Historical Context

Why Context Matters

It is important to understand the social, political, economic and religious context of a text in order to fully appreciate and understand the message being delivered by the author.  In the case of Mockingbird, it is difficult to appreciate the strength, courage and resolve of a man like Atticus Finch, or understand the racial prejudice so prevalent at the time without an understanding of life and issues in the southern United States in the first two thirds of the 20th Century.

Although the novel is set in the early 1930's, Lee's childhood, the period during which she wrote it had an equally significant impact.  The late 1950's and early 1960's particularly saw the height of the Civil Rights movement in the United States.  The fight for civil rights was particularly prominent in the South, where, despite the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, negroes continued to face prejudice, racism, and societal segregation.

The American Civil War

The war between the southern and northern states lasted from 1861 - 1865.  Although it certainly dominated the rhetorical at the time, it was not a war just about slavery.  Despite this, the role of slavery tends to be elevated in the causes of the war.  Slavery dominated the agricultural south who relied on the labour of slaves for sugar, rum, cotton and tobacco production.  The south believed that the democratic values of the Northern states threatened their way of life, and in order to protect this, seceded from the Union.

The Union (North) defeated the Confederates (South) and in 1865 Lincoln passed the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the Constitution, which formally freed slaves, made servitude illegal and proclaimed equality.

For the former Confederate states, this posed a significant problem, not only for the southerners, but for the millions of freed slaves.  They were deemed to be racially inferior, and were stereotyped as violent, sexual deviants of lesser intelligence.  The mentality of white superiority was ingrained in the South, and that was not going to change overnight.  Some would argue that it still has not really changed.

The Segregation System and Jim Crow

The Civil Rights Act of 1875 outlawed segregation.  In 1896, however, the case of Plessy vs Ferguson was in the Supreme Court. It legalised segregation on the proviso that separated facilities for black and white were equal.  This allowed the states to pass laws, known as Jim Crow laws, that legalised the separation of former slave, and former slave master.

Life for Negroes in the South

When accused of crime by a white person it was a given that the negro was guilty.  This included severe crimes such as rape and murder.  One of the most famous of these cases is that of the Scottsboro Boys – the crime that never happened - where five young men were accused of the gang rape of a white girl.  The Scottsboro trial lasted 7 years and occurred while Harper Lee was growing up in Munroeville, AL.  Racial violence was ingrained, and organisations such as the KKK were headed by some of the most powerful people in society, including police, judges, and politicians.

When Lee wrote Mockingbird

It was the height of the Civil Rights Movements.  She bore witness to one of the most volatile periods in US history.  It started with the founding of the NAACP – The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People who sought to fight segregation in the courts.  In 1954, the first of many landmark cases, Brown vs Board of Education, saw segregation in schools outlawed.

This law was not enforced until 1957 when Federal Police were needed to force the desegregation of Little Rock Central High.  Nine coloured student required full police escort and faced a lynch mob when they attempted to enrol at the school.

In 1962 there were mass riots and over 200 arrests when James Meredith became the first African American to enrol at the University of Mississippi - Ole Miss. 

Whilst some fought segregation in the courts, others did through peaceful protest, under the leadership of Martin Luther King Jr. 

In 1955 Rosa Parkes was arrested for refusing to give up her seat for a white passenger.  For over a year, African Americans refused to utilise the public transport system.

Sit ins were another form of peaceful protest, whereby protestors would sit in the white only section of cinemas, diners, and so on.  They rostered so the seats would always be taken.

Perhaps the most notorious incident in the lead up to the Civil Rights Bill was in Birmingham, 1963.  It made world wide headlines and showed exactly what was going on in the south.  A protest march, mainly featuring students, was brutally put down by the Birmingham police using dogs and firehoses.  Much of white America, especially in the north, were ignorant of event such as this, until it was sprayed across the news.  White America saw 500 kids get arrested and attacked with dogs.
There was much support now for civil rights legislation.

President Kennedy was actively pushing for a Civil Rights Bill, and to show support, 500,000 African Americans went to D.C.  King's "I have a dream" speech to place in front of the Lincoln Memorial.