Concurrent with the Montgomery bus boycott, another Civil Rights issue came to the forefront at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. There, a young black woman named Autherine Lucy enrolled in an all-white school. Because of racial tensions, the Board of Trustees expelled her from the campus after only a few months; however, the stage was set for more skirmishes with Civil Rights' issues. (Lucy received her Masters degree from the Tuscaloosa campus in 1992.)
In 1957, schools in Little Rock, Arkansas underwent desegregation. Resentment and resistance ran so high and the threat of violence was so great that federal troops were sent to maintain order.
Harper Lee wrote To Kill a Mockingbird in the midst of these developments. Her story was informed not only by the laws and attitudes that were part of her youth and her culture, but also by the Civil Rights movement. The Civil Rights struggle continues today at various levels, making To Kill a Mockingbird a timeless novel.
