To Kill A Mocking Bird - Context

Like Jem & Scout, Lee's father was a lawyer. She wrote the book in the 1950's and published it in 1960.
American Slavery
1. Originally brought from Africa during the 17th-19th Century, sold as slaves to work on sugar and cotton plantations, had no rights and were seen as little more than animals/machines
2. Even after abolition of slaver in 1865, blacks were still powerless
3. Blacks had the worst of everything and whites had the best
4. Great depression: money was tight for everyone and blacks were hanged by mobs without trial
Segregation and injustice
1. 1930's: Blacks had no vote and could not marry whites
2. Blacks had their own schools, churches, football teams and cemeteries
3. Harper Lee may have based her novel in part on a case in Scottsboro, Alabama.
  1. The Scottsboro case: nine young black men accused of raping two white women on trial, 4 men sentenced long time in prison, later found the women were lying.

Resource summary

	Created by ashleighwigley over 11 years ago