0:00:05 > 0:00:07I'm Andrew Smith.
0:00:07 > 0:00:09I'm an author and I've just arrived in the Deep South
0:00:09 > 0:00:13of the United States.
0:00:13 > 0:00:16I'm here for the 50th anniversary of a novel that shone a unique light
0:00:16 > 0:00:19on racial prejudice.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22It sold over 40 million copies.
0:00:22 > 0:00:26It's my favourite book.
0:00:28 > 0:00:29It's To Kill A Mockingbird.
0:00:45 > 0:00:46This is a book that's part fable,
0:00:46 > 0:00:51part catalyst for change, and partly just a brilliant story.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54It's sometimes thought of as a children's book,
0:00:54 > 0:00:57but it's far more than that.
0:00:57 > 0:01:02To Kill A Mockingbird is a story of small-town America in the 1930s,
0:01:02 > 0:01:06seen through the eyes of a young tomboy known as Scout.
0:01:06 > 0:01:10The novel follows Scout, her brother Jem and friend Dill
0:01:10 > 0:01:13as they try to make sense of the adult world.
0:01:13 > 0:01:17A world that turns from carefree to ominous when Scout's lawyer-father
0:01:17 > 0:01:21Atticus is asked to defend Tom Robinson, a black man
0:01:21 > 0:01:24falsely accused of raping a white woman.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28Harper Lee uses the naivety of a child to present a fresh vision
0:01:28 > 0:01:31of the adult world and the prejudice and intolerance
0:01:31 > 0:01:34that they normally accept.
0:01:34 > 0:01:38This is a book that changed people, shifted perceptions and quickened
0:01:38 > 0:01:41the march to civil rights.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45When it was first published, the book was a sensational success,
0:01:45 > 0:01:49winning its first-time author a Pulitzer Prize
0:01:49 > 0:01:51and being made into a major Hollywood movie,
0:01:51 > 0:01:52starring Gregory Peck.
0:01:52 > 0:01:56You have to remember, it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59It's a tail of people who live with prejudice, redemption, love,
0:01:59 > 0:02:04hatred, cruelty and joy and I want to understand it better.
0:02:04 > 0:02:09I want to find out what inspired such an affectionate portrait
0:02:09 > 0:02:11of such ugly attitudes.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29I'm beginning my journey by climbing into the skin of the author,
0:02:29 > 0:02:30Nelle Harper Lee.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35Her one and only novel, has its roots here in America's Deep South.
0:02:37 > 0:02:39So I'm here.
0:02:39 > 0:02:40I'm heading south into Alabama,
0:02:40 > 0:02:43never been to the south before, it's incredibly exciting.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07Monroeville was Harper Lee's childhood home
0:03:07 > 0:03:10and where, I believe, she still lives today.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12The clamour and attention that came with the worldwide
0:03:12 > 0:03:16success of her first novel resulted in the author withdrawing
0:03:16 > 0:03:20from public life completely, never to publish another book.
0:03:20 > 0:03:25Harper Lee gave her last interview in 1965.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27I've written to her explaining that I'm making this film,
0:03:27 > 0:03:30but she hasn't replied.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33I've come anyway as the town claims to be the basis for Maycomb,
0:03:33 > 0:03:37the fictional town in the novel and they're promising a weekend
0:03:37 > 0:03:39of 50th anniversary celebrations.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47But a tornado is threatening nearby, and the party on the lawn has been
0:03:47 > 0:03:49moved to...
0:03:49 > 0:03:51a water tower.
0:04:02 > 0:04:04There appears to be a fashion show going on.
0:04:04 > 0:04:06Not sure what that has to do with the book.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't this.
0:04:14 > 0:04:18Harper's real name is Nelle Harper Lee.
0:04:18 > 0:04:22They say that while TV crews never catch a sight of her,
0:04:22 > 0:04:24to locals she is very well known indeed.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27The author of the book was my mother and daddy's neighbour.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30And I would read the book and some of it is fictional
0:04:30 > 0:04:33and some of it, of course, is not.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35But then that was what was so funny about it.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38I'd say, "Mother did this..." "U-huh, it happened. This is real."
0:04:38 > 0:04:42What do you think the book means to the town itself?
0:04:42 > 0:04:45A lot of income.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48- OK. OK. - That's one of the main things.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51Right. How do you think Nelle would feel about that?
0:04:51 > 0:04:54I think that she's pleased with what it's done for Monroeville.
0:04:54 > 0:04:56OK.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00Enjoy the party, you did a great job. Bye.
0:05:25 > 0:05:27The next morning, celebrations are in full swing.
0:05:27 > 0:05:31Helped, no doubt, by the launch of Mockingbird ice cream.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34# Who do you think you are? Mr Big Star
0:05:36 > 0:05:39# You're never going to get my love... #
0:05:39 > 0:05:42- Have you read To Kill A Mockingbird?- No.
0:05:42 > 0:05:44- No. Have you read it?- No.- Oh, OK.
0:05:46 > 0:05:50- I'm not familiar with it. - You haven't read the book? OK.
0:05:53 > 0:05:55Have you read the book, To kill a Mockingbird?
0:05:55 > 0:05:57- No, I haven't.- You haven't?
0:05:57 > 0:06:01- I haven't got around to it yet. - Oh, OK. All right.- Thank you though.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03OK, yes. No, thank you.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08If one or two people are not overly familiar with the book,
0:06:08 > 0:06:13everyone seems to know the local celebrity, Nelle Harper Lee.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16I've been told that I have probably met Harper Lee
0:06:16 > 0:06:18at one time but didn't know it.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21The rumour about her is that if you meet her and don't recognise her
0:06:21 > 0:06:25she's not happy, but if you meet her and recognise her, she is not happy.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30I am so proud that Nelle Harper is from here
0:06:30 > 0:06:33and put us on the map.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37We consider ourselves to be Maycomb, Monroeville and very proud of
0:06:37 > 0:06:40Harper Lee and we're having a great time celebrating our community.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46Make it good, all right? 'I grew up reading this novel.'
0:06:46 > 0:06:49I've read it more than any other book.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52So if this really is the model for the fictional Maycomb,
0:06:52 > 0:06:56I'm curious to see how much I recognise.
0:06:56 > 0:07:01Local tour guide, Pat Nettles is always happy to show off the town
0:07:01 > 0:07:02to Mockingbird fans like me.
0:07:02 > 0:07:06Unfortunately, there are