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Mockingbird Context Presentation

As a group, you will deliver an approximately 10-minute presentation that explores the context of To Kill a Mockingbird. You will be responsible for presenting on either the context of the novel’s setting or its publication. This presentation must identify the details of your chosen era that explain the novel’s cultural, social, and historical context. 

  • You must present one topic per person that explores the novel’s context. Your presentation must consider:

    • Historical Context: the events that occurred leading up to an event or a time. This generally considers the significance of these events and their effect, both at the time and the time that followed.

      • Central question: How does this influence the events/situations that follow?

    • Social Context: The physical or social setting in which people live during which something takes place. This generally considers the aspect of life in which people interact - the cultures, people, institutions, classes, etc. that are interacted with.

      • Central question: What does this reveal about daily living in society at the time?

    • Cultural Context: The ideology, traditions, and values that surround and shape a person’s beliefs. This generally considers the details that affect behavior, decision-making, and opportunities.

      • Central question: What does this reveal about people’s beliefs and behavior at the time?

    • Each topic must clearly comment on one or more of these!

  • You should consider: people, organizations, and events that are significant. You can even consider important art, music, or films if it helps us understand any of our three contexts. Note: your presentation must use audio/visual media to receive full points.

  • Include a handout or question guide for the class that allows them to follow along and respond.

  • You will need to share the presentation with me by Monday, March 30th.

REFER TO THE RUBRIC ON PAGE 224 OF OUR SPRINGBOARD BOOK

Goals are to set a context for the historical, social, and cultural contexts at the time of To Kill a Mockingbird’s setting and publication, demonstrating an understanding of the role significant events and people play in influencing the literary significance of the text.

Exemplary Work will demonstrate a strong understanding of the material covered, with clear connections to the contextual relevance and a presentation that is professional and practiced.

Context of the Novel’s Setting (1930’s and before)

  • Emancipation Proclamation

  • 14th Amendment

  • 15th Amendment

  • Black Codes

  • Uncle Tom’s Cabin

  • Dredd Scott v Sandford

  • 13 Amendment

  • Ku Klux Klan (1st/2nd)

  • Civil Rights Act 1866

  • The Souls of Black Folk

  • Jack Johnson (Boxer)

  • NAACP

  • Resegregation under Wilson

  • Red Summer (1919)

  • Harlem Globetrotters

  • Tuskegee Institute Study

  • Scottsboro Boys

  • T Shipp & A Smith

  • Jazz

  • Harlem Renaissance

  • Nat Turner’s Revolt

  • African Americans in WWI

  • Great Migration

  • Birth of a Nation (1915 film)

  • Lynching Souvenirs & Postcards

  • Costigan-Wagner Bill

  • KKK March on Washington (‘25)

  • Tulsa Race Massacre (Black Wall St.)

Context of the Novel’s Publication (1930’s-1960’s)

  • Executive Order 9981

  • Brown v Board of Ed

  • Rosa Parks

  • Little Rock Nine

  • Ku Klux Klan (3rd)

  • Greensboro Four

  • Billie Holiday

  • Second Great Migration

  • Hattie McDaniel

  • African Americans in WWII

  • Executive Order 8802

  • Detroit Race Riots (1943)

  • Freeman Field Mutiny

  • Jackie Robinson

  • Redlining

  • Harry & Harriette Moore

  • White Citizens’ Council

  • Segregation Academies

  • Emmett Till

  • Freedom Rides

  • J. Edgar Hoover vs Martin Luther King Jr

  • Odell Waller

  • Groveland Four

  • Rev. George W. Lee

  • Maceo Snipes

  • The Columbia Race Riot

  • Isaac Woodard

  • William and Daisy Myers

  • Trenton Six

Earlier Event: March 30
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Later Event: April 1
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