"To Kill a Mockingbird" Background Information WebQuest

The next two days will go as follows:

• There are four people per group.
• Each person in your group will be assigned a number and associated topic. You will work independently to become an expert on this topic. You will use the websites assigned for your number only. 
• As you do your research, you will answer the assigned questions for your number only.
• If your finish early, you can explore other websites listed to add onto your responses, or you can go into independent reading. 
• Tonight for homework, you will look over your questions, and summarize your information.
• Tomorrow, each person will teach the other members of their group what they have learned. While you listen, you will take notes.

Group 1: The Scottsboro Boys

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_scotts.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/scottsboro/timeline/

Questions:

1) Who were the "Scottsboro Boys"?

2) When did the case begin?

3) Describe the situation that lead up to the arrest of the Scottsboro boys.

4) Why was the arrrest of the Scottsboro Boys so controversial?

5) After they are convicted (found guilty), what organizations step in to assisst with their case?

6) Why was the Scottsboro case so problematic?

7) What ended up happening with the Scottsboro boys?

Group 2: Jim Crow Laws

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/heroesvillains/background/g6_background.htm#1

http://www.crf-usa.org/black-history-month/a-brief-history-of-jim-crow

http://www.nps.gov/malu/forteachers/jim_crow_laws.htm

Questions:

1) What were "Jim Crow" laws?

2) What was the consequence of "Jim Crow" laws on blacks? How did it impact their daily lives?

3) What was the significance of Plessy vs. The Board of Education? How did that impact Jim Crow laws?

4) Read over the list of Jim Crow laws. List 3 you find most terrible.

5) How do you think you might have felt as a black person living under these laws?

6) Under Jim Crow, black facilities were often of far poorer quality than those reserved for whites. Separate rarely meant equal. If blacks and whites had received equal treatment, would Jim Crow laws have been fair?

Group 3: The Great Depression

http://history1900s.about.com/od/1930s/p/greatdepression.htm

http://www.gwu.edu/~erpapers/teachinger/glossary/great-depression.cfm

http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/depression/photoessay.htm

1) What was the Great Depression?

2) What happened to banks?

3) If you had money in these banks, what happened to your savings?

4) How did the Great Depression impact every day life? List at least three ways.

5) What was the Dust Bowl? How did it impact farmers and people already living in poverty?

6) How might the Great Depression have made racial tensions even worse?

7) Explain what Roosevelt did to bring an end to the Great Depression. 

Additional Resources: These are excellent resrouces- explore them!

http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/remembering/bitter.html

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/

http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/behindtheveil/