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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