Atticus and tom robinson in court

A Literary Window Into Race and Injustice

By timmyv5

  • Setting of To Kill a Mockingbird

    Setting of To Kill a Mockingbird
    The setting of To Kill a Mockinbird takes place in the 1930s when racial segregation was still in widespread practice in the United States. Racism toward African American population was severe, especially in the Southern United States like Alabama where the story takes place. In To Kill a Mockingbird, a black man named Tom Robinson is wrongly charged and convicted of the rape of a white woman.
  • Period: to

    Timespan Between the Novels' Settings

  • Brown v. Board of Education

    Brown v. Board of Education
    In 1954, the Supreme Court declared that segregating schools by race was unconstitutional.

  • Murder of Emmett Till

    Murder of Emmett Till
    In 1955, Emmett Till was brutally murdered days after reportedly flirting with a white woman. The woman's husband and his half-brother killed him and dumped him into a river. The only good that came from this horrific incident was an increased voter turn out for civil rights issues and a huge support for the NAACP. It also served to motivate the Civil Rights momvement in general.

  • To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee published

    To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee published
    To Kill a Mockingbird was an instant success. In 1961, after spending 41 weeks on the bestseller list, it was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.

  • Civil Rights Act of 1964

    Civil Rights Act of 1964
    Initiated by John F. Kennedy and later put into law by Lyndon B. Johnson, the Civic Rights Act brought on desegregation in schools and in the general public, as well as an end to voter discrimination.

  • Murder of James Byrd, Jr.

    Murder of James Byrd, Jr.
    James Byrd ,Jr. was dragged to death by three white men in Jasper, TX. This horrific event led to the passage of a hate crime act in Texas and to a federal hate crime act signed into law by President Obama in 2009.

  • Monster by Walter Dean Myers Published

    Monster by Walter Dean Myers Published
    Monster is about a 16 year old named Stever Harmon, who made a bad decision to be a lookout for a robbery. He is caught by police and wrongly charged with homicide. As the prosecutor calls him a "monster," Steve struggles to figure out whether or not it is a fitting label, and struggles to sort out his life and past.

  • Racial Wealth Gap

    Wealth Gaps Among Racial LinesMedian wealth of white households is:
    -20 times that of black households
    -18 times that of hispanic households
    • Pew Research Center, 2009