Final

The play To Kill a Mockingbird was adapted by Christopher Sergel from Harper Lee’s novel. The story is said to be inspired by Lee’s own childhood set in 1935 in her small hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, and the character of Dill is based on a fellow famous neighbor Truman Capote, the author of In Cold Blood. Since the debut of the play in 1990 Monroeville, which now labels itself “The Literary Capital of Alabama”, it has run annually with locals making up the entire cast.
To Kill a Mockingbird is a coming-of-age story of Scout Finch and her brother, Jem, in 1930's Alabama. Through their neighborhood mischief and the example of their father, they grow to understand that the world isn't always fair and that prejudice is a very real aspect of their world no matter how subtle it seems.
There are many themes that are embedded within this production. The most powerful is that of how unjust racism is. Knowing that this show is based on a real person’s childhood, illustrates just how common the threat of racial discrimination was in the 1930’s. Segregation, as well as mistreatment was extremely universal across the southern states. Even during this time of The Great Depression, minorities had it much worse than even those whites struggling during this rough economic time. Being true to the language of the time, there are uses of racial slurs in this production that are not intended to offend anyone, but to just be historically accurate. A very public case of racism that closely relates to this show was The Scottsboro Boys Trials in Alabama. The Scottsboro Case began in April of 1931 with a brawl between whites and blacks riding a freight train through northern Alabama. When Jackson County officials stopped the train near Scottsboro, two white women— Victoria Price and Ruby Bates—accused nine black teenagers of raping them. A Scottsboro jury quickly convicted eight of the nine boys and sentenced them to death. In a 1933 retrial, Ruby Bates recanted her accusation, and new evidence strongly contradicted Victoria Price. The jury still convicted. Not for thirteen years, however, did Alabama release the last of the Scottsboro defendants.
To Kill a Mockingbird is set in the midst of the Great Depression. The 1930's were a time of great economic struggle in America. The Great Depression is said to have been caused by a sudden collapse of the stock market on November 29th, 1929, this day is also referred to as Black Tuesday. It was common for people to work as much as they could find work and be creative in paying debts, such as paying with crops like Mr. Cunningham does. Education also was effected by the depression. Many people pulled their children out of school to work or the schools lost a lot of funding, so many people were not educated properly during this time. Jem and Scout were lucky in ways that some kids were not, because Atticus was a lawyer which provided more for his family than most other’s had. The Finch family was not rich by any means, but did not have to worry about going hungry. Mayella Ewell, although she was a teenager, had to worry about where food came from and if there would be clothing to wear if something happened to her’s.
To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic that will be produced over and over throughout the country and teaches every generation about our past and how far we have come from it. Hopefully everyone can take something away from this traditional story of life in the 1930’s Alabama.

Statement: Producing The Play

A problem posed by the text that any production would have to address would be the fight scene with Bob Ewell, Scout, Jem, and eventually Boo Radley. This fight should be believable, and might be hard to stage. I have seen a production in which they used complete darkness with flashes of lights to suggest lightning and it made the fight extremely dramatic and easy to stage. Another issue would be the age of the kids playing Scout, Jem, and Dill. If cast at the age stated in the text, or close to this would mean casting extremely young children. I do not doubt there are talented kids out there who can grasp these roles, but it would be hard to filter through to find them. There is also the problem of having to explain the issues of the text to the children, such as rape and racism which could be a bit much for a child that age to comprehend correctly. Some directors have explained these issues to children at the age when they still believe in Santa Claus, with varied success. Some children, such as Catherine Epstein who played Scout in the Huntington Theatre Company’s 1996 production, received much praise for her portrayal. So I think this issue can be handled with very careful casting and a very mature, talented child.

I believe a major problem we would have with a production of To Kill a Mockingbird here in Huntsville would be the language used in the play. The term “nigger” is used several times, and would be something that would have to be considered by the director if they want to use it in the production. I believe that many people might be offended by its use, even though it was common at the time the play was set. I have seen this play performed at U.I.L. and the school chose to eliminate the use of the word. Other productions have used the word and have had no problems. The major concern to me with this word is that Huntsville’s population has a very different mindset than a much larger city located in the Northern United States, and it is very possible that people would be offended. I think it is up to the director, but it also adds to the fuel of the major conflict in the piece.

