Biography Of To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird: Harper Lee

Nelle Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926 in a small southwestern town in Alabama (famous authors). During this period of time, people of different races were not all equal under the law (famous authors). The Jim Crow laws were in effect and they mandated segregation in all public places (famous authors). They sanctioned discrimination against black people throughout Lee’s early life (famous authors). When Lee was nearly thirty years old, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man (famous authors). Lee’s father was Amasa Coleman Lee and her mother was Frances Cunningham Finch Lee (famous authors). Her hometown Monroeville was very similar to Maycomb, Alabama during the 1930s, the setting of the novel. Even though she denies the story is autobiographical, Lee borrowed scenes and characters from her childhood and incorporated them into her novel (famous authors). Lee even gave her mother’s three last names to various characters in To Kill a Mockingbird (famous authors).

Growing up, Lee was always a tomboy who stood up for her close friend Truman Capote who also lived next door (famous authors). When the found their similar love for reading, they instantly became friends and Lee based the character Dill on Truman (famous authors). When they were kids, they would write original stories on a typewriter Lee’s father gave them (neabigread). Even though Capote moved to New York, he always returned in the summers and they kept a lifelong friendship (famous authors). The character Boo Radley is based on a person Lee and Capote knew when they were young (famous authors). According to the author, he was a real man the only lived down the street from them (famous authors). When th...

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...son of rapping his daughter. Lee gave us a twist by having Atichus Finch point out that the one abusing was the father of the girl himself (ericchrist).

At the time To Kill a Mockingbird was written, there were a lot of biracial children and interracial marriage. Normally, white people had control over their communities (cliffnotes). People began fearing that African Americans would begin marrying into the white race and thus getting control (cliffnotes). Interracial marriage was outlawed in many states. Children who were offsprings to interracial marriages, were called “mulatto” coming from the word “mule”, because these children were thought to be unnaturally bred (cliffnotes). Ironically, children who were born to black mothers were not seen as a threat to white superiority, so people saw the other way when a black man chose to marry a black woman (cliffnotes).