To Kill a Mockingbird WebQuest

To Kill a Mockingbird Web Quest Introduction To Kill a Mockingbird is set in the sleepy town of Maycomb, Alabama. Atticus Finch is asked to defend a black man charged with the rape of a white woman. Through the eyes of his children, Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores the irrationality of adult attitudes toward race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s. The consciousness of a town steeped in prejudice, violence, and hypocrisy is pricked by the quiet heroism of one man’s struggle for justice. To best understand the lessons of this novel, it is important to understand the author, the times, and the place in which the story is set. Task Visit the various websites to learn the necessary background information before starting the novel. There are a few questions for you to answer for each website so you can gain a good feel for the 1930s and the historical context of the novel and its themes. Questions Answer all questions thoroughly and in complete sentences. The History of Jim Crow http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/history/overview.htm 1. Where did the term “Jim Crow” originate from? 2. After the year 1900, what did the term, “Jim Crow,” become identified with? 3. What Supreme Court case upheld segregation, or “separate but equal”? 4. Who was Booker T. Washington? What was his stance on the segregation debates? 5. What was the name of the new literary movement, based in Harlem, New York, which featured “New Negro” poetry and literature that emphasized self-respect and defiance under the Jim Crow laws? 6. How did some southern black people try to resist and escape the Jim Crow laws? Black Thursday http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Thursday 7. What does the term, “Black Thursday,” refer to? 8. What was the date of Black Thursday? 9. Explain how the Wall Street Crash led to The Great Depression. American History 1930-1939 http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade30.html 10. During The Great Depression, many Dust Bowl farmers packed their families into cars and headed where? 11. Why did the farmers go? 12. Who were the Presidents during the 1930s? 13. What did the sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, create? 14. Observe the painting, “American Gothic” on the website. Describe Grant Wood’s famous work. What does it look like? What kind of life does it portray? 15. What was fashion like during the 1930s? Observe the pictures on the site and describe the trends of the times. 16. Who were some of the prominent authors of the time? What famous works are they responsible for? The Scottsboro Boys http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/scottsboro/SB_acct.html 17. What were the Scottsboro Boys known for? Who were they? What did they do? How did they get in so much trouble? 18. The Scottsboro Boys’ attorneys were extremely incompetent. How did the defense attorneys show their lack of experience? 19. Were The Scottsboro Boys ever pardoned of their wrongful convictions? Harper Lee http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/harperle.htm 20. What work is Harper Lee most famous for writing? 21. When did she win the Pulitzer Prize and for what piece of literature? 22. What famous Civil War general is Harper Lee related to? 23. Where and during what time is Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, set? Maycomb County Map http://www.swisseduc.ch/english/readinglist/lee_harper/mockingbird/maycomb.html 24. Based on the Maycomb County map, the Finches live next door to whom? 25. Whose house is the oak tree next to? (click the link that says, “Another map of