Most critiques that I have read have favored the text even if not the production they reviewed. A lot of the things I saw online described the play in a very positive light, and stated that the production needed to or did elevate itself to the script’s level.
“To Kill a Mockingbird retains its value for its thematic commentary upon race, gender, importance of family, and reaffirmation of fair justice. The Hartford Stage production honors the novel through Sergel's dramatization and the cast's excellent portrayals.” –Fred Sokol
Fred Sokol for the Connecticut Regional Reviews is only one of many that has praised this work and was pleased with how the production rose to the challenge of presented such a classic piece while retaining its own brilliance. There are however, some cases where the play does not do the script justice as stated by Lynn Jacobson of Variety.
"For the fourth play in its ambitious five-year American Cycle revisiting classic texts, Seattle's Intiman Theatre is presenting "To Kill a Mockingbird," the stage version of the beloved 1960 novel that became perhaps an even more beloved movie. The inevitable comparisons seem almost unfair. Is this play as profound or poetic as Harper Lee's book? No. Are the performances as indelible as those of screen stars Gregory Peck or young Mary Badham? Of course not. But in a fundamental way, the production is a success, insofar as it points audiences back to one of the most illuminating tales ever told of social injustice and coming of age in small-town America."
Overall most critics do not deny that the book and play are extremely well received and should be so, but just want the production to match that greatness.

Production History

Huntington Theatre Company

In Residence at Boston University
Boston, Ma
May-June 1996
Director: Charles Towers
Scenic Designer: Bill Clarke
Costume Designer: Elizabeth Novak
Lighting Designer: Jacki Manassee


"The adaptation at the Huntington pulls it off, though, and it does so by keeping things simple and subtle, as simple as the honesty of the father, Atticus Finch, and as subtle as the novel's ability to weave together the personal and political so that the play, like the movie, is of a time but not stuck in time."


Ed Siegel
The Boston Globe
May 24th, 1996, Friday
LexisNexis


"Catherine Epstein, 10, who plays Scout in the Huntington Theatre Company's production of "To Kill a Mockingbird," is a wonderful reminder of why they call plays plays. She's having fun. This summer Epstein will attend the Middlesex School Summer Arts program in Concord and look for more roles. Based on her performance in "Mockingbird," she shouldn't have any trouble finding them."


Michael Bowlen
The Boston Globe
June 3rd, 1996, Monday
LexisNexis

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Stratford Festival
The Avon Theatre
Stratford, Ontario, Canada
May 30th-October 27th, 2007
Director: Susan H. Schulman
Lighting Designer: Kevin Fraser
Costume & Scenic Designer: Charlotte Dean


"So, in the end, while this adaptation may lack the grace and elegance of either the novel or the movie, it is, nonetheless a memorable piece of theatre, marked as it is with impressive nerve and literary skill and elegance."



John Coulbourn
The Toronto Sun
June 1st, 2007, Friday
LexisNexis

"Nevertheless, what makes the play worth watching is the high level of the acting from the principals. Peter Donaldson gives a wonderfully nuanced performance as Finch, able to let us see anger, frustration and strength shining behind his outwardly placid exterior. In 10-year-old Abigail Winter-Culliford as Scout, 13-year-old Thomas Murray as Jem and Grade 7 student Spencer Walker as their friend Dill, the Festival has found a truly remarkable trio of child actors."


Christopher Hoile
Principal Reviewer for Stage Door
http://www.stage-door.org/reviews/misc2007a.htmmisc2007a.htm

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Hartford Stage
Hartford, Connecticut
February 25th-April 4th, 2009
Director: Michael Wilson
Scenic Designer: Jeff Cowie
Costume Designer: David C. Woolard
Lighting Designer: Rui Rita
Orignal Music & Sound: John Gromada
Production Stage Manager: Lori Lundquist


"A mist of memories wafts over Hartford Stage's delicate and affectionate production of "To Kill a Mockingbird." There's the memory of Harper Lee's beloved book, of the late Richard Mulligan's sensitive 1962 screen version and of the audience's own real or imagined past recalling youthful wonder, parental protection and innocence in simpler times. Eventually, that nostalgic glow fades and a separate yet honorable version emerges in helmer Michael Wilson's graceful production, starring Matthew Modine as Atticus Finch."

Frank Rizzo
Variety
March 2nd, 2009-March 8th, 2009
LexisNexis

"To Kill a Mockingbird retains its value for its thematic commentary upon race, gender, importance of family, and reaffirmation of fair justice. The Hartford Stage production honors the novel through Sergel's dramatization and the cast's excellent portrayals. Modine presents a sympathetic figure: one who understands that his priorities, in life, include his children, personally, and defense of moral truth, professionally. Modine is poised and relaxed within the context of the role. His relationship with Scout and Jem is natural, as if they might actually be his children."

