Context

Nelle Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926, in Monroeville, Alabama, a sleepy small town similar in many ways to Maycomb, the setting of To Kill a Mockingbird. Like Atticus Finch, the father of Scout, the narrator and protagonist of To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee’s father was a lawyer. Among Lee’s childhood friends was the future novelist and essayist Truman Capote, from whom she drew inspiration for the character Dill. These personal details notwithstanding, Lee maintains that To Kill a Mockingbird was intended to portray not her own childhood home but rather a nonspecific Southern town. “People are people anywhere you put them,” she declared in a 1961 interview. More……

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/mocking/context.html

Student Study Guides:

These links will give you a summary of the book, character analysis, plot and much more, so that you will be able to answer literary questions.

http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/monkeynotes/pmToKill02.asp

http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/killmockingbird/

http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitNote/id-143.html

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/mocking/

http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/barrons/mocking.asp

http://www.novelguide.com/tokillamockingbird/

The deep south was still embroiled in hatred and prejudice at the time, but a few people were willing to see the light.

Not sure of the state, it could be in Georgia, Alabama, or Mississippi. They seem to be the closest in contention.

BTW…Harper Lee was good friends with Truman Capote during the time he was writing In Cold Blood.

Takes place during the Great Depression (which is significant).

Written in the Contemporary period.