Study Task 1 - To Kill a Mockingbird - Social and Historical Context

Context

The book was published in 1960 and 1961 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
It was adapted into a film in 1962.

Social Context and History

1930s America and Slavery

The book was set in the 1930s when white people were racist to black people. Slavery had recently been abolished in the 1890 but this did not change attitudes and segregation was introduced. During slavery black people were owned by white people and forced to work for them on plantations or farms. The slaves had no freedom and were often branded to show who owned them. Beatings were frequent and if they tried to escape they could be lynched. 

Segregation, voting and the justice system

Black people were separated from white people, which meant they went to different schools, churches (Calpurnia goes to a church like this) etc. Their housing was rundown and schools were poorly equipped. To vote you had to pass a literacy test, these were made more difficult for black people meaning they failed because of their lack of education. They were also threatened when they tried to register to vote. Often black people were charged for crimes they did not commit and fair trails were uncommon (Atticus is brave to stand up for Tom). Some white people took the law into their own hands and would form a lynchmob to try and kill a black person before they got to trial. The Ku Klux Klan were a group that were responsible for many of these killings.

1960s 

At the time the book was written, black people were trying to change things. Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat for a white person , which triggered a boycott of the buses. They were threatened until the Supreme Court ruled that there should not be segregation on the buses anymore. Martin Luther King was a major figure in campaigning for equal rights.