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To Kill a Mockingbird, 1960 - Information about the Book

  • When Harper Lee submitted the manuscript to J.B. Lippincott Company in 1957, the publisher told her it read more like a series of short stories than a novel. She spent the next two years revising it. The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, was finally published in 1960.
  • The book was challenged in the Vernon-Verona-Sherill, N.Y. School District (1980) as a "filthy, trashy novel." Challenged at the Warren, Ind. Township schools (1981) because the book does "psychological damage to the positive integration process" and "represents institutionalized racism under the guise of 'good literature.'" After unsuccessfully banning Lee's novel, three black parents resigned from the township human relations advisory council. Challenged in the Waukegan, Ill. School District (1984 ) because the novel uses the word "nigger." Challenged in the Kansas City, Mo. junior high schools (1985). Challenged at the Park Hill, Mo. Junior High School (1985) because the novel "contains profanity and racial slurs." Retained on a supplement eighth grade reading list in the Casa Grande, Ariz. Elementary School District (1985), despite the protests by black parents and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People who charged the book was unfit for junior high use. Challenged at the Santa Cruz, Calif. Schools (1995) because of its racial themes. Removed from the Southwood High School library in Caddo Parish, La. (1995) because the book's language and content were objectionable. It was furthermore challenged at the Park Hill, Missouri (USA) Junior High School because the novel contains "profanity and racial slurs." (1986).
    From Floyd College.
  • Who Wrote 'To Kill a Mockingbird': Truman Capote or Harper Lee? Dr. Wayne Flynt discusses the basis for the persistent rumor and explains why Harper Lee is the author. NPR, March 3, 2006 (4:07)
  • In August 2001 the city of Chicago chose To Kill a Mockingbird for The Chicago reading initiative "One Book, One Chicago." At the same time Muskogee High School in Oklahoma removed the book from its required reading list for freshmen. NPR host Melissa Block talks with Mary Dempsey, commissioner for the Chicago Public Library, and Muriel Saunders, a member of the Muskogee School Board in Oklahoma, about the decisions made by both cities. There are also excerpts from the book. NPR, August 7, 2001 (Real 6:14) or listen to "One Book, One Chicago." as reported by the BBC (Real 2:15)
  • Theme, Motifs, Symbols

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  • Mockingbird: Symbol Of Innocence

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  • Citing the book in a bibliography

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