Life in Maycomb: Southern Alabama 1933-1935

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Church: Methodists and Baptists
“Maycomb’s principal recreation” (Lee 11)
Sundays were days of “formal afternoon visiting” (Lee 11). Doors were held open, and folks dressed up in their best attire, including shoes for the children. 
“Mr. Radley was a foot-washing Baptist… Im just a Baptist… Thing is foot-washers think women are a sin by definition. They take the Bible literally, you know”- Miss Maudie (Lee 59)
Some powerful religious commentary by Miss Maudie in chapter 5 is worth your time. In it, we see the hypocrisy of certain members of the church. One of the best quotes in this section is “The Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whiskey bottle in the hand of- oh your father” (Lee 60). 
How can the church be an instrument of grace? 
What are the factors that move it towards a place of judgment and division?
Do these complexities ring true today? And if so, how have they come to light in your own experience?
“We’re so rarely called on to be Christians, but when we are, we’ve got men like Atticus to go for us” (Lee 288)
In what ways are we being called on to be Christians today?
What does it mean to be Christians in times of racial injustice?

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First Purchase African M.E. Church
“It was an ancient paint-peeled frame building, the only church in Maycomb with a steeple and a bell, called First Purchase because it was paid for from the first earnings of freed slaves. Negroes worshiped in it on Sundays and white men gambled in it on weekdays. The churchyard was brick-hard clay, as was the cemetery beside it” (Lee 158)
“There was no sign of piano, organ, hymn-books, church programs- the familiar ecclesiastical impedimenta we saw every Sunday” (Lee 159)
The musical expression of the church was mind-blowing to Scout and Jem. They were in awe of the beauty and expression of the song but more than that, they were impressed by the unity and shared memory of each hymn. They did not need a piano and they could not read a hymn book if they had one available. Lyrics were kept close to heart.  
“Miraculously on pitch, a hundred voices sang out Zeebo’s words. The last syllable, held to a husky hum… music again swelled around us; the last note lingered… line or line, voices followed in simple harmony until the hymn ended in a melancholy murmur” (Lee 161)
Like the church that Scout and Jem attended, the sermon was focused on the evils of the world and specifically on the “Impurity of Women doctrine that seemed to preoccupy all clergymen” (Lee 162). 
Of the members of the church, only four can read including Calpurnia. 
How can we learn from this church?
What aspects of the church members are emphasized in the text?
How can we honor the experiences of the black community of Maycomb in our production?

Occupations
The farming community of Maycomb is the bedrock of the town. They are the core industry and the families that run the farms stick to their work. Farms are passed down across generations and children are expected to help out on the farm as soon as they can walk and pick up sticks. This lifestyle is hard manual labor and, the children are taken out of schools in order to help with important seasons like the harvest or the planting season. This continues the legacy of farming and keeps families rooted to their farms. The Great depression had the greatest impact on the farming community of Maycomb and money was hard to come by. See chapter 2 of To Kill a Mockingbird for a description of the Cunninghams and how the farm culture impacted their family life. 
 

Community
Everyone knew everyone else. Because of the physical/geographic isolation of the town from other towns, most people were related to their neighbors in some way. A lot of marriages were closer on the family tree than what contemporary people like to think about. The families of Maycomb are old. The longer a family has been in Maycomb, the more cemented their stereotypes are cemented in the town history. Miss Stephanie Crawford, Miss Maudie Atkinson, and Aunt Alexandra (who is not in our play) are the experts on these family dynamics and can tell you the family tree of Maycomb at the drop of a hat. 
“Somewhere I had received the impression that Fine Folks were people who did the best they could with the sense they had, but Aunt Alexandra was of the opinion, obliquely expressed, that the longer a family had been squatting on one patch of land the finer it was” (Lee 173)
“Everybody in Maycomb, it seemed, had a Streak: a Drinking Streak, a Gambling Streak, a Mean Streak, a Funny Streak” (Lee 172)
Even young children like Scout know these stories (see chapter 2). It is part of what makes the town so slow. People do not surprise each other. 
What falls asleep when we put our community members in boxes?
Is it valuable to surprise the people around you? 
How can we wake up and open our eyes to the humanity of people that we have written off?
What moments in the play wake up the sleepy town?
Are there moments in your own life that have waken up what’s fallen asleep?
“In Maycomb, grown men stood outside in the front yard to only two reasons: death and politics” (Lee 193)
“In Maycomb, if one went for a walk with no definite purpose in mind, it was correct to believe one’s mind incapable of definite purpose” (Lee 199)

