February is Black History Month, and we celebrate it as our 7th and 8th grade English classes simultaneously explore 20th century classics relating to the story of the black experience in America.  The 8th grade begins its reading of Part 2 of To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), by Harper Lee.  The 7th grade starts Act 2 of Lorraine Hansberry's play A Raisin in the Sun (1959).

These two works compare and contrast in fascinating ways.  Each is the first major work of a now famous woman writer.  Lorraine Hansberry's career was cut tragically short by her death from cancer at the age of 34.  Harper Lee is still living, but effectively cut her own career short by never publishing another novel after Mockingbird.  Both works saw the light of day within months of each other as the 1950s ended and the 1960s began, which means that each work can be considered as a response to the Civil Rights movement in America, in full swing at the time.  Yet, the works address different times and places.  To Kill a Mockingbird is set in a small town in the South in the 1930s.  A Raisin in the Sun is set in a poor city neighborhood in the North (Chicago) in the 1950s.

Harper Lee (1926 -     )               Lorraine Hansberry (1930 - 1965)

The action in these two stories occur between 70 and 90 years after the end of the American Civil War and the freeing of the slaves.  Yet each story shows its African-American characters as victims of discrimination and stereotyping.  And each can help us try to get a grip on questions that still bedevil us as a society today:

Why do people discriminate against others?  What is a stereotype?  How does it feel to be the victim of discrimination or to be looked upon as a stereotype rather than a unique human being?  How can victims and their supporters effectively oppose discrimination and stereotyping?

What did it feel like at the time?  Let's sample:

Montgomery, Alabama, 1955

Little Rock, Arkansas, 1957

 Birmingham, Alabama, 1963

This Web site will be a collection site both for project resources and for student projects related to To Kill a Mockingbird, Inherit the Wind, and the evils of discrimination and stereotyping.

7th grade resources - A Raisin in the Sun

8th grade resources - To Kill a Mockingbird