To Kill a Mockingbird - Background and Context

American Civil War

  Occurred 1861 - 1865 between Northern US and Confederate States of America Main cause was disagreement over slavery; North wanted to abolish it, and won After abolition in Maycomb, there still wasn't equal rights, ie. blacks not entitled to education People like Cunninghams blamed end of slavery for the loss of profit/land/status

Slavery (binary/octet-stream)

The Great Depression (1930s)

Stock market crash on Black Tuesday (Oct '29) triggered worldwide economic depression   Lasted from end of 1929 to early 1940s   To Kill A Mockingbird is set in the 1930's, during The Great Depression (published in the 1960's)   "Nothing to buy and no money to buy it with" - Scout   "There was no hurry for there was no where to go" - Scout   Effected stock market and crop prices   Avg income dropped by 40% between 1929 - 32

Wall Street Crash affected country folk (Atticus discusses this with Scout)   WPA was a work force campaign set up to create jobs to those affected by the Wall Street Crash (Bob Ewell being one of them)   Atticus explains how "country folk" were affected by the Wall Street Crash, telling Scout that they are indeed poor, despite his occupation   Bob Ewell worked for the WPA

Roosevelt and the New Deal

  Hebert Hoover = president during Great Depression   Roosevelt won in 1932   He began new programmes, shut banks down until they were stable to try and sort out the economy

Fdr (binary/octet-stream)

Black people in society

Slavery was abolished in 1865, but still powerless   Originally brought from Africa (17th - 19th century) as slaves on the fields   Hung by mobs without trial   Paid less than whites   Required to work harder   Given 'dirty work'   Hanging of black people was common in 1930s because of KKK

Laws which allowed discrimination against blacks, such as Jim Crow Laws, made it hard for blacks to stand up   Whites thought themselves superior to blacks   Couldn't marry whites   Had separate schools, churches, football teams and cemeteries   "I want to know why you bringin' white chillun to nigger church" - Lulu (Cal's friend)   Tom lost the case purely because of his skin colour; "licked" before he even begins.

Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

Founded in 1865   Fought for Confederate States of America   White Christian extremists who hated black people and some whites from the North   Mostly while Anglo-Saxon Protestants   Anyone who was not part of their cult was inferior   Infamous for night time meetings when they would wear white and march around, beating up black people in mobs

In Georgia 1924-25, 135 people were executed   Reached a peak of 4 million members in the 1920s   Great Depression stirred numbers (because of crime and division) which reduced their clan to 30 000 by the 1940s.   In chapter 15, smaller scale KKK behaviour takes place outside the Maycomb jail

Women in society

Gender inequality   Women only allowed to vote in 1920s, but not be on the jury   Only white men were allowed on the jury   Ms Maudie Atkinson isn't allowed on the jury because she's a woman

Maudie (binary/octet-stream)

Scottsboro Case (1931)

Harper Lee may have based TKAM upon the Scottsboro case   Occurred in 1931, when Harper Lee was 5   Nine young black men accused of raping two white women on trial   No medical evidence to show rape   Almost lynched on way to trial   Four men sentenced to lifelong imprisonment/ all sentenced to death but one   The women were found out to be lying later on

Scott (binary/octet-stream)

Time of Publishing

  Published in 1960s (written in 1950s)   Ironic because black people were campaigning for civil rights, with white people changing ways

Book Cover (binary/octet-stream)