To Kill a Mockingbird

Home Citing Sources Internet Search Study Strategies Research Links

Questions to answer:

bulletOn whom was the character of Atticus Finch possibly based?
bulletGive two other examples of the influence of Lee's life on the book.
bulletWhat real-life event probably inspired the trial of Tom Robinson? Search for information on this incident (who, what, where, when why).
bulletHow long did this real-life event take to play out, from the first arrest to the last pardon?
bulletExplain how the murder of Emmett Till may have influenced Harper Lee.
bulletWhat is lynching? Give some details of its use against African-Americans in the United States.

Resources

Alberta Learning Online Reference Centre 

Use Grolier Online, World Book Online, or ELibrary Canada to find basic information about Harper Lee, the Scottsboro case, the Scottsboro boys, Emmett Till, lynching, civil rights issues, and the civil rights movement in the U.S.A.

Web Sites

CPL-One Book, One Chicago Harper Lee Bio http://www.chipublib.org/003cpl/onebook/leebio.html

Harper Lee Biography http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/culture/HarperLee/bio.html  

Historical Background http://library.thinkquest.org/12111/SG/SG5.html

To Kill a Mockingbird  http://www.mlb.ilstu.edu/crsres/tkam.htm Scroll down to the sections on the Scottsboro trials and Emmett Till.

"Historical Context: To Kill a Mockingbird." EXPLORING Novels. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Discovering Collection. Thomson Gale. ME LAZERTE COMPREHENSIVE HIGH SCHOOL. 12 Dec. 2006 http://find.galegroup.com/srcx/infomark.do?&contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve&tabID=T001&prodId=DC&docId=EJ2111500100&source=gale&srcprod=DISC&userGroupName=edmo21275&version=1.0

American Experience - The Murder of Emmett Till http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/till/

The Trials of the Scottsboro Boys http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/scottsboro/scottsb.htm

This site is the property of M.E. LaZerte High School, Edmonton Public Schools. While you are most welcome to use this site, its organization, all annotations, and most activities are copyrighted, and permission must be sought for their reproduction. E-mail questions to C. Peterson, M.E. LaZerte High School Teacher Librarian, at cynthia dot peterson at epsb dot ca (replace the word "at" with the @ symbol; "dot" with a period). Last updated Dec. 12/06