Honors Language Arts 10 To Kill a Mocking Bird Historical Context

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• Honors Language Arts 10To Kill a Mocking
  BirdHistorical Context

Course Target I can read to understand and
analyze a variety of short stories, non fiction,
novels, technical selections, and classical works
of merit.
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Harper Lees To Kill a Mockingbird took place in
the early 1930sLets take a closer look at this
time period to get a feel for her influences and
setting of the novel.
Great Depression
World War II Onsets
The Arts
Segregation
Scottsboro Trials
American History and Politics
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The Great Depression
The Great Depression was a large economic
downturn that had devastating effects on
society. 1929 (Black Tuesday)-1941 (Entry into
WWII)
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The Great Depression

• 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.

• CAUSES
• Unequal distribution of wealth
• Excessive speculation in the stock market
• Stock market crashed on October 29, 1929

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The Great Depression

• People waiting outside for employment

• People in a bread/soup Line

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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

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The Great Depression
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."
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Segregation in America
Separate.but equal?
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Segregation in America
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."
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Segregation in America
Manchester, Georgia. John Vachon, photographer.
"A railroad station." Signs "Colored Waiting
Room" and "Colored Men."
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Segregation in America
Halifax, North Carolina John Vachon,
photographer. "A drinking fountain on the county
courthouse lawn." Sign "Colored.
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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."
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Segregation in America
Lancaster, Ohio. Ben Shahn, photographer. "Sign
on a restaurant." Sign "We Cater to White Trade
only."
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Scottsboro TrialsOne of Americas 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.
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Scottsboro Trials
To Kill a Mockingbird was greatly influenced by
this story
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Adolf Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany and
granted dictatorial powers in 1933.
World War II Onsets
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Dachau is first concentration camp erected in
Germany March, 1933.
World War II Onsets
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.
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Boycott of Jews begins in Germany 1933.
World War II Onsets
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In 1934, Adolf Hitler combines positions of
Chancellor and President, and becomes "Führer" of
Germany.
World War II Onsets
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American History and Politics
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.
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F.D. Roosevelt inaugurated 32nd President of U.S.
(1933-1945)
American History and Politics
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American History and Politics
Roosevelts 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.
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American History and Politics
August 14, 1935-- President Roosevelt signs the
Social Security Bill into law.
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Public Works Administration (PWA) created in U.S.
1933.
American History and Politics
Works Progress Administration, established in
1935, finds jobs for the unemployed.
Worker receives first WPA check.
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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 Politics
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Wiley Posts becomes the first pilot to fly solo
around the world in 1933.
American History and Politics
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Work begins on the Golden Gate Bridge
American History and Politics
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.
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Mount Rushmore National Monument dedicated in
1933.
American History and Politics
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American History and Politics
US Federal prison opened at Alcatraz Island in
1934.
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The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas is a 1933
autobiography of Gertrude Stein, written by Stein
as if Alice B. Toklas.
The Arts
First 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.
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Fay Wray stars in the greatest and most famous
classic adventure-fantasy (and part-horror) film
of all time, King Kong (1933).
The Arts
Greta Garbo stars in film QUEEN CHRISTINA.
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The Arts
Edward Hopper, Room in Brooklyn (1932)Museum of
Fine Arts, Boston
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Popular Song of the 1930s Smoke Gets in Your
Eyes
The Arts
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in "Smoke Gets
In Your Eyes" from Roberta (1935) RKO publicity
still
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Popular song of 1934Blue Moon
The Arts
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
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Popular song of 1935 Its Delovely
The Arts
"It's De-Lovely" is one of Cole Porter's hit
songs, originally appearing in his famed 1934
musical, Anything Goes.