To Kill a Mockingbird

TEACHING MOCKINGBIRD A FACING HISTORY AND OURSELVES STUDY GUIDE Facing History and Ourselves is an international educational and professional development organization whose mission is to engage students of diverse backgrounds in an examination of racism, prejudice, and antisemitism in order to promote the development of a more humane and informed citizenry. By studying the historical development of the Holocaust and other examples of genocide, students make the essential connection between history and the moral choices they confront in their own lives. For more information about Facing History and Ourselves, please visit our website at www. facinghistory.org. Copyright © 2014 by Facing History and Ourselves National Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved. Facing History and Ourselves® is a trademark registered in the US Patent & Trademark Office. Cover art credits: Rural home image, General Research & Reference Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. Young girl image, Martin Barraud, Getty Images. Both images reproduced with permission. ISBN-13: 978-1-940457-07-9 ISBN-10: 1-940457-07-6 “The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.” — spoken by Atticus Finch in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird In memory of Judge Howard M. Holtzmann (1921–2013) who, like Atticus Finch, was an honorable man. Acknowledgments Primary Writer: Daniel Sigward Facing History and Ourselves is profoundly grateful to Jill Garling and Tom Wilson for their outstanding support, which will ensure that teachers, students, and communities globally may access this resource. Thanks to Jill and Tom’s leadership, generations of readers will be encouraged to use this resource to draw the connection between the choices made by the characters in Harper Lee’s classic novel and the moral and ethical choices each of us confronts throughout our lives. Facing History also extends special gratitude to the Holtzmann/Richardson family for their generous support. Developing this guide was a collaborative effort that required the expertise of numerous people, and many Facing History and Ourselves staff members made invaluable contributions. The guide would not be possible without the guidance of Adam Strom from start to finish. Laura Tavares played a critical role as a thought partner with Dan Sigward and reviewer of his early drafts. Margot Stern Strom, Marc Skvirsky, Marty Sleeper, and Dimitry Anselme were a thoughtful and supportive editorial team. Karen Barss, Denise Gelb, Michele Phillips, Steven Becton, Jocelyn Stanton, Stephanie Richardson, and Lisa Lefstein-Berusch also provided critical suggestions and feedback throughout the guide’s development. Catherine O’Keefe, supported by Ariel Perry, Andrew Phillips, and additional editorial and design consultants, attended to many details that transformed the manuscript into this beautifully polished publication. Alexia Prichard, Wilkie Cook, and Liz Kelleher also require acknowledgment, as they developed the website and companion videos. Brooke Harvey, Anika Bachhuber, Lara Saavedra, and Samantha Landry also helped move the writing and production processes forward in countless ways. The project would not have been possible without the work of Lori Rogers-Stokes, Cyrisse Jaffee, and Rhonda Berkower, who drafted early versions of the guide. Many thanks to Facing History’s communications and external affairs team for creating and implementing the outreach plan about this important initiative. iv Acknowledgments Table of Contents Introduction: What Did You Learn in School Today? .............. viii Using This Resource . xi Discussing Sensitive Topics in the Classroom . xv Section 1: Pre-Reading: The Individual in Society ................... 1 Introduction . 1 Essential Questions • Rationale Activities for Deeper Understanding . 3 Introduce Identity, Identity Charts & Memory Maps • Define Stereotype • Explore Consequences of Stereotypes Handouts: Identity Charts & Other Identity Firsthand Accounts • Gender Stereotyping & Stereotype Threat . 10 Section 2: Maycomb’s Ways • Chapters 1–7....................... 27 Introduction . 27 Essential Questions • Rationale • Plot Summary • Skills Focus • Academic Vocabulary Exploring the Text . 31 Before Reading • Using Connection Questions • Close Reading • Activities for Deeper Understanding • Connection Questions Building Historical Context . 40 Handouts: The Great Depression • FDR’s 1933 Inaugural Address • Walker Evans Photographs • Firsthand Accounts of the Depression . 43 Connecting to the Central Question . 57 Section 3: It’s a Sin to Kill a Mockingbird • Chapters 8–11 ........... 59 Introduction . 59 Essential Questions • Rationale • Plot Summary • Skills Focus • Academic Vocabulary Exploring the Text . 63 Before Reading • Using Connection Questions • Close Reading • Activities for Deeper Understanding • Connection Questions Building Historical Context . 72 Handouts: Eugenics • Firsthand Accounts of Growing Up in the Jim Crow South • Social Types & Gender Expectations in the South • Roles of Black Women in Southern Society . 78 Connecting to the Central Question . 92 Contents v Section 4: Do You Really Think So? • Chapters 12–15 ............... 93 Introduction . 93 Essential Questions • Rationale • Plot Summary • Skills Focus • Academic Vocabulary Exploring the Text . 97 Before Reading • Using Connection Questions • Close Reading • Activities for Deeper Understanding • Connection Questions Building Historical Context . 107 Handouts: Code-Switching • History of Lynching • Firsthand Accounts of the Segregated South . 111 Connecting to the Central Question . 131 Section 5: Stand Up • Chapters 16–21........................... 133 Introduction . 133 Essential Questions • Rationale • Plot Summary • Skills Focus • Academic Vocabulary Exploring the Text . 137 Before Reading • Using Connection Questions • Close Reading • Activities for Deeper Understanding • Connection Questions Building Historical Context . 149 Handouts: Anticipation Guide • “The Spirit of Liberty” Speech • The Scottsboro Affair • The Redneck Stereotype • The Role of Poor White Southern Women . 154 Connecting to the Central Question . 169 Section 6: It Ain’t Right • Chapters 22–31........................ 171 Introduction . 171 Essential Questions • Rationale • Plot Summary • Skills Focus • Academic Vocabulary Exploring the Text . 175 Before Reading • Using Connection Questions • Close Reading • Activities for Deeper Understanding • Connection Questions Building Historical Context . 186 Handouts: Restorative Justice and Other Approaches to Justice • Memorials . 189 Connecting to the Central Question . 201 vi Contents Section 7: Post-Reading: Empathy to Action ..................... 203 Introduction . 203 Essential Questions • Rationale Activities for Deeper Understanding . 205 Respond to the Novel • Connect to the Film • Analyze Character Growth and Moral Development • Respond to the Central Question • Reflect on the Connection between Identity and Action Handouts: Response to the Novel • Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development • TED Talk on Injustice............................................................... 211 Appendix . 221 Fostering a Reflective Classroom . 221 Journals in a Facing History Classroom . 224 Close Reading for Deep Comprehension . .229 Teacher Guides and Student Handouts . 232 Contents vii Introduction What Did You Learn in School Today? Margot Stern Strom, Executive Director, Facing History and Ourselves To Kill a Mockingbird is set in a small town in Alabama in the 1930s, a town much like the one in which author Harper Lee came of age. Although I grew up a generation later, I see much of myself in Scout, the young white girl who narrates the book. Like Alabama in the 1930s, Tennessee in the 1950s was a place where separate never meant equal. It was a place where “colored” water fountains did not spout brightly colored water as a child might expect, but stood as symbols of the dogmas of racism, which meant indignity, shame, and humiliation for some and indifference, false pride, and hate for others. At school my teachers carefully avoided any mention of race, class, or gender. Like Scout, I learned those lessons from my family. When Scout comes to her father with questions about human behavior, he doesn’t give her advice on what to say or do. Instead, he tells her that the “trick” to understanding another person is to consider things from his or her point of view. For nearly 40 years that has been the work of Facing History and Ourselves. We trust students to wrestle with complex choices in the past and present so that they will better understand the social mores of our time. We encourage them to think critically and independently in much the way that Atticus, Scout’s father, engages his children. Like my teachers, Scout’s teacher misses an opportunity to trust her students with the complexities of history and human behavior. In one lesson, a child, Cecil, shares his current event: the fact that “old Adolf Hitler has been prosecutin’ the Jews.” Miss Gates stops him to correct his choice of words; it is “persecuting,” not “prosecuting.” Cecil shrugs off the correction and describes how Hitler’s “puttin’ ’em in prisons and he’s taking away all their property and he won’t let any of ’em out of the country.” Another child asks how Hitler can just lock up people without the government stopping him. Miss Gates replies, “Hitler is the government.” And then, “seizing viii Introduction an opportunity

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