2。2 The Great Depression 

    The collapse of the American Stock Exchange in 1929 led to an enormous economic depression that lasted for about 10 years。 This was known as the Depression, and it had a huge impact on the American way of life。 Businesses failed, and millions of people lost their jobs。 Families were forced to sell their land and their homes, and sometimes the only food families could get came their way by means of government charity。来,自,优.尔:论;文*网www.chuibin.com +QQ752018766-

2。3 The Civil Rights Movement

    The Civil Rights Movement started to defend African-Americans who were denied many of the basic civil rights enjoyed by their white fellow Americans。Martin Luther King was one of the leading and most outspoken supporters of the organization until he was assassinated in 1968。 The struggle to end racial inequality used strategies such as marches, protests, boycotts and rallies。 The Civil Rights Act passed by congress in 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 helped bring about the end of legalized discrimination in America, especially in the South of the USA。

    To Kill a Mockingbird was written in 1960s --amid all these developments。 Harper Lee was raised in a small town in Alabama, one of the Southern states of America。 Many states in the South were resistant to any form of change。 Her story deals not only with her own experiences as a young girl viewing racism at first-hand in the 1930s, but also with her knowledge of the struggle of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 60s。