To Kill a Mockingbird Web Quest and Jigsaw
INSTRUCTIONS: You have been assigned one of the following four topics related to the context of Harper Lee’s classic
novel, To Kill a Mockingbird: About the Author, The Scottsboro Boys, Jim Crow Laws, or The Great Depression. Your task
is to become an expert on your assigned topic by completing thorough research, and then to answer the questions
provided in order to demonstrate your understanding of the topic. In addition, it will be your job to share the knowledge
you gain with a group of your classmates, jigsawing information together so that you have a full understanding of the
background of To Kill a Mockingbird. Follow the links provided to answer the questions associated with your assigned
topic. You should type your answers to each question, as well as use complete sentences in your responses. You will
NOT receive full credit for your responses if you don’t use complete sentences.
Topic 1: About the Author
Links:
http://www.neabigread.org/books/mockingbird/mockingbird04.php)
http://www.biography.com/people/harper-lee-9377021
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/harperle.htm
Questions:
1. When and where was Harper Lee born? What was her family like?
2. Who was her childhood best friend? How was he an inspiration for To Kill a Mockingbird?
3. Describe Harper Lee’s personality as a young girl. What were her interests?
4. What did she study in college? What extra-curricular activities did she participate in?
5. What sort of life did she live in New York prior to the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird?
6. What sort of work did she do with Truman Capote?
7. What real life people and events were inspirations for To Kill a Mockingbird?
8. What year was To Kill a Mockingbird published? When was it adapted to screen?
9. Explain the numerous ways Harper Lee was honored following the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird.
10. What became of Harper Lee’s writing career after the success of To Kill a Mockingbird?
Topic 2: The Scottsboro Boys
Links:
http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/scottsboro/SB_acct.html
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_scotts.html
Questions:
1. What happened on the Southern Railroad's Chattanooga to Memphis freight train on the evening of March 25, 1931?
2. Why were the Scottsboro Boys arrested in the first place?
3. What did the police find when the Scottsboro Boys were arrested? What were the Scottsboro Boys accused of doing?
4. Where and when did the Scottsboro Boys' original trial take place?
5. What verdict did the jury determine? What sentence did the jury decide upon?
6. What does the NAACP acronym stand for? Why did the NAACP decide not to help the Scottsboro Boys?
7. The Communist Party came to the aid of the Scottsboro Boys. How did the South perceive the Communist Party, and
how was it similar to the perception of blacks? What was the Communist Party's hidden agenda in providing aid to the
Scottsboro Boys?
8. The Scottsboro Boys were not provided with adequate defense lawyers. Provide at least three ways in which the
defense lawyers were inadequate.
9. Describe the trials. Were they fair or unfair? Provide at least three supporting facts to back up your description.
10. Were the Scottsboro Boys ever pardoned of their convictions? Explain.
Topic 3: Jim Crow Laws
Links:
http://www.crf-usa.org/black-history-month/a-brief-history-of-jim-crow
http://www.ferris.edu/news/jimcrow/what.htm
Questions:
1. What was “Jim Crow”?
2. Where did the term "Jim Crow" originate?
3. What Supreme Court case upheld segregation, determining “separate but equal’ was lawful?
4. What were the consequences of that decision?
5. What was the objective of the Jim Crow laws?
6. Provide at least three examples of Jim Crow laws and explain each of them.
7. Explain how lynchings are the most extreme form of Jim Crow violence.
8. Describe the race riots which began in the summer of 1919.
9. What did other countries think of the Jim Crow laws and violence of the United States?
10. What Supreme Court case determined that separate was not equal in public education?
Topic 4: The Great Depression
Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Memories+of+the+dust+bowl:+for+people+of+the+Southern+Plains,+the+...a0144296833
Questions:
1. What is "Black Tuesday" and why does it mark the beginning of the Great Depression?
2. What sort of attempts did President Hoover make to improve the economy? Why did they fail?
3. What are “Hoovervilles”?
4. What president was inaugurated in 1933? What were some of the changes made by this administration?
5. What was the New Deal? How did the New Deal affect American citizens?
6. Many people believe that WWII marked the end of the Great Depression. How did the war affect the economy?
7. What sort of literature was written about the Great Depression?
8. What was the Dust Bowl?
9. How did the Dust Bowl affect the Southern Plains?
10. What affect did the Dust Bowl have on agriculture? How would this affect farmers and their employers?