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What do we know about the title?

Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird!--Atticus Finch

(Mockingbird)
Click below to read more about the famous bird
The Northern Mockingbird
The Texas Mockingbird

Question 1:
List three things you learned about the mockingbird.

Question 2:
Why do you think Atticus Finch would tell Scout not to kill a mockingbird?

What do we know about the setting?

Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square. Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog suffered on a summer's day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square. Men's stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o'clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum.Scout

Follow the links below to find out more about life in the 1930's:

Interview Excerpts
1930&s Prices

Question 3:
Describe three of the people you read about in the interview excerpts. How were their lives different from yours?

Question 4
Fill in the "NOW" column by estimating how much each of these items would cost today.

What do we know about the plot?

(Scottsboro Boys)

The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box.--Atticus Finch

The most famous scene from the book takes place in the courtroom. Read about a famous trial from the same era that Harper Lee writes about.
The Scottsboro Trial

Question 5:
Write a brief summary of the Scottsboro Case. What was the final outcome?

Question 6:
Why did this case caused so much controversy at the time?