Fred Sokol
Connecticut Regional Reviews
http://www.talkinbroadway.com/regional/ct/ct50.html

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Intiman Theatre
Queen Anne, Seattle
September 19th-November 10th, 2007
Director: Fracaswell Hyman
Scenic Designer: Alec Hammond
Costume Designer: Elizabeth Hope Clancy
Lighting Designer: Greg Sullivan
Original Music & Music Coach: Grant Dermody
Sound Designer: Joseph Swartz
Fight Director: Geoffrey Alm
Dialect Coach: Judith Shahn

"For the fourth play in its ambitious five-year American Cycle revisiting classic texts, Seattle's Intiman Theatre is presenting "To Kill a Mockingbird," the stage version of the beloved 1960 novel that became perhaps an even more beloved movie. The inevitable comparisons seem almost unfair. Is this play as profound or poetic as Harper Lee's book? No. Are the performances as indelible as those of screen stars Gregory Peck or young Mary Badham? Of course not. But in a fundamental way, the production is a success, insofar as it points audiences back to one of the most illuminating tales ever told of social injustice and coming of age in small-town America."

Lynn Jacobson
Variety
October 8th 2007-October 14th, 2007
LexisNexis

"Harper Lee's beloved novel and its perhaps more beloved film version starring an Academy Award winning Gregory Peck are a tough act to follow for a stage adaptation of To Kill A Mockingbird, but happily Christopher Sergel's text for the stage and Fracaswell Hyman's subtle and loving direction combine to make the Intiman Theatre production (virtually sold-out and twice extended before it opened) one to treasure."

David Edward Hughes
Seattle Regional Theatre Review
http://talkingbroadway.org/regional/seattle/se349.html

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La Mirada Theatre

La Mirada, CA

November 4th-November 20th, 1994

Director: Jules Aaron

Scenic Designer: John Iacovelli

Costume Designer: Richard Odle

Lighting Designer: Martin Aronstein

Sound Designer: Jon Gottlieb

Production Manager: David Lober

Production Stage Manager: Nevin Hedley

Technical Director: Steven Jones Watson

Properties Master: Nancy Tarczynski

Casting: Julia Flores

Press Representative: Rick Miramontez Co.

"Director Jules Aaron assembles the right ingredients for the West Coast preem of a new dramatization of Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird," but he never quite stirs properly. Play is more of a showcase for Bruce Davison in the Gregory Peck role than a probing drama. While Davison delivers a sturdy, if uninspired performance, he can't save the production and the text from its soporific pall."

Dan Cox

Daily Variety

November 14th, 1994, Monday

LexisNexis

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Ford's Theatre

Washington D.C.

September 26th-November 18th, 2001

Director: Timothy Childs

Costume Designer: David R. Zyla

Lighting Designer: Rick Martin

Scenic Designer: Douglas Huszti

"Christopher Sergel's stage adaptation, seen a few seasons ago at the Olney Theatre Center, doesn't turn the fine novel into a great play. It sprawls -- there are 22 actors in this show -- yet feels as if it's skimming; it's over in less than two hours. Director Timothy Childs makes the show feel even more skeletal by moving bluntly and unemotionally through a tale that, at its core, still ought to be touching and dynamic. It's a clinical experience."

Nelson Pressley

Washington Post Staff Writer

October 4th, 2001, Thursday

LexisNexis

Statement: World of The Play

To Kill a Mockingbird is a play set in the midst of the Great Depression. The 1930's were a time of great economic struggle in America. Even lawyers such as Atticus Finch, who are very prosperous today, were affected by the downward spiral of the American economy. The Great Depression is said to have been caused by a sudden collapse of the stock market on November 29th, 1929, this day is also referred to as Black Tuesday. It was common for people to work as much as they could find work and be creative in paying debts, such as paying with crops like Mr. Cunningham does. Education also was effected by the depression. Many people pulled their children out of school to work or the schools lost a lot of funding, so many people were not educated properly during this time.

The 1930's were also a time of great racial tension. African Americans still faced much prejudice especially in the southern states where Alabama is located. Everything was segregated and it was not looked nicely upon mixing with different races. Being from African American descent did not make it helpful to you when you were on trial, because the legal system was still very bias at that time. There was a case in 1931 in Alabama called the Scottsboro Trial and it involved African American boys being charged with raping two white women. They were not guilty, but convicted for the charge solely based on their race. Later, they were proven innocent, but only after serving a long sentence in jail. This would be a common thing in America at that time as racial tension was high. The Klu Klux Klan was known for causing trouble, but had subsided at the time this play is set but the ideals they held were still very common among the majority.

