Ms. Ahern Jr. English 133-01
First, let's take a look at To Kill a Mockingbird:
Community Profiles
Atticus Finch will
be serving as legal representation of defendant Tom Robinson in the alleged raping of one, Mayella Ewell on this day in the
1930s in Maycomb County, Alabama. The question that is on the minds of all Maycomb residents is, will Mr. Finch be able to
overturn this town’s record of convicting all colored defendants or will an innocent man be set free?
1880-1960 American states forced segregation through Jim Crow laws. Here is a sampling of these laws
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Restaurants It shall be unlawful to conduct a restaurant or other place for the serving of food in the city, at which white and
colored people are served in the same room, unless such white and colored persons are effectually separated by a solid partition
extending from the floor upward to a distance of seven feet or higher, and unless a separate entrance from the street is provided
for each compartment. Alabama
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Amateur Baseball It shall be unlawful for any amateur white baseball team to play baseball on any vacant lot or baseball diamond within
two blocks of a playground devoted to the Negro race, and it shall be unlawful for any amateur colored baseball team to play
baseball in any vacant lot or baseball diamond within two blocks of any playground devoted to the white race. Georgia
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Toilet Facilities, Male Every employer of white or Negro males shall provide for such white or Negro males reasonably accessible and separate
toilet facilities. Alabama
A Lesson Before Dying
Plot
Summary:
Grant Wiggins, a schoolteacher in rural Louisiana in
the late 1940s, was the first person in his town’s quarter to attend a university.
He came back to preside over a ramshackle all-black school house to honor his origins and his Tante Lou who sacrificed
to put him through school.
Lou tells Grant he must give private lessons to a boy
named Jefferson on death row who had the fatal bad luck to witness a shootout involving a white man and two blacks, all of
whom died. Jefferson has been condemned to death although his public defender’s
attempt to portray him as a harmless fool or a poor “hog” to take away his humanity and evoke pity. Grant’s assignment is to teach Jefferson that he is not a hog,
but a person of value.
In this novel, you should expect to see racism and
prejudice that existed in the south during the late 1940s. This includes prejudice
among blacks towards those with lighter or darker skin.
Some memorable quotes:
“You run away from this,
you’re running away from your people and from me.”
“No matter how bad off we
are, we still owe something to those who love us.”
“A fool perhaps…not
a man…just a poor, darn hog.”
