The Great Depression
1929-circa 1940
Precursors to the Great Depression 1920s – the jazz age Stock market soaring Wealth and parties Future looked great
Black Tuesday October 29, 1929 Stock market crashed 30 billion dollars vanished in one day Hotel clerks asked guests, “you here to
sleep or to jump?” Unemployment reached new highs.
Dust bowl Midwest and Mid-southern states affected Farm land overused, led to erosion Millions moved west to California to find
work, work that often wasn’t there John Steinbeck
Segregation Civil War only 60 years earlier Segregation exists in North and South,
although more prevalent in South
Scottsboro Trial alleged gang rape of two white girls by nine black teenagers on the
Southern Railroad freight run from Chattanooga to Memphis on March 25, 1931 Began with a charge of rape made by white women against African American men
The poor white status of the accusers was a critical issue. A central figure was a heroic judge, a member of the Alabama Bar who
overturned a guilty jury verdict against African American men. This judge went against public sentiment in trying to protect the rights of the
African American defendants. The first juries failed to include any African Americans, a situation which
caused the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the guilty verdict. The jury ignored evidence, for example, that the women suffered no
injuries. Attitudes about Southern women and poor whites complicated the trial.
End of Depression New Deal World War II
To Kill A Mockingbird Published in 1960.
Won the Pulitzer Prize Film version won Academy Awards for
screenplay and Best Actor (Gregory Peck)
Harper Lee Born in small-town
Alabama. Daughter of a lawyer. Childhood friend of
Truman Capote
To Kill A Mockingbird Set in Maycomb, Alabama during the Great
Depression. Atticus Finch – Widowed father and lawyer Jem Finch – oldest son of Atticus Scout Finch – only daughter of Atticus -
narrator
To Kill A Mockingbird How does a young, first-person narrator affect the
story?
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