This play set fictionally in Maycomb County is known to be based on Harper Lee’s hometown of Monroeville, Alabama in Monroe County. This town is very small, but proud to be associated with the story. It holds a production of this play every year downtown that travels to many different locations as it tells the story of Scout and Atticus Finch. It is also been stated by Lee that the character of Dill is actually based on her childhood neighbor, Truman Capote who is another famous author.

Images

1930 Sitting Room


1930 Town



1930 Police Officer


1930 Children





1930 Black Worker


1930 Black Family and Home


Scuppernong Arbour



1930 Football


1930 School


1930 Courthouse

Macro View

1. The Great Depression

The Great Depression was a worldwide economic downturn starting in most places in 1929 and ending at different times in the 1930s or early 1940s for different countries. It was the largest and most severe economic depression in the 20th century, and is used in the 21st century as an example of how far the world's economy can decline. The Great Depression originated in the United States; historians most often use a starting date of when the stock market crashed of October 29, 1929, known as Black Tuesday.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression

The play is set during one of the hardest times to live in our country, so that effects the entire setting of the play in terms of what things should look like and how personal belongings should be valued.

2. Klu Klux Klan

The Ku Klux Klan was active in the South during the 1930s on a much smaller scale than it had been in the previous decade, having reached its peak in 1925. It still threatened blacks to keep them from voting and were particularly active against trade union organizers. It was reported that the Klan were violent in their attempts to break up strikes, resorting to beating the picketers and going into the Union Halls with guns to break up the meetings.

The Great Depression of the 1930s saw the Ku Klux Klan diminish to a fraction of its former self. Households barely had enough to eat so there were no funds for Klan dues and costumes. By the beginning of World War II the Klan was non-existent except in the minds of the former members.

http://www.helium.com/items/1130837-the-ku-klux-klan-in-the-1930s

The Ku Klux Klan had almost disappeared during the time of this play, but as stated above the idealism that the group had did not go away. The only reason it stopped was that times were hard, so many people were still extremely racist but just did not belong to an organization stating so.

3. Black and White Women finding Jobs during The Great Depression

During the Great Depression, women made up 25% of the work force, but their jobs were more unstable, temporary or seasonal then men, and the unemployment rate was much greater. There was also a decided bias and cultural view that “women didn’t work” and in fact many who were employed full time often called themselves “homemakers.” Neither men in the workforce, the unions, nor any branch of government were ready to accept the reality of working women, and this bias caused females intense hardship during the Great Depression.
The 1930’s was particularly hard on single, divorced or widowed women, but it was harder still on women who weren’t White. Women of color had to overcome both sexual and racial stereotyping. Black women in the North suffered an astounding 42.9% unemployment, while 23.2%. of White women were without work according to the 1937 census. In the South, both Black and White women were equally unemployed at 26%. In contrast, the unemployment rate for Black and White men in the North (38.9%/18.1%) and South (18%/16% respectively) were also lower than female counterparts.

The financial situation in Harlem was bleak even before the Great Depression. But afterward, the emerging Black working class in the North was decimated by wholesale layoffs of Black industrial workers. To be Black and a woman alone, made keeping a job or finding another one nearly impossible. The racial work hierarchy replaced Black women in waitressing or domestic work, with White women, now desperate for work, and willing to take steep wage cuts.

Survival EntrepreneursAt the start of the Depression, while one study found that homeless women were most likely factory and service workers, domestics, garment workers, waitresses and beauticians; another suggested that the beauty industry was a major source of income for Black women. These women, later known as “survivalist entrepreneurs,” became self-employed in response to a desperate need to find an independent means of livelihood.”
Replaced by White women in more traditional domestic work as cooks, maids, nurses, and laundresses, even skilled and educated Black women were so hopeless, ‘‘that they actually offered their services at the so-called ‘slave markets’—street corners where Negro women congregated to await White housewives who came daily to take their pick and bid wages down’’ (Boyd, 2000 citing Drake and Cayton, 1945/1962:246). Moreover, the home domestic service was very difficult, if not impossible, to coordinate with family responsibilities, as the domestic servant was usually on call ‘‘around the clock’’ and was subject to the ‘‘arbitrary power of individual employers.’’

http://www.peakoilblues.com/blog/?p=1139

The character of Calpurnia is that of a colored nanny. This job would have been common for black women in that time due to the fact that there were few jobs and women were only thought of as housekeepers.

