Honors Language Arts 10

To Kill a Mocking BirdHistorical Context

Course Target:Course Target: I can read to understand and analyze a variety of short I can read to understand and analyze a variety of short stories, non fiction, novels, technical selections, and classical works of merit.stories, non fiction, novels, technical selections, and classical works of merit.

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird took place in the early 1930s

Let’s take a closer look at this time period to get a feel for her influences

and setting of the novel.

The Great DepressionThe Great Depression was a large economic downturn

that had devastating effects on society.

1929 (Black Tuesday)-1941 (Entry into WWII)

The Great DepressionCAUSES

• Unequal distribution of wealth• Excessive speculation in the

stock market• Stock market crashed on

October 29, 1929

EFFECTS• Farms produced more food than

could be bought, and consequently lost their farms

• Factories and Mills closed• Unemployment due to wage cuts• Many banks failed • Mortgages on many homes and

farms were closed – many homeless people

• Decrease in world trade, because everyone raised taxes on imported goods

• Many suffered from malnutrition• In 1932, Over 13 million

Americans lost their jobs since 1929.

The Great DepressionPeople waiting outside

for employmentPeople in a bread/soup

Line

The Great Depression

DUST BOWL• In 1930, a large draught spread across the

great plains, destroying farms and homes• Parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New

Mexico, and Colorado became known as the Dust Bowl

• Many farmers in the dust bowl went to California to look for work

The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) passed by Congress in 1933 to provide economic relief to farmers,

helped increase farm income. But throughout the 1930s, and in particularly from 1935 to 1938, a severe drought hit the Great Plains states and violent wind and dust storms ravaged the

plains in what became known as the "Dust Bowl."

The Great Depression

Segregation in America

Separate….but equal?

A rest stop for Greyhound bus passengers on the way from Louisville, Kentucky to Nashville, Tennessee, with separate accommodations for colored passengers." [Sign: "Colored

Dining Room in Rear."]

Segregation in America

Manchester, Georgia. John Vachon, photographer. "A railroad station." [Signs: "Colored Waiting Room" and "Colored Men."]

Segregation in America

Halifax, North Carolina John Vachon, photographer. "A drinking fountain on the county courthouse lawn." [Sign: "Colored.“]

Segregation in America

Leland, Mississippi, in the delta area. Marion Post Wolcott, photographer. "The Rex theater for Negro People." [Sign: "Rex Theater for Colored People."]

Segregation in America

Lancaster, Ohio. Ben Shahn, photographer. "Sign on a restaurant." [Sign: "We Cater to White Trade only."]

Segregation in America

Scottsboro TrialsScottsboro TrialsOne of America’s Worst Miscarriages of Justice

In 1931, outside the town of Scottsboro, Alabama, nine black youths between the ages of 13-19 were charged with the rape of two white women.

After appeal after appeal, seven retrials and two landmark Supreme Court Decisions, the youths were found not guilty, but all but one, served between 6 and 19 years in prison before winning their freedom.The trial focused national attention on the

legal plight of African Americans in the south.

Scottsboro TrialsScottsboro Trials

To Kill a Mockingbird was greatly influenced by this story

Adolf Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany and granted dictatorial

powers in 1933.

World War II OnsetsWorld War II Onsets

Dachau is first concentration camp erected in Germany March, 1933.

On March 21 1933, Heinrich Himmler ordered that a concentration camp be erected at Dachau. This was the beginning of a terror system in Dachau that cannot be compared with any other state persecution and penal system.

World War II OnsetsWorld War II Onsets

Boycott of Jews begins in Germany 1933.

World War II OnsetsWorld War II Onsets

In 1934, Adolf Hitler combines positions of Chancellor and President, and becomes "Führer" of Germany.

World War II OnsetsWorld War II Onsets

Prohibition Repealed Prohibition was never very popular with the American people. Enforcing it had become a nightmare, with 1,500 agents pursuing tens of thousands of individuals, including members of organized crime who smuggled liquor into the United States.

One of the first acts of the Roosevelt Administration was the repeal of the 18th Amendment prohibiting intoxicating liquors. This was done in two-step process. The first step was the "Beer Revenue Act," which legalized beer and wine with an alcohol content of up to 3.2%. The second step was the passage of the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, which legalized liquor once again.

American History and PoliticsAmerican History and Politics

F.D. Roosevelt inaugurated 32nd President of U.S. (1933-1945)

American History and PoliticsAmerican History and Politics

Roosevelt’s New Deal The New Deal legislation was passed within the first three months of Roosevelt's presidency, which became known as the Hundred Days. Roosevelt's first goal was to help the millions of unemployed Americans. Agencies such as the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) dispensed emergency aid and provided temporary jobs.

American History and PoliticsAmerican History and Politics

August 14, 1935-- President Roosevelt signs the Social Security Bill into law.

American History and PoliticsAmerican History and Politics

Public Works Administration (PWA) created in U.S. 1933.

Worker receives first WPA check.

Works Progress Administration, established in 1935, finds jobs for the unemployed.

American History and PoliticsAmerican History and Politics

Albert Einstein was born in Germany in 1879. He moved to the U.S. in 1933. Thanks to his theory of relativity, Albert Einstein became the most famous scientist of the 20th century.

American History and PoliticsAmerican History and Politics

Wiley Posts becomes the first pilot to fly solo around the world in 1933.

American History and PoliticsAmerican History and Politics

Work begins on the Golden Gate Bridge Ambitious taxpayer-financed public-works projects helped to put people back to work. One such project, the construction of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, (later named the Golden Gate Bridge) would alter Oakland's regional position forever. Since travelers no longer had to board ferries to reach San Francisco, Oakland became a city that too many people knew only as the place they drove through on their way across the bay.

American History and PoliticsAmerican History and Politics

Mount Rushmore National Monument dedicated in 1933.

American History and PoliticsAmerican History and Politics

US Federal prison opened at Alcatraz Island in 1934.

American History and PoliticsAmerican History and Politics

The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas is a 1933 autobiography

of Gertrude Stein, written by Stein as if

Alice B. Toklas.

The ArtsThe ArtsFirst published in 1933, this novel (and subsequent movie) introduced the world to the Himalayan paradise of Shangri-La.

F. Scott Fitzgerald publishes Tender is the Night in 1934.

The ArtsThe ArtsFay Wray stars in the greatest and most famous classic adventure-fantasy (and part-horror) film of all time, King Kong (1933).

Greta Garbo stars in film QUEEN CHRISTINA.

Edward Hopper, Room in Brooklyn (1932)Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

The ArtsThe Arts

Popular Song of the 1930s: “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" from Roberta (1935): RKO publicity still

The ArtsThe Arts

Popular song of 1934:“Blue Moon”

The lyrics are presumed to refer to an English idiomatic expression: a blue moon is the fourth moon that occurs in one season of the year, which is a somewhat rare occurrence. If something happens "once in a blue moon" it happens almost never. The narrator of the song is relating a stroke of luck so unlikely that it must have taken place under a blue moon. ---Wikipedia

The ArtsThe Arts

Popular song of 1935: “It’s Delovely”

"It's De-Lovely" is one of Cole Porter's hit songs, originally appearing in his famed 1934 musical, Anything Goes.

The ArtsThe Arts