Recalling To Kill a Mockingbird on its 50th
We had a great turnout last night at the Enoch Pratt's Northwood branch, as a group of scholars (with little ol' me) discussed "To Kill a Mockingbird" on the 50th anniversary of its publication. Thanks to all who braved the mid-90s heat to join the conversation. Our discussion touched a wide range of themes, from strong female characters to Jim Crow-era legal challenges to Gothic themes.
Sherrilyn Ifill, University of Maryland law professor and author of "On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the 21st Century" analyzed Atticus Finch's courtroom performance and that of other civil rights lawyers. Brian Norman, director of African and African American studies at Loyola University Maryland and author of "Neo-Segregation Narratives: Jim Crow in Post-Civil Rights American Literature," noted the book's relationship to other segregation narratives and its Gothic elements. And Jadi Omowale, writer, publisher, and teacher at the Community College of Baltimore County, delivered a spirited reading of a prose poem that could form the basis of a TKAM sequel.
It was an hour and a half of pure literary love. That sort of conversation is always a great way to spend an evening -- whether it's hot or not.
Comments
Harpwer Lee painted an accurate picture of the best and worst of small-town life in the Jim Crow South, and Gregory Peck made Atticus even more memorable by bringinh him to life.
Posted by: Howard Maniloff | June 26, 2010 7:44 PM
my customary radical take:
The Southern Poverty Law Center deserves our support these days- as they pick up rocks to uncover the right wing, gun lovers and racists still amongst us.
I can't resist saying the Republican party with its "southern strategy" is but a thin mask over these violent beliefs, which have been a part of amurica since we first started killing and relocating Native Americans.
Writers like Harper Lee set things write (right) and they are few and far between. Tyson's "Blood Done Wrote My Name" is a recent book on these themes.
Thank God I live in Md. (home of Harriet Tubman and Fred Douglas).
I shudder to think of Virginia- w its oyster grabbing, NRA hq'd, bunch of right wingers.
Did you know that the Memoirs of Nat Turner were published in Baltimore? You would need a lot of money to buy an original copy at this point.
Posted by: david eberhardt | June 27, 2010 9:48 AM