4. Education during The Great Depression

During the Great Depression years not only did people suffer from lack of jobs, money, homes, and food, but the education of children suffered also. Children dropped out of school to sell newspapers and shine shoes. Students were also forced to wear worn out, mended clothes and were too embarrassed to go to school. People couldn't pay their property taxes so school districts were lacking funds. Few teachers were hired and there wasn't enough money to buy books and supplies. Students were forced to use worn textbooks which sometimes had pages missing. Students were forced to bring their own supplies to school. Since many parents couldn't afford to buy these supplies, students dropped out.Schools were forced to drop classes like home economics, physical education, art, and foreign languages. Just the basic courses of reading, writing, and arithmetic were taught. By 1933 many public schools closed, leaving three million students with no school to go to. Teachers were paid a flat fee regardless of experience or education. Many rural schoolteachers only had a high school diploma and were sixteen years old when they began teaching. Many teachers during this time had their salaries cut or were paid in script. Some teachers received only room and board as compensation. Rural schoolteachers would live in the schoolhouse and cooked their food on a wood stove. In the 1930s some city schools started what were called progressive classrooms. In these classrooms teachers let the students choose what subjects they wanted to learn. Teachers rarely used the standard textbooks and let the students work in small groups doing art and science projects and learning songs and dances. Many parents were against these progressive classrooms. They wanted their children to learn the basics like reading, writing, and arithmetic.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/549487/education_during_the_great_depression.html?cat=37

This would be good to know on how educated Scout and Jem were in the school they attended, and to know how their knowledge varied from the older people of the town.

5. Healthcare of the Great Depression

Malnutrition and tuberculosis were two diseases that were prevelent during the Great Depression.
Health care was directly related to income and with up to 25% of the population unemployed, health care was relatively unattainable for the poor.
An American Health Dilemma, a book, pages 132- 133
The 1930's, A Time for Depression (http://www.kidsnewsroom.org/elmer/infoCentral/frameset/decade/1930.htm)

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_were_health_issues_during_the_Great_Depression

It is important to know the concerns of health in that day and if Atticus's family could afford it if anything were to happen to him or his family, like when Scout and Jem are attacked by Bob Ewell.

6. Popular Culture during The Great Depression

The popular culture of the 1930s was fraught with contradictions. It was, simultaneously, a decade of traditionalism and of modernist experimentation; of sentimentality and "hard-boiled" toughness; of longings for a simpler past and fantastic dreams of the future.
It was a decade in which many Americans grew increasingly interested in tradition and folk culture. Under the leadership of Alan Lomax, the Library of Congress began to collect folk songs. Plus, folk singers like Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger attracted large audiences.
Henry Ford, who had revolutionized the American landscape through the mass production of cars, devoted his energies and fortune to a new project: Greenfield Village, a collection of historic homes and artifacts located near Detroit. At the same time, the Rockefeller family restored colonial Williamsburg in Virginia.

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=481

During this time people wanted a lot of things; they wanted to move forward and out of the depression, but to also hang on to simple traditions of the past. People were interested in their past and wanted to dream about their future.

7. Prices of Things during The Great Depression

Prices
WOMEN'S CLOTHES

Winter Coat
$28.00

Leather or Suede Bag
$2.25

Bathrobe
$1.00

Sweater
$1.00

MEN'S CLOTHES

Broadcloth Shirt
$1.00

Wool Sweater
$1.00

Bathrobe
$4.90

Overcoat
$18.50

GAMES AND TOYS

Sled that Steers
$3.95 - $8.95

Ping Pong Table
$23.50 to $37.50

Mechanical Toys
3 for$.59

Doll
$1.95

ITEMS FOR THE HOME

Table Lamp
$1.00

Portable Electric Sewing Machine
$23.95

Electric Washing Machine
$33.50

Gas Stove
$19.95


Then: Wages
WEEKLY WAGES (general averages)

Manufacturing--Production Worker
$16.89

Cook
$15.00

Doctor
$61.11

Accountant
$45.00

http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160-15481_19268_20778-52530--,00.html

It is good to keep in mind how much each person in the town made and how they needed to spend that money.

