A Student Companion to Cardinal Stage’s Production of To Kill a Mockingbird

 

Part 1: The Book Itself

• A Biography of Harper Lee
  IU Senior Lauren Haynes profiles the novel’s reclusive author

• Room for Debate: Critical responses to the Novel
  In the 60 Years since the novel’s publication, its message has changed and shifted. Where do you stand

• A Tour of Monroeville, Alabama: To Kill A Mockingbird’s Home
  IU grad and doctoral student Paige Grey takes takes us into Harper Lee’s hometown

Part 2: The Socio-Historical Context

• Article: The History of Race Relations
  IU History Professor Alex Lichtenstein surveys the climate and context of Harper Lee’s novel

• The Story in Pictures: Key Documents in the History of Lynching
  IU History Professor Alex Lichtenstein curates a history of American lynching in a selection of primary documents

• Article: Vigilante Justice in our Neighborhood: Whitecapping
  Professor Emeritus of Education Lee Ehlman describes the vigilantism that took root in Indiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

• Article: Slavery and Servitude in Indiana
  IU English Professor Ellen MacKay surveys Indiana’s complex racial past

• The Story in Pictures: Key Documents in the History of Indentured Servitude in Indiana
  Elizabeth Schlemmer of The Monroe County History Center exhibits and transcribes two indentures of children (race unknown) in early 19th century Bloomington.

• Timeline: Race Relations at IU
  IU senior Lauren Haynes outlines the history of African-American students and studies at IU.

• From the Archive: Good Behavior / Bad Behavior and the Civil Rights movement at IU
  IU Senior Lauren Haynes exhibits representative documents from three key moments in IU’s struggle for racial equality

• Profile in Good Behavior: Meet IU’s First Student Body President, Thomas Atkins
  IU Senior Lauren Haynes profiles the first African-American Student Body President at IU and in the Big Ten.

• Link: IU’s Themester Good Behavior / Bad Behavior: Molecules to Morality
  See what else Themester has in store this semester.
  

Part 3: Making the Play

• The Set
  C. David Higgins takes us from the plans to the reality of his set

• The Costumes
  Costume Designer Ellen MacKay talks about dressing the cast of To Kill a Mockingbird

• From Page to Stage
  Director Randy White describes his role bringing the beloved novel to life

 Part 4: Resources

• Learn More about Mockingbird and the time that inspired it
  An Annotated Bibiography for Students by the Teen Services staff go the Monroe County Public Library