Essay | Biography of Harper Lee, Author of "To Kill a Mockingbird"

Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926, in the town of Monroeville. Her parents' names were Amasa Coleman Lee and Frances Cunningham Finch Lee. Her father, a former newspaper editor and owner, was a lawyer who also served on the state legislature from1926 to1938. He served as the basis for the character Atticus. As a kid, Lee was a tomboy and an often reader and enjoyed spending time with her neighbor Truman Capote. He provided the basis of the character of Dill in her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird.

Lee was only five years old when the first of the trials to be a basis for the book To Kill a Mocking Bird occurred. The trials began in April 1931 in the small Alabama town of Scottsboro. These trials were those of the rapes of...
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