1. To Kill a Mockingbird Team Research Project
Take a position on a self-selected topic and support it with documented information
from two or more sources to fulfill a self-selected purpose.
Objective: Students will gain an understanding of the 1930’s in which the novel To Kill
a Mockingbird is set.
You and your partner will be responsible for writing four news stories on topics to be
included in your newsletter. Using the information obtained through his or her research,
each student will produce a “Maycomb” newsletter reporting on the major “current
events” from the novel and on the national and/or international news of that time period
(1930s). Considering your audience is the citizens of Maycomb, you are to produce a
newsletter that will meet the interests of your readers. All newsletters must include two
articles and two pictures related to the stories from the time period.
Front Page:
 Masthead
 Two major news stories with appropriate headlines
 Photographs to accompany the news stories
Second Page:
 Two other stories
 Any information that did not fit on the first page. Be sure to fill any dead space
with advertisements from the time period or pictures related to your stories.
Requirements:
1. All stories must have a headline and a byline (the name of the writer).
2. Each newsletter must have at least two major stories about events from the
time period of the novel.
3. Each newsletter must have at least two stories about events from the novel.
4. Research must be conduced from a variety of sources.
5. All newsletters must be typed.
6. Papers should be designed and formatted as a real newsletter. Refer to any local
paper for ideas!
7. Stories/articles must include the essentials of news writing: who, what, where,
when, why, and how must be addressed in each article.
8. Works Cited Page: each newsletter must also have a Works Cited page for ALL
sources used to create the paper. You will use NOODLE TOOLS for this page. If
you use a photo from the internet, you must also give credit to the photographer
and cite the source.

2. Science/Technology/
Women of the 1930s Economic Concerns of the 1930s
Innovation during 1930s
 Description/details about  President Hoover  Television, radio,
traditional "Southern  President Roosevelt’s World’s Fair (1933)
Belles" "New Deal," social  U.S. Nobel Prize
 Fashion, careers, family security winners
roles, taboos for women,  Wall Street  Glenn Curtiss,
the work place, wages  Statistics: population, Sigmund Freud, T.A.
 Gertrude Stein, Mrs. wages and salaries, costs Edison, Thomas Hunt
Wallis Simpson, of home, food, cars, rent Morgan
Margaret Mitchell, Jane  Golden Gate Bridge,
Addams, Pearl S .Buck, Boulder Dam
Amelia Earhar
Status of African -Americans Popular Entertainment of the
Education in the 1930s
in the 1930s 1930s
 Educational Reforms:  Jim Crow laws, voting  Movies, Hollywood
John Dewey - rights, civil rights, Stars
"Experience and education, occupations in  Dance
Education" North and South  Radio Programs
 Level of education -  Discrimination, treatment  Popular music: "The
State Laws by white people. Cotton Club"
 Colleges and  Housing, neighborhoods  Shirley Temple,
Agricultural colleges,  W.B. Dubois, George Charlie Chaplin, Benny
trade schools Washington Carver, Goodman, Glenn
 Literacy Booker T. Washington. Miller, Judy Garland
Marian Anderson,
Langston Hughes, Zora
Neale Hurston, Richard
Wright, Bessie Smith,
Lena Horn
The Headlines of the 1930s: Political Concerns of the 1930s -
Any other ideas?
What and Who Made the News International Relations
 Sports, disasters, "big"   Relationships with other
events, 21st amendment, world leaders
crime   League of Nations
 Howard Hughes, Charles   Hitler, Churchill, Stalin,
Lindbergh, Knute MacArthur
Rockne, Joe Louis, John
Dillinger, George
Eastman