To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird: Should Bradshaw Christian School Ban This Book?

• to investigate the alleged historical connections to the story
• to investigate its alleged theme of empathy and compassion
• to investigate its alleged stereotypical portrayal of African-Americans during the 1930s

1. Give an overview of the history of the case.  Be sure to paraphrase the information on the page.  What connections (if any) can be made between Lee’s portrayal of Tom Robinson’s trial and the Scottsboro Boys’ Trial?
2. Do you believe that Lee was trying to show the injustices that occurred in our court system in the 1930s, or was this just another avenue for a white author to demean and demoralize the African-American race? Explain your stance.
3. Describe how the Scottsboro cases were tried in court.  Why did the prosecution group some of the men to be tried together in one case?  If you were a defense attorney for one of these young men, why might you argue against your client being grouped  with some of the other young men?
4. Explain how Atticus came to be Tom Robinson’s lawyer. Were the Scottsboro Boys as lucky as Tom Robinson with their lawyers? Defend your response with details from the site.
5. Read “Why the girls made the charge” and give a summary of why it is believed these two women made this false accusation. Hypothesize as to why someone would commit such a cruel act.
6. Based on what you have read so far, would you claim that this story provides teachers with a unique opportunity to discuss this landmark case? Defend your response. 
7. Give three details about the social and economic climate of the 1930s. Were these details noted in To Kill a Mockingbird? Use examples from the text to support your claim.
8. In your opinion, do societal and economic pressures ever excuse immoral behaviors?  Give two examples to defend your response. Was Lee trying to excuse the immoral behaviors of the Ewells or other townspeople in her book? Defend your response with two examples from the text.
9. What was the eventual outcome of the Scottsboro Boys?  What was the eventual outcome of Tom Robinson’s case? Note any parallels you see between the two cases.
10. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus claims the courtroom has the potential to be a great equalizer (274). How would you rate the treatment of the Scottsboro Boys, equal to that of whites or unequal?  Defend your response with two details. How would you rate the treatment of Tom Robinson, equal to that of whites or unequal? Defend your response.

1. Paraphrase what life was like for Emmett Till in his hometown.
2. How did Till’s neighborhood in Chicago compare to Robinson’s Maycomb in To Kill a Mockingbird?
3. What kind of boy was Emmett Till?  What kind of man is Tom Robinson? Was Harper Lee trying to build prejudice or empathy in her portrayal of this character?  Defend your response with two details from the text.
4. Review the timeline of Emmett Till. What details are given about his death?  How do these compare with the end of Tom Robinson’s life? What is Lee’s purpose in revealing that Tom was shot 17 times when he was trying to escape?
5. What verdict is passed on to the men who are accused of Emmett’s murder?  What happens to Tom Robinson’s accusers?
6. How does the world react to the eventual outcome of the trials?  How does Maycomb react to the eventual outcome of Robinson’s trial?  What is Lee trying to suggest with this reaction?
7. List at least three major Civil Rights events that occurred during Emmett Till’s life. How did these events affect racial relations in the South and the North?
8. Read the section entitled How did whites like Milam and Bryant see themselves in relation to blacks (under Special Features – sex and race)? They claim they had no intention of killing Till at first, but they were egged on by Till’s defiant manner.  Explain how white men like these expected blacks to act and describe Jim  Crow laws that supported these expectations.  Did Tom Robinson fit in to these stereotypical expectations? Defend your response with two examples from the text.
9. How did Till break these expectations? What would you have done in a similar situation?  Be sure to consider the racial environment of the time and the likelihood of your survival in this situation.
10. Do the stories of Till and Tom Robinson strengthen your ability to empathize? Is this a reason to read or ban this book?
11. Read the section Why was what Till did so wrong?  Why were these white men  so threatened by Till? Is information like this too volatile for a classroom? State your reasoning.  
12. Was Till’s murder a lynching? Defend your response with one detail from this article. Was Tom Robinson’s killing a murder?  Justify your response.

1. Find the definitions of empathy in this article and evaluate which definition best suits your interpretation of empathy. Be sure that your definition acknowledges both the cognitive and affective processes – have a dictionary ready.  
2. While this article focuses on children’s literature and primary school students, do you believe that the claim can be applied to high school students?  Defend your response with evidence from the text.
3. Assess the argument that empathy can be taught through literature.  If you agree that empathy can be taught, is To Kill a Mockingbird an appropriate text to teach it?

1. This article discusses the effect of “bibliotherapy” on various groups of people from veterans to the mentally ill. Explain the term bibliotherapy.
2. How might using bibliotheraphy be helpful in teaching empathy and compassion?
3. Is it faulty logic to conclude that if books can help people with mental illness or social difficulties that they can also help people  who are perfectly healthy to gain perspective?  How can you connect your thoughts to the argument regarding teaching this text?

1. http://www.edusoft.ro/brain/index.php/libri/article/viewFile/83/193
2. Why might it be important for freshmen to ‘take up’ Scouts perspective of a character?  Why might it be a detriment if they do so?
3. Is there a point to teaching Mockingbird based on this article?

1. How does the Pasadena NAACP view the teaching of this text?  What are the issues with this text being taught in the classroom?
2. How do the African-American parents in Pasadena feel as a result of this text being taught?  How do the English teachers and administrators counter their argument?
3. Is teaching To Kill a Mockingbird worth upsetting the community? Defend your response.

1. The Tom is always chased, harassed, hounded, enslaved, and insulted.  He keeps the faith and never turns against his white masters.  He remains hearty, submissive, selfless, and oh-so-very kind.  
2. The Coon developed in to the most blatantly degrading of all black stereotypes.  The “pure coon” emerged as a no account black man who was unreliable, crazy, lazy and subhuman.  He was good for nothing.
3. The Mammie is the third black stereotype, who can be called a female coon.  Mammie is distinguished by her fierce independence. She is usually big, fat, and cantankerous.
4. The Tragic Mulatto explores the plight of the fair-skinned  black trying to pass for white. Usually the mulatto is made likable (because of the white blood) and the audience believes that his life could have been productive and happy had they not been the victim of divided racial inheritance.
5. The Buck is always a big, brutal, and over-sexed man.