8. Number of Lawyers During The Great Depression

At the end of the 19th century, the American Bar Association set out to turn lawyering into a profession, with the idea that increased status would generate higher fees. To accomplish this, it fashioned a code of ethics and urged states to adopt minimum educational requirements and a professional entrance (bar) examination for anyone who wanted to call himself a lawyer.By the late 1920s, most states had fallen into line.But to make the practice of law more lucrative, it wasn’t enough just to raise the professional image of lawyers. It was also crucial to keep accountants, insurance companies, bankers and just plain business folk from practicing law at cheaper rates. So, soon after the 1929 stock market crash made times even tougher for attorneys, the ABA began a successful push to establish a lawyer monopoly over lawyering. But unfortunately, instead of clearly defining the practice of law in language all could understand (and competitors could resist), ABA rules gave state court judges (lawyers all) the power to enforce the new lawyer monopoly on a case-by-case basis. As you might guess, this resulted in little joy for non lawyer practitioners. Non lawyers in the gray area of whether an activity was considered the practice of law could not take a chance as it was not defined.As the Great Depression deepened, lawyers faced with dwindling legal business pressured criminal prosecutors and state judicial authorities to go to court to close down non lawyer practitioners. Judges apparently eager to support the interest of their professional brethren soon banned non lawyers from handling all matter of activities that they had performed for decades, including real estate closings, title searches, negotiating insurance settlements and providing tax advice. By the onset of World War II, lawyers had successfully carved out a legal monopoly that would remain securely and profitably in their hands for decades. And legal reform became difficult.

http://www.legalreform-now.org/menu1_4.htm

It is good to know how many lawyers were practicing during the time of Atticus, so we can see how his career was doing during that time. The more demand for lawyers, the better he would be. Because many people were just calling themselves lawyers, I'm sure it hurt his career.

9. The Dust Bowl

Between 1930 and 1940, the southwestern Great Plains region of the United States suffered a severe drought. Once a semi-arid grassland, the treeless plains became home to thousands of settlers when, in 1862, Congress passed the Homestead Act. Most of the settlers farmed their land or grazed cattle. The farmers plowed the prairie grasses and planted dry land wheat. As the demand for wheat products grew, cattle grazing was reduced, and millions more acres were plowed and planted.
Dry land farming on the Great Plains led to the systematic destruction of the prairie grasses. In the ranching regions, overgrazing also destroyed large areas of grassland. Gradually, the land was laid bare, and significant environmental damage began to occur. Among the natural elements, the strong winds of the region were particularly devastating.
With the onset of drought in 1930, the overfarmed and overgrazed land began to blow away. Winds whipped across the plains, raising billowing clouds of dust. The sky could darken for days, and even well-sealed homes could have a thick layer of dust on the furniture. In some places, the dust drifted like snow, covering farm buildings and houses. Nineteen states in the heartland of the United States became a vast dust bowl. With no chance of making a living, farm families abandoned their homes and land, fleeing westward to become migrant laborers.

http://memory.loc.gov/learn//features/timeline/depwwii/dustbowl/dustbowl.html

It is nice to know what major concerns were going on during that time, especially with farming which was a major industry during The Depression.

10. Crime Rate During The Great Depression

From 1930 to 1932, in the early years of the Great Depression and nearing the end of Prohibition, a spike in crime swept the country because of turf battles between bootleggers and disorderly conduct among their customers, McCrie said.

http://hamptonroads.com/2009/01/statistics-point-increase-crime-during-recessions

You should know that the crime rate spiked during The Great Depression because it shows why the neighbors all watch eachother's houses besides being nosy.

Micro View

1. Racism in the courts of Alabama.

1931 Scottsboro Boys Rape Case

"The Scottsboro Case, a cause célèbre in modern American race relations, began in April of 1931 with a brawl between whites and blacks riding a freight train through northern Alabama. When Jackson County officials stopped the train near Scottsboro, two white women— Victoria Price and Ruby Bates—accused nine black teenagers of raping them.A Scottsboro jury quickly convicted eight of the nine boys and sentenced them to death. The U.S. Communist party took up the case, mobilizing mass protests across America and in Europe and mounting an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. In Powell v. Alabama (1932), the Supreme Court ordered a new trial on the grounds that defendants in capital cases were entitled to more than a pro forma defense. (The two attorneys for the nine youths had been given less than thirty minutes to prepare their case; one was drunk, the other senile).In a 1933 retrial, Ruby Bates recanted her accusation, and new evidence strongly contradicted Victoria Price. The jury nevertheless convicted. When the presiding judge James Edwin Horton ordered yet another trial, state officials removed him from the case, found a more amenable judge, and pushed through convictions and death sentences for two defendants, Haywood Patterson and Clarence Morris.In Norris v. Alabama (1934), the Supreme Court ruled that the two defendants had been denied a fair trial because of Alabama's systematic exclusion of African Americans from its jury rolls. In 1937, with the Communist party no longer in the case, the defense attorney Samuel Leibowitz brokered a deal whereby four of the defendants were released and state prosecutors tacitly promised that the others would be paroled once publicity had died down. Not for thirteen years, however, did Alabama release the last of the Scottsboro defendants."

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O119-ScottsboroCase.html

This happened during the same time as To Kill a Mockingbird was set. Lee has acknowledged basing a lot of the story on her childhood and this trial very well could have influenced Tom's part of her book. African Americans just could not count on a fair trial in those days based on their skin color alone.

2. Religion in Alabama during Great Depression

By the early twentieth century, many reform-minded Protestants, especially women, endorsed a wide range of causes, including opposition to the convict-lease system and child labor and in favor of temperance, woman suffrage, and prison and educational reforms. Liberal-minded ministers became pastors of many large, influential urban churches, provoking conflict with their more theologically conservative members. The social gospel—a theology rooted in the idea that the Kingdom of God should be constructed by devoted Christians in this world rather than at some future apocalyptic moment when Christ returned to Earth—gained substantial support. These theological controversies peaked in the 1920s in the battle between religion and science (particularly over the theory of evolution), and then receded during the 1930s, when people had the more pressing worry of daily survival during the Great Depression.

http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1617

People were religious during the Great Depression, but they had more pressing matters to worry about than religion. So it was a factor in their lives, but not a huge one as they were more worried about finding work.

3. Politics in Alabama during The Great Depression

The federal government initially did little, either. But after the inauguration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, a host of innovative relief and reform efforts were undertaken under the umbrella known as the "New Deal." The New Deal programs were designed to "give a hand up, not a hand out" and administered, for the most part, by conservative business and political leaders here in Alabama. Having long struggled with the effects of illiteracy, sickness, and poverty, Alabama's problems were too ingrained to respond quickly to the modest help offered by the New Deal. Demands for greater state assistance to the needy continued for much of the decade, as did demands for a more fundamental restructuring of the economic system.

http://www.archives.state.al.us/teacher/dep/dep.html

It is important to know how people felt during this time and what was going on in the world of politics.

4. Monroeville during The Great Depression

Recalling what it was like, Nelle said, “If I went to a film once a month it was pretty good for me, and for all children like me. We had to use our own devices in our play, for our entertainment. We didn't have much money. Nobody had any money. We didn't have toys, nothing was done for us, so the result was that we lived in our imagination most of the time.” Freda Robinson Noble, a classmate of Nelle’s, remembered Monroeville during the 1930s as “truly a narrow world… No library, no recreation, no entertainment at all except the local movie theater and church activities. Believe me, it was a very sterile place to grow up… A number of my classmates were sent to private schools in Atlanta, Birmingham or Mobile. Those of us whose parents struggled to survive, working six days a week, more than eight hours a day, have different memories.”

http://www.amazon.com/gp/blog/post/PLNK5LSRICK4LHV7

Monroeville was no exception to The Great Depression and it is good to know how people describe it first hand.

5. Truman Capote: Famous Resident of Monroeville

Capote remained a lifelong friend of his Monroeville neighbor Harper Lee, and he based the character of Idabel in Other Voices, Other Rooms on her. He in turn was the inspiration for the character Dill, in Lee's 1960 bestselling, Pulitzer prize-winning To Kill a Mockingbird. Like Capote, Dill is creative, bold and had an unsatisfactory family history. In an interview with Lawrence Grobel, Capote recalled his childhood, "Mr. and Mrs. Lee, Harper Lee's mother and father, lived very near. Harper Lee was my best friend. Did you ever read her book, To Kill a Mockingbird? I'm a character in that book, which takes place in the same small town in Alabama where we both lived."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truman_Capote

Would be good to know about Truman Capote as a child since Dill is based upon him.

6. Professional Football Players from Alabama

1935
The NFL adopted Bert Bell's proposal to hold an annual draft of college players, to begin in 1936, with teams selecting in an inverse order of finish, May 19. The inbounds line or hashmarks were moved nearer the center of the field, 15 yards from the sidelines.
All-America end Don Hutson of Alabama joined Green Bay. The Lions defeated the Giants 26-7 in the NFL Championship Game, December 15.

http://www.nfl.com/history/chronology/1931-1940

I believe it would be good to know this information because Jem is a little boy that plays football and he would be excited about someone from Alabama making it big. It also gives him something to dream about.

7. Church in Monroeville, Alabama.

The decades of the 20’s, 30’s and half the 40’s could be looked upon as a time when the church grew up, maturing to full stature. If trials bring strength, then Monroeville church had muscles enough to overcome any adversary of the future.

http://www.chamberorganizer.com/monroecounty/mem_87072067

Having a church that was worshiping during that time and is still up and running shows the sort of people in that town. It also shows how religion is still a big part of Monroeville.

8. Monroeville embraces the history

Perhaps embarrassed at first, the town now embraces the story. The most telling demonstration of Monroeville's pride in the overriding message of To Kill A Mockingbird is its annual staging of a play based on the book each May. Local residents play all of the roles, many of them returning every year to recreate their performances. It's become so popular that all 1999 performances sold out the first day tickets went on sale.Kathy McCoy, who wrote and directs the play explains, "People have come to realize that To Kill A Mockingbird is a great treasure. It is truly universal, a message of tolerance and compassion. They are proud to be part of one of the world's most influential books."
An interactive performance, the audience moves with the scenes. Some of it is staged on the grounds outside the courthouse, while the pivotal scenes of the trial are staged in the courtroom. Members of the audience are chosen to act as the jury. In keeping with the times, only adult white males serve on the jury, and their instructions by the stage director are clear: they must find the defendant, Tom Robinson, guilty. This is Alabama in 1935, not the real world at the start of the second Millennium.

http://www.severnwriter.com/monroeville.htm

I believe this to be important as it shows that the people there understand the cruelty of their past and have evolved over the years.

9. Trainwreck in Alabama

The engineer and fireman were killed when the engine derailed after the tracks were alledgededly sabotaged by strikers.

The engine, tender and first five cars were derailed to the south of the track; the engine and tender stopped on their left sides parallel to the track, with the front end of the engine 222 feet beyond the point of derailment. The first two cars were on their sides practically at right angles to the track; the third car remained upright with one end on the roadbed and the other end on top of the fourth car which was upright at an angle of 45 degrees with and clear of the track. The front end of the fifth car was clear of the track, while the rear end remained on the roadbed, The employees killed were the engineman and fireman.

No track tools had been missed on this or adjoining sections, and at the time of this investigation. It had not been determined by whom this malicious tampering was done.

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=00CDaF

I find it interesting that this train wreck happened during that time because of tampering by strikers. This illustrates the length people would go in those days and it caused a big stir.

10. Alabama's top facts of 1930's

1930 State population= 2,646,248.
1930 Federal Census:
White population= 1,700,844
African-American population= 944,834
Urban population= 744,273
Rural population= 1,901,975
Cotton production in bales= 1,312,963
Corn production in bushels= 35,683,874
Number of manufacturing establishments= 2,848.

1931
March 25: Nine black youths, soon to be known as the Scottsboro Boys, are arrested in Paint Rock and jailed in Scottsboro, the Jackson County seat. Charged with raping two white women on a freight train from Chattanooga, the sheriff had to protect them from mob violence that night. Within a month, eight of the nine were sentenced to death. Based on questionable evidence, the convictions by an all-white jury generated international outrage.

1933
Tennessee Valley Authority created to develop resources of poor Appalachian South, including large parts of north Alabama.

1934
Bankhead Cotton Control Act, sponsored by Alabama Senator John Bankhead, Jr., passed to boost the price of cotton by limiting the amount a farmer could market.

1936
August 3: Lawrence County native Jesse Owens wins his first gold medal at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany. Owens went on to win four gold medals in Berlin, but German leader Adolf Hitler snubbed the star athlete because he was black. Today visitors can learn more about Owens at the Jesse Owens Memorial Park and Museum in Oakville, Alabama.
2007 Archives Week Art

William B. Bankhead elected Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives.

1937
State sales tax instituted to help fund education.

Alabama Senator Hugo Black appointed by President Franklin Roosevelt to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenancy Act, co-sponsored by Alabama Senator John Bankhead, Jr., passed to provide federal loans to farm tenants to purchase land.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071216201721AAmwbTe

Very important information to know about the state. Good to know what is going on and what it is like living there and what events affect you.