School
All children were required to go to school. A government official will check on children who are reported absent and insist that they attend. However, in Maycomb, the Ewells are exempt from this ruling. They are so out of control and nasty, the community has decided that it is better for everyone if the rules are bent and the children are left to Mr. Ewell’s rule. During Scout’s first year of school, a new system called the Dewey Decimal System was put in place to shape how the children were educated. This system is described vaguely in the book but it seems to keep children progressing at a steady pace with little room for quick minds. Scout thinks this school will bore her to death. For more insight into the schools, read chapters 3-4. Jem comforts her in chapter 6 saying “ it was not until one reached the sixth grade that one learned anything of value” (Lee 79). 

The Great Depression
“‘Are we poor Atticus?’ Atticus nodded. ‘We are indeed’” (Lee 27)
The 1920’s was an era of post-war economic prosperity in the United States. The contraction and collapse of the economy culminated in a stock market crash in 1929 that lead to complications and failures in the national banking system. At its worst point, 15 million Americans were unemployed and half of the banks had failed. There was pushback on the decisions made by the Federal Reserve during the crisis that lead to a distrust of the government and disillusionment. The economy did not recover until the industrial production of WWII. 
“Professional people were poor because the farmers were poor. As Maycomb County was farm country, nickels and dimes were hard to come by for doctors and dentists and lawyers” (Lee 27)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCQfMWAikyU

Post Civil War and Pre Civil Rights 
The Civil War began in 1861 and ended in 1865 with the Confederate army’s surrender. It was “the costliest and deadliest war ever fought on American soil, with some 620,000 of 2.4 million soldiers killed, millions more injured and much of the South left in ruin”(History). Some attribute the causes for the Civil War to the disparity of wealth between the South and the North. The South had a system of large-scale farming that was only possible because of the unpaid labor of Black enslaved people. This industry was not sustainable without slavery. Wealthy landowners of the South fed a fear in the Southern people that the North was set to destroy their wellbeing by abolishing slavery. 
“Abraham Lincoln’s election in November 1860 was the final straw, and within three months seven southern states–South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas–had seceded from the United States” (History)
The military prowess of the South and leadership from General Robert E. Lee made the battles between North and South bloodier and more complex than expected from such a seemingly lopsided war. 
The Emancipation Proclamation was released January 1st 1863 and freed all enslaved people in the Southern states however, the war was not won until April 26 1864. 
For more detailed information on the civil war: https://watch.historyvault.com/topics/american-civil-war
To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in the time between the Civil War and the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s-60s. This was a time where slavery was a fresh memory for much of the older generation and deep seeded racism was found in the heart of the South. The text describes these tensions and acts of injustice through the eyes of a child. Scout is a witness to the dirty words said by her classmates and turns to her father for answers. Atticus has raised her to believe that the quality of a person is innate and is built by the actions that person makes. The prejudice of color, poverty, or reputation have little hold of her mind. This book makes us uncomfortable. We read the words that Scout says at times with discomfort. The powerful influences in her life like Calpurnia, Atticus, and Miss Maudie help her to break down the “usual disease of Maycomb” and learn that when you take the time to see someone, you will find that they are much kinder than you might have thought. 
The book does not sugar coat the situation for Black people in Maycomb. There is no resolution or happy ending. What Atticus sees when the jury takes so long to make a decision is a shadow. A shadow of what is to come. We must remember that this book was published in 1960: a time where conversations on civil rights were at a never before seen high. This book was put in the hands of American’s who were reckoning with their history and were given the eyes of a child again. What do we learn from Scout and Atticus? We certainly do not fix the problem. Today, deep seeded racism can be found in towns across the nation. The work is not yet done. 
What are some strengths of this play in its reckoning with racism?
Are there places of weakness or pitfalls that this story can fall into?