Tuesday, January 15, 2013

TKAM Pre-Reading Webquest


Use the links provided to answer the questions below on your own sheet of paper.    

Harper Lee, author of “To Kill A Mockingbird”

 1.  What are 3 similarities between Harper & the character in the novel, Scout?
2.  What did Lee’s father do for a living?
3.  Where was Harper from? What year did she write the novel To Kill A Mockingbird?
4.  What are 3 interesting characteristics about Harper Lee?

New World Encyclopedia: “Harper Lee” …Look under the subtitle “Autobiographical Elements”)
 5. Harper Lee’s father was similar to the father in To Kill a Mockingbird in that he was a small southern town’s lawyer.  What was Lee’s father’s most controversial case?

The Scottsboro Boys

6.  Give a short synopsis (3-4 sentences) of what happened to the Scottsboro boys (pre-trial).
7.  What was the inciting incident that lead to the whole trial?

·      Wikipedia: “Scottsboro Boys”…Look only at the general synopsis at the beginning of the article
8.  What time period did the Scottsboro boys’ trial take place?
9.  What do you think is the most disturbing part of the story?
10.  What are some over-arching issues this trial dealt with?
11.  What practice did the trial end in the South?

1930’s in the South; The Great Depression:

·      Google “The Great Depression in the South.” Go to the images and flip through them to answer the questions below. Please read the questions before looking at pictures.
12.  What did all of the pictures you viewed have in common? Why do you think this is?
13.  Around what years does it seem many of these pictures were taken?
14.  What can you tell about the Great Depression from the pictures?
15.  Pick one picture. Examine it. What do you notice about the background, the people, etc.?

·      Google “The Great Depression in the North”.   Look at a few of the images.
16.  What is different about the people in these photos & the ones you viewed about the South? What is different about the background/setting?

Jim Crow Laws:

 17.  Who was “Jim Crow”?
18.  According to the video, how did Jim Crow Laws begin?
19.  In your opinion, what was the purpose of the laws?
20.  What would eventually end the Jim Crow Laws?

·      Google “list of Jjm Crow law examples by state.” Click on the first link.  Pick two states, and read the list of laws in that state.
21.  What 2 states did you choose?
22.  What was the most disturbing or strange law in that state? What year did it get put in?
23.  What makes the law so ridiculous?


The Civil Rights Movement in Alabama

 24.  Why do you think Alabama was the most racially harsh and strongly segregated? Why did Martin Luther King Jr. feel the movement needed to go to Alabama?
25.  What do you think segregation stemmed from?
26.  What happened in Alabama that was widely televised & famous?
27. What happened because of it?

28.  What words  &/or phrases stick out to you in the speech?
29.  What images/scenes stick out to you from the Alabama protest?

30.  Write (with number) a first and second choice from the following list to use as a topic for your mini-research project.

1) The Great Depression’s affects on the South                    
2) Southern traditions in literature      
3) The Scottsboro Boy’s Trial                                   
4) The rise of Jim Crow Laws
5) The ending of Jim Crow Laws                               
6) The Civil Right’s Movement in AL
7) Harper Lee’s life leading up to “TKM”               
8) Changes made in Alabama after the Civil Rights Movement 1963
9) Southern race relations in 1932 & 1961                 1
10) Truman Capote & his relationship to Lee
11) Horton Foote and the film of To Kill a Mockingbird    
12) Leaders of the Civil Rights Movement            
13) Topics of interest for 1930’s America
14) Gender equality/lack of in AL in 1930’s/1960’s

No comments:

Post a Comment