Race, Diversity, and To Kill a Mockingbird: A Study Guide

U.S. Racial and Ethnic Classification Standards

In October 1997, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced that the standards for gathering federal data on race and ethnicity in the United States would be revised. From that point forward, the minimum racial categories would be divided as follows: American Indian or Alaska Native; Asian; Black or African American; Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; and White. This meant that any individual choosing to self-identify would no longer be required to place himself within a single racial category under the multi-racial framework previously in use. Instead, he could select one or more races when identifying himself for any official purpose. In addition, the OMB also established an added provision known as "Some Other Race." (Racial and Ethnic Classifications Used in Census 2000 and Beyond)

According to the U.S. Census definitions from 2000, each racial category can be precisely defined. For example, "White" refers to people who have their origins in any of the original peoples of Europe or Eurasia, including areas from Turkey to Northern Africa and east toward Iran, as well as peoples from Phoenicia, Babylon, and Egypt, and from the Middle East and North Africa. The term "White" also includes those who identified as Irish, German, Italian, Lebanese, or simply as White. Arabs and Polish individuals are also included in this category. (Race, U.S. Census) Whites are also commonly referred to as "Caucasians" in many parts of the country, a general term used to describe people of European, Middle Eastern, and North African ethnic descent, many of whom have fair skin. (Whites: Categories: U.S. Ethnic Groups)

American Population Demographics and Projections

As late as 1986, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone reportedly commented that the average American intellectual standard was lower than that of Japan due to the proliferation of Blacks and Hispanics in America. In response, University of Texas Law School Professor Lino Graglia stated that in general, Blacks and Hispanics in the United States were not academically at the same competitive level as whites in cultural institutions, and that failure was not frowned upon nor was cultural achievement sufficiently encouraged. Some individuals have gone further, claiming that race is the "plague of modern civilization," and noting that countries such as Australia and Great Britain impose severe restrictions on entry by other races, thereby avoiding racial conflicts — unlike the United States, which places no such restrictions on any particular racial group. (Race and Ethnicity)

America has been enriched by waves of immigrants of all races and colors who entered the country on equal footing and began building lives there, blending old traditions with newly acquired ones. The U.S. Census Bureau predicted in 2004 that by 2050, minority groups would effectively comprise one half of the total American population of 420 million. Hispanics would make up approximately one quarter of the population, Blacks about 15%, and Asians about 8%. Whites would make up the remaining half — a fact that stands in contrast to the popular misconception that minorities already outnumber whites in America. However, it is worth noting that as the populations of Hispanics, Blacks, and Asians continue to grow, the proportional share of whites is projected to decline, a trend that is a source of concern among many white Americans. (Race and Ethnicity)

The world population grew by approximately one billion people in the twelve years leading up to 1999, when it reached a staggering six billion. Half of that global population was under the age of twenty-five, and more than 90% of population growth was occurring in developing countries. This contrasts sharply with North America, Japan, and Europe, where population growth had slowed significantly or come to a near standstill. Any projected growth in the United States would most likely be driven by increased immigration. In 1999, the U.S. population was estimated at approximately 272.5 million, making it the third most populous country in the world, after India and China. While the American population grows annually by about 0.6% due to births, legal immigration contributes an additional 0.3% — approximately 800,000 people per year. (Executive Summary: A Population Perspective of the United States)

Overview of To Kill a Mockingbird

It is also estimated that of the additional people entering the United States, ethnic and racial minorities would comprise more than 90% of the total by the year 2050 — more than 90% of the 130 million additional minorities projected to have entered the country by that time. Some statistics indicate that minorities will make up about one-third of the entire U.S. population in the near term, and roughly half the population by 2050, compared to the white population. As of the time of this writing, the current U.S. population was "72% non-Hispanic white, 12% African American, 11% Hispanic, and about five percent Asian and other." (Executive Summary: A Population Perspective of the United States) This makes clear that whites then constituted nearly three-quarters of the population, contradicting the widely held misconception that minorities hold a larger share.

The film To Kill a Mockingbird is based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel written by Harper Lee in 1960. The novel tells the story of a racially divided town in Alabama during the 1930s, and how a Black man accused of raping a white woman comes to be defended by attorney Atticus Finch, despite intense opposition from virtually the entire community. The film is narrated through the perspective of six-year-old Scout, who carries the viewer through the story and into the heart of the racial prejudices and controversies that ruled Alabama at the time. It opens as the fond reminiscences of the adult narrator Scout, who reflects on her childhood and on the events that unfolded when her father decided to defend the accused man. The dominant theme throughout the film is that not a single person is willing to believe in the true innocence of the accused Black man — and it is this injustice that drives the narrative of To Kill a Mockingbird. (Plot Summary for To Kill a Mockingbird)

Viewers of the film are drawn to its sensitively probing treatment of race, racial relations, and diversity, as well as its deep insight into human relationships and basic human behavior. The film opens with the adult Scout Finch fondly recalling her childhood in the small Alabama town of Maycomb during the 1930s, also the era of the Great Depression. The technique of flashback is employed throughout the film to provide additional context and detail. The young Scout develops her values and ideals through her interactions with the people of Maycomb, and she begins to understand justice and injustice as she watches the trial of a Black man accused of raping a white woman. It is her own father who takes up the case, and it is through this experience that she begins to recognize the deep divisions within her town — divisions based on race, creed, and class. (Study Guide for To Kill a Mockingbird)