Harper Lee (Nelle Harper Lee), born on April 28, 1926, in Monroeville, Alabama is an American novelist widely known for her 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller To Kill a Mockingbird, her one and only published novel. Harper Lee is the youngest of the four children of Frances Cunningham and Amasa Coleman Lee. Her father, Amasa Coleman, was a lawyer, who was part of the Alabama State Legislature in 1926-1938 and a former newspaper editor. Harper's mother, Frances Cunningham, was a homemaker, but suffered a mental disease. As a child, Harper was a tomboy and a veracious reader. She stood out from other students--- cared less about fashions and makeup, focused more on studies and her writing. High school is where she developed an interest in English literature. Harper attended Huntingdon College in …show more content…
In the 1950s, Harper arrived in New York City and worked as a ticket agent for Eastern Airlines and for British Overseas Air Corp. (BOAC). Soon after, she helped her childhood best friend Truman Capote write an article for The New Yorker which turned into a nonfiction masterpiece. Harper's second novel was never published, In Cold Blood. To Kill a Mockingbird is a reflection to Harper Lee childhood influenced by a history of slavery, that reflects racial prejudices apparent in the South. The novel was set in the 1930s and reflects the history of the American South and the American Civil War (1861-1865). The novel was set during the time of The Great Depression when racism against of African-Americans was commonplace. Some aspects of the novel are based on situations that happened in real life. In