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To Kill a Mockingbird

By Harper Lee

Did you know: To Kill a Mockingbird was the ONLY book Harper Lee ever had published?

Who was Harper Lee?

Every word of To Kill A Mockingbird has been analyzed in countless essays and critical papers. But far less is known about the book's author, and that's just the way Harper Lee wants it. She rarely does interviews, and little is known about her private life. she is an introvert who seldom leaves her home. Who does this remind you of??

Another famous similarity between Harper Lee's life and the novel is her friendship with Truman Capote, the boy who is believed to be the inspiration for "Dill," Harper's best friend growing up.

Fun Fact: Truman Capote also grew up to be a famous author. Here he is pictured with Marilyn Monroe:

There are rumors that Capote was "madly in love" with Harper Lee, but she never returned his affections.

A movie was made about Capote's life, starring Sandra Bullock as Harper Lee.

Events that sparked the novel To Kill a Mockingbird

1. In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white person and was arrested, sparking a series of boycotts that were ultimately successful in changing policy. Progress was far from smooth, however: in 1958 some southern schools closed altogether, rather than let African-Americans study alongside whites.

Learn more about the very brave Rosa Parks:

Interesting fact: The band "Outkast" named their debut album "Rosa Parks." The hook of their first single was:

"Ah ha, hush that fuss

Everybody move to the back of the bus"

2. In 1955, fourteen-year-old Emmett Till was brutally murdered after approaching a white woman in a store an event that may have influenced author Harper Lee in writing To Kill a Mockingbird.

More about Emmett Till:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/till/peopleevents/p_till.html

The Scottsboro Trials

Yes, who else?

Boo Radley

Emily Dickinson!!

young Truman Capote

Although there are some similarities between Boo Radley and Harper Lee, most critics agree that the character "Scout" is based on the author herself.

Similarities between Scout and Lee: Harper Lee was a lawyer's daughter, raised in a small Alabama town in the 1930s, just like her plucky narrator Scout Finch. Lee was aware of the racial injustices and ugly prejudices that simmered in small towns like hers.

Lee herself has said that she did not intend the book to be an autobiography. She simply wrote what she knew.

http://rosaparks.org/

The Scottsboro Trials are a famously popular set of trials in which two impoverished white women accused nine young black men of rape. These trials may have been one of several influences on Lee as she crafted the Mockingbird story. The book is set in the time period of Lee’s own youth, when she and her father followed the trials.

Interested in the Scottsboro Trials?

http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/scottsboro/scottsb.htm

Racism/Prejudice

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