Alabama town uses "To Kill A Mockingbird" to learn from past

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/international/ticker/detail/Alabama_town_uses_Mockingbird_to_learn_from_past.html?siteSect=143&sid=7920458&cKey=1181695042000

MONROEVILLE, Alabama (Reuters) - When Harper Lee wrote "To Kill A Mockingbird" she could not have known it would be hailed as a classic, much less that it would shape the way her hometown viewed its past.

Lee's novel has put Monroeville, Alabama, on the map and acted as a magnet for tourists. It has also stimulated debate in the town about the legacy of racial segregation that prevailed in the south until the 1960s.

Mockingbird tells the story of two children growing up in a fictional southern town similar to Monroeville. Their father, an attorney, is selected to defend a black man accused of raping a white woman.

Though the man is innocent, he is convicted by an all-white jury. Some of the book's most powerful moments come as the children realize their father was fighting a doomed cause.

Published in 1960, it was an instant sensation. It won the Pulitzer Prize, has sold at least 30 million copies and a film of it starring Gregory Peck is hailed as a classic.

[MedleyMisty]

1. Just bought it from the Summer Reading section at B & N

I read it in elementary school but I barely remember it. I've been reading it tonight.

Another good one is Your Blues Ain't Like Mine, by Bebe Moore Campbell. I read it a few months ago. Along with To Kill A Mockingbird, I got To Be a Slave. And a few weeks ago I got Black Like Me.

Books are great tools for teaching about racism.

[NNN0LHI]

3. Native Son by Richard Wright is the one that stuck in my mind n/t

[ret5hd]

2. A film i watch when i need reassurance that "honor" and "dignity"...

are REAL things...things that I can accomplish...if i keep trying.

[liberal N proud]

4. I remember reading the book in high school

And that was in Iowa in the 70's

Great piece of American literature.

[BrklynLiberal]

5. "To Kill a Mockingbird" with Gregory Peck was one of the very few times that a movie lived up to the

expectations set by the book. Peck was incredible...the movie was more than a mere classic. It was just beautiful...as was the book.
Who can ever forget Scout and Boo Radley?

[shadowknows69]

6. 8th grade english teacher made us read it

His passion for it was evident. I count that teacher and that book among the greatest influences in my life.