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Harper Lee To Kill a Mockingbird 1960 Title by Harper Lee –

Top 10 Interesting Facts about Harper Lee

Nelle Harper Lee was an American novelist. She penned the 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird which won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize and became a classic of modern American literature. Nelle Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926, in Monroeville, Alabama, the youngest of four children of Frances Cunningham and Amasa Coleman Lee. Her parents chose her middle name, Harper, to honor pediatrician Dr William W. Harper, of Selma, who had saved the life of her sister Louise. While enrolled at Monroe County High School, Lee developed an interest in English literature, in part through her teacher Gladys Watson, who became her mentor.

Like many unpublished authors, Lee was unsure of her talents. One winter night, as Charles J. Shields recounts in Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee, Lee threw her manuscript out her window and into the snow, before calling Hohoff in tears. Shields recollected that “Tay told her to march outside immediately and pick up the pages”.

Here are the top 10 interesting facts about Harper Lee

1. Harper鈥檚 book To Kill a Mockingbird was an immediate bestseller

The book was published in 1960 and was instantly successful. In the United States, it is widely read in high schools and middle schools. 

To Kill a Mockingbird has become a classic of modern American literature, winning the Pulitzer Prize. The plot and characters are loosely based on Lee’s observations of her family, her neighbors and an event that occurred near her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, in 1936, when she was ten.

2. Lee received numerous accolades for her contribution to literature

Photo portrait of Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird dust jacket, 1960 by Truman Capote –

Lee received awards and honorary degrees, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007 which was awarded for her contribution to literature.

The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, along with the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by the president of the United States to recognize people who have made an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.

3. Lee鈥檚 book To Kill a Mockingbird addressed racial issues in Alabama in the 1930s

The plot and characters of To Kill a Mockingbird are loosely based on Lee’s observations of her family and neighbours, as well as an event that occurred near her hometown in 1936 when she was 10. 

The novel deals with the irrationality of adult attitudes towards race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s, as depicted through the eyes of two children. It was inspired by racist attitudes in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama.

4. Like many unpublished authors, Lee was unsure of her talents

Harper Lee –

“I was a first-time writer, so I did as I was told,” Lee said in a statement in 2015 about the evolution from Watchman to Mockingbird. Hohoff later described the process in Lippincott’s corporate history: “After a couple of false starts, the story-line, interplay of characters, and fall of emphasis grew clearer, and with each revision, there were many minor changes as the story grew in strength and in her own vision of it the true stature of the novel became evident.”

One winter night, as Charles J. Shields recounts in Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee, Lee threw her manuscript out her window and into the snow, before calling Hohoff in tears. Shields recollected that “Tay told her to march outside immediately and pick up the pages.鈥�

5. Lee helped with the adaption of the book to the 1962 Academy Award-winning screenplay

The screenplay was by Horton Foote, and said,  “I think it is one of the best translations of a book to film ever made.”] Gregory Peck won an Oscar for his portrayal of Atticus Finch, the father of the novel’s narrator, Scout. The families became close; Peck’s grandson, Harper Peck Voll, is named after her.

The 35th Academy Awards, honoring the best in film for 1962, were held on April 8, 1963, at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California, hosted by Frank Sinatra.

6. George W. Bush presented Lee with the Presidential Medal of Freedom

President George W. Bush awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to author Harper Lee by Eric Draper –

On November 5, 2007, George W. Bush presented Lee with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, along with the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by the president of the United States to recognize people who have made “an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.

7. In 2013, Lee filed a lawsuit to regain the copyright to To Kill a Mockingbird

On May 3, 2013, Lee filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court to regain the copyright to To Kill a Mockingbird, seeking unspecified damages from a son-in-law of her former literary agent and related entities. 

Lee claimed that the man engaged in a scheme to dupe her into assigning him the copyright on the book in 2007 when her hearing and eyesight were in decline, and she was residing in an assisted-living facility after having suffered a stroke. In September 2013, attorneys for both sides announced a settlement of the lawsuit.

8. President Barack Obama awarded Lee the National Medal of Arts

The National Medal of Arts awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts of the United States by Robert Graham –

In 2010, President Barack Obama awarded Lee the National Medal of Arts. The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and patrons of the arts. A prestigious American honor, it is the highest honor given to artists and arts patrons by the United States government.

9. Lee assisted her close friend Truman Capote in his research for the book In Cold Blood

Capote earned the most fame with In Cold Blood in 1966, a journalistic work about the murder of a Kansas farm family in their home. Capote spent six years writing the book, aided by his lifelong friend Harper Lee. Capote was the basis for the character Dill Harris in To Kill a Mockingbird.

10. After Lee鈥檚 death, The New York Times filed a lawsuit to make her will public

Lee died in her sleep on the morning of February 19, 2016, aged 89. After her death, The New York Times filed a lawsuit that argued that since Lee’s will was filed in a probate court in Alabama that it should be part of the public record. 

They argued that wills filed in a probate court are considered part of the public record and that Lee’s should be made public. An Alabama court unsealed the will in 2018.