To Kill A Mockingbird Research Paper

To kill To Kill a Mockingbird would be a sin. Ever since its release in 1960, it has received a mix of praise and criticism. Upon its release, it won a Pulitzer Prize, awarded by Columbia University (The Pulitzer Prizes), but now holds a place on the list of most challenged books. A narrative from a six-year-old’s perspective, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird tells of the racial and social prejudices in the South in the 1930’s. The main plot line of the story is about the trial of an innocent African-American man who was accused of rape by a white woman in a small town in Alabama at a time when racial inequality and injustice ran rampant (Lee). It currently holds the fourth place on the list of the most challenged books (Association).

said in one of his speeches, “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity” (King). One of the reasons it is important to keep To Kill a Mockingbird to our society is because of its historical context. Although there are many elements of racism in the book, it is important to realize that the extreme injustices and racial prejudices that are seen in the book were a real part of life not too long ago. To remove this book from our libraries would be to turn a blind eye to a significant part of our nation’s history. During the time Lee was writing her book, the Civil Rights movement was at its climax in America; Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man, desegregation of public schools began, and Martin Luther King Jr. was lifting up his voice to call for equal rights for all men (Gale). It was a time of momentous change but was accompanied by growth pains. During Harper Lee’s life, she heard of many court cases similar to the one she wrote about in her story. For example, in 1955, five years before To Kill a Mockingbird was released, Emmitt Till, a fourteen-year-old African-American boy was murdered by the husband and brother of a white woman he had winked at in a grocery store. Despite the great evidence condemning the men including eyewitness testimonies, they were acquitted by the all-white jury (The Murder of Emmitt Till: Library of Congress). The historical accuracy of

Harper Lee never comes straight out and tells her readers what to think about the issues in her book. She gave the story through the eyes of a six-year-old and left the judgments up to the reader. The question of, “What is justice?” is still relevant today and is a question we all should be asking as we continue to see the ripple effect of these issues still impacting our society. Julian Bond, Chairman of the Board of the NAACP said, “There is a tendency among…Americans to look back on the King years as if that was the only time in which we were truly able to overcome. But the movement was much more than Dr. King” (Bond). The movement continues to this day. ABC News reports statements President Obama made regarding the impact Harper Lee’s work had on America. He says, “Ms. Lee changed America for the better, and there is no higher tribute we can offer her than to keep telling this timeless American story – to our students, to our neighbors, and to our children – and to constantly try, in our own lives, to finally see each other”