginess. In England, Simon was irritated by the persecution ofthose who called themselves
Methodists at the hands of their more liberal brethren, and as Simon called himself a Methodist, he
worked his way across the Atlantic to Philadelphia, thence to Jamaica, thence to Mobile, and up the
Saint Stephens. Mindful of John Wesley's strictures on the use of many words in buying and
selling, Simon made a pile practicing medicine, but in this pursuit he was unhappy lest he be
tempted into doing what he knew was not for the glory of God, as the putting on of gold and costly
apparel. So Simon, having forgotten his teacher's dictum on the possession of human
chattels, bought three slaves and with their aid established a homestead on the banks of the
Alabama River some forty miles above Saint Stephens. He returned to Saint Stephens only once, to
find a wife, and with her established a line that ran high to daughters. Simon lived to an impressive
age and died rich. It was customary for the men in the family to remain on Simon's
homestead, Finch's Landing, and make their living from cotton. The place was self-sufficient: modest
in comparison with the empires around it, the Landing nevertheless produced everything required to
sustain life except ice, wheat flour, and articles of clothing, supplied by river-boats from Mobile.
Simon would have regarded with impotent fury the disturbance between the North and the
South, as it left his descendants stripped of everything but their land, yet the tradition of living on
the land remained unbroken until well into the twentieth century, when my father, Atticus
Finch, went to Montgomery to read law, and his younger brother went to Boston to study medicine.
Their sister Alexandra was the Finch who remained at the Landing: she married a taciturn man …” .
Include The Great Depression, Jim Crow, and Scottsboro information.
19. The Scottsboro Trials
Took place in the 1930s
Took place in northern Alabama
Began with a charge of rape made by white women
against African American men
The poor white status of the accusers was a critical
issue.
A central figure was a heroic judge, a member of the
Alabama Bar who overturned a guilty jury verdict
against African American men.
This judge went against public sentiment in trying to
protect the rights of the African American defendants.
The first juries failed to include any
African Americans, a situation which
caused the U.S. Supreme Court to
overturn the guilty verdict.
The jury ignored evidence, for example,
that the women suffered no injuries.
Attitudes about Southern women and
poor whites complicated the trial.
Tom Robinson's Trial
Occurs in the 1930s
Takes place in southern Alabama
Begins with a charge of rape made
by a white woman against an African American man
The poor white status of Mayella is a critical issue.
A central figure is Atticus, lawyer,
legislator and member of the
Alabama Bar, who defends an African American man.
Atticus arouses anger in the community in trying to
defend Tom Robinson.
The verdict is rendered by a jury of poor white
residents of Old Sarum.
The jury ignores evidence, for example, that Tom has a
useless left arm.
Attitudes about Southern women and poor whites
complicate the trial of Tom Robinson.
20. Harper Lee's Childhood
Scout Finch's Childhood
Grew up in 1930s - rural southern
Alabama town
Father - Amasa Lee - attorney who
served in state legislature in Alabama
Grew up in 1930s - rural southern
Alabama town
Father - Atticus Finch - attorney who
served in state legislature in Alabama
Older brother and young neighbor
(Dill) are playmates
Scout reads before she enters school;
reads Mobile Register newspaper in
first grade
Six years old when the trial of Tom
Robinson takes place
Older brother and young neighbor
(Truman Capote) are playmates
Harper Lee - an avid reader
Six years old when Scottsboro trials were
meticulously covered in state and local
newspapers
21. Atticus is a
good father
who spends
time with his
children and
enjoys it.
22. I, Too, Sing America
by Langston Hughes
Conflicts—Jem vs. Scout—man vs. man
Fear is man vs. himself
Prejudice is man vs. society
Boo Radley—man vs. society
I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the
kitchen
When company comes. But I
laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.
Tomorrow I’ll sit at the table
When company comes
Nobody’ll dare Say to me, “Eat
in the kitchen” then.
Besides, they’ll see how
beautiful I am
And be ashamed,–
I, too, am America.
23. I found this
plot diagram that is
almost impossible to read,
but it was so interesting….
29. BILDUNGSROMAN
—a novel which tells
of a character’s growth
towards maturity.
It’s what is referred to
as a “Coming Of Age”
novel.
Mary Badham and Gregory Peck
studying their lines.
30. ‘It’s a sin to kill a
mockingbird’
● Look up the references to
mockingbirds (pp.
96, 100, 247, 261, 282).
● Who are the metaphorical
mockingbirds in the novel?
Tom Robinson, Boo Radley
are two. Is Mayella Ewell
another?
‘Climb into a person’s skin’
● Look up the references to this idea (pp. 35, 163, 224, 285)
● How does this teach tolerance?
● How important is empathy for others to Harper Lee?
Conflicts, themes,
and symbolism….
31. What is the importance of family to the following characters:
● Atticus, Scout and Jem
● the Finches
● the Ewells
● Dolphus Raymond
● Dill.
Racism:
● black and white in the novel
● the verdict of the trial
● Lula
● Dolphus Raymond
● the Ewells and ‘white trash’.
Conflicts, themes,
and symbolism….
32. Class distinctions:
● black ● mixed race ● old families
Conflicts, themes,
and symbolism….
● white ● ‘white trash’ ● the rural poor
Other key ideas you might want to make notes on are:
● moral justice and legal justice
● prejudice
● democracy and dictatorship
● the need for social reform
● the need for legal reform
33. Jem, Scout, and Dill are fascinated
by the Boo Radley myth. They
build him into a “boogie” man.
Children actually had free time
and played outside all day.
35. When Tom Robinson
is accused of rape by
Mayella
Ewell, Atticus Finch is
appointed as his
lawyer by the court.
Gregory Peck and
Brock Peters
36. Atticus is a good father
who has an open, honest
relationship with his
children.
Atticus is a good
man, who treats everyone
regardless of their
age, gender, ethnicity, or
religion with
compassion, honesty, and
genuine concern.
38. Why does Jem
have to read to
this old
lady, Mrs.
Dubose?
Why does
Atticus admire
her courage?
39. Why do Jem and Scout go
to the First Purchase
Black Church?
With whom do they go?
What do they learn from
the visit?
Who complains about their
being taken there?
How does Atticus respond
to this?
40. Calpurnia is more than
just a maid, cook, or
housekeeper for the
Finches.
She is a surrogate mother
figure for Scout, who
doesn’t always get along
with her.
Atticus respects her as
her own person.
43. Notice that the courtroom is segregated.
Atticus only calls 4
witnesses, and
although he proves
that Tom Robinson
could not have done
what he is accused,
the verdict will
reflect 12 white
men’s prejudice in
Alabama in the
1930s.
44. Who would have
guessed that
Atticus was a keen
marksman?
Jem and Scout had
thought he was
old and useless.
62. Truman Streckfus Persons was known as Truman
Capote, an American author, screenwriter and
playwright, many of whose short
stories, novels, plays, and nonfiction are recognized
literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at
Tiffany's (1958) and the true crime novel In Cold
Blood (1966), which he labeled a "nonfiction novel."
At least 20 films and television dramas have been
produced of Capote novels, stories and plays. Born
in New Orleans, Louisiana, his parents divorced
when he was four, and he was sent
to Monroeville, Alabama, where, for the following four
to five years, he was raised by his mother's relatives.
In Monroeville, he was a neighbor and friend of
author Harper Lee, who wrote the 1960 novel To Kill
a Mockingbird, and based the character Dill on
Capote.
As a lonely child, Capote taught himself both to read
and to write before he entered his first year of
school. Capote was often seen at age five carrying
his dictionary and notepad, and he began writing
fiction at the age of 11.
63.
64.
65.
66.
67.
68.
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70.
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72.
73.
74. Rosa Parks was arrested in
Montgomery, AL for
refusing to give up her bus
seat to a white man.
She sat down to stand up
to Jim Crow/for her rights
Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. was arrested
and jailed for
organizing the
Birmingham March.
75.
76. Although it was a peaceful march for voting rights, Birmingham
Police Chief Eugene “Bull” Connor turned the dogs and the
firehoses loose upon the assembly. I went to school with
his grandson, who was proud of his “PopPop Bull.”
77. Dr. King makes his historic “I Have a Dream” speech to thousands
in Washington, DC. This speech will be the catalyst to passing