To Kill a Mockingbird: A Historical Context ­­ KEY Although Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is a work of fiction, the story is based on and set in a historically accurate context. In order to appreciate the novel's setting and recognize its relevance today, you must understand this time period. A. Click on URLs below > Open link > Open in Safari to open websites and answer the questions regarding the novel's controversy, the Great Depression, Jim Crow Laws, and the Civil Rights Movement. We will refer to all of these topics when we discuss To Kill a Mockingbird . B. Type your answers below the questions in a different font, color, or bolded. Turn in to Google Classroom for a Classwork Grade (15 points). Controversy ALA Banned & Challenged Classics ­­ http://www.ala.org/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/classics 1. Where does the novel appear on the Banned & Challenged Classics book list? #4 2. Name two other titles that you were surprised to find on this list. A. Of Mice and Men B. Call of the Wild Banned and/or Challenged Books ­­ http://www.ala.org/bbooks/ufrequentlychallengedbooks/classics/reasons 3. A challenge occurs when someone attempts to remove a book from school curriculums and libraries; if the material is removed, it is considered banned. Give two reasons that To Kill a Mockingbird has been challenged? A. B. ●
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Challenged in Eden Valley, MN (1977) and temporarily banned due to words "damn" and "whore lady" used in the novel. Challenged in the Vernon Verona Sherill, NY School District (1980) as a "filthy, trashy novel." Challenged at the Warren, IN Township schools (1981) because the book does "psychological damage to the positive integration process" and "represents institutionalized racism under the guise of good literature." After unsuccessfully trying to ban Lee's novel, three black parents resigned from the township human relations advisory council. Challenged in the Waukegan, IL School District (1984) because the novel uses the word "nigger." Challenged in the Kansas City, MO junior high schools (1985). Challenged at the Park Hill, MO Junior High School (1985) because the novel "contains profanity and racial slurs." Retained on a supplemental eighth grade reading list in the Casa Grande, AZ Elementary School District (1985), despite the protests by black parents and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People who charged the book was unfit for junior high use. Challenged at the Santa Cruz, CA Schools (1995) because of its racial themes. Removed from the Southwood High School Library in Caddo Parish, LA (1995) because the book's language and content were objectionable. ●
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Challenged at the Moss Point, MS School District (1996) because the novel contains a racial epithet. Banned from the Lindale, TX advanced placement English reading list (1996) because the book "conflicted with the values of the community." Challenged by a Glynn County, GA (2001) School Board member because of profanity. The novel was retained. Returned to the freshman reading list at Muskogee, OK High School (2001) despite complaints over the years from black students and parents about racial slurs in the text. Challenged in the Normal, IL Community High School's sophomore literature class (2003) as being degrading to African Americans. Challenged at the Stanford Middle School in Durham, NC (2004) because the 1961 Pulitzer Prize­winning novel uses the word "nigger." Challenged at the Brentwood, TN Middle School (2006) because the book contains “profanity” and “contains adult themes such as sexual intercourse, rape, and incest.” The complainants also contend that the book’s use of racial slurs promotes “racial hatred, racial division, racial separation, and promotes white supremacy.” Retained in the English curriculum by the Cherry Hill, NJ Board of Education (2007). A resident had objected to the novel’s depiction of how blacks are treated by members of a racist white community in an Alabama town during the Depression. The resident feared the book would upset black children reading it. Removed (2009) from the St. Edmund Campion Secondary School classrooms in Brampton Ontario, Canada because a parent objected to language used in the novel, including the word “nigger." 4. Why would you agree or disagree with these challenges? I would disagree; the value of the novel outweighs any scandalous language. The Great Depression Overview ­­ http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/depression/about.htm 5. WHEN did the Great Depression occur? The Great Depression was an economic slump in North America, Europe, and other industrialized areas of the world that began in 1929 and lasted until about 1939. 6. WHY did the Great Depression occur? The Great Depression may be said to have begun with a catastrophic collapse of stock­market prices on the New York Stock Exchange in October 1929. Scroll down the page to the POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS section to answer questions 7­8. 7. Who was president during the New Deal? In the United States Roosevelt became President in 1933 and promised a "New Deal." under which the government would intervene to reduce unemployment by work­creation schemes such as street cleaning and the painting of post offices. 8. What was the New Deal? In the "New Deal," the government would intervene to reduce unemployment by work­creation schemes such as street cleaning and the painting of post offices. Photographs ­­ http://history1900s.about.com/od/photographs/tp/greatdepressionpictures.htm 9. Look at some photographs from the Great Depression. Describe one and explain why it has an impact on you. The mother of seven children impacted me because of the hopeless expression on the woman’s face. Jim Crow Laws/Segregation Laws ­­ http://www.ferris.edu/news/jimcrow/what.htm 10. What was the purpose of Jim Crow Laws? Jim Crow was the name of the racial caste system which operated primarily, but not exclusively in southern and border states, between 1877 and the mid­1960s. Jim Crow was more than a series of rigid anti­black laws. It was a way of life. Under Jim Crow, African Americans were relegated to the status of second class citizens. Jim Crow represented the legitimization of anti­black racism. 11. Put at least two of these laws into your own words. 1. A black male could not offer his hand (to shake hands) with a white male because it implied being socially equal. Obviously, a black male could not offer his hand or any other part of his body to a white woman, because he risked being accused of rape. 2. Blacks and whites were not supposed to eat together. If they did eat together, whites were to be served first, and some sort of partition was to be placed between them. 3. Under no circumstance was a black male to offer to light the cigarette of a white female ­­ that gesture implied intimacy. 4. Blacks were not allowed to show public affection toward one another in public, especially kissing, because it offended whites. 5. Jim Crow etiquette prescribed that blacks were introduced to whites, never whites to blacks. For example: "Mr. Peters (the white person), this is Charlie (the black person), that I spoke to you about." 6. Whites did not use courtesy titles of respect when referring to blacks, for example, Mr., Mrs., Miss., Sir, or Ma'am. Instead, blacks were called by their first names. Blacks had to use courtesy titles when referring to whites, and were not allowed to call them by their first names. 7. If a black person rode in a car driven by a white person, the black person sat in the back seat, or the back of a truck. 8. White motorists had the right­of­way at all intersections. The Civil Rights Movement http://www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory/civilrights­55­65/ 12. When was the Civil Rights Movement? 1955­1965 13. This site lists seven aspects of the Civil Rights Movement. Choose one and write at least one sentence summarizing your assigned aspect. 1. The Montgomery Bus Boycott 2. Sit­Ins 3. The Freedom Rides 4. Birmingham 5. The March on Washington 6. Mississippi and Freedom Summer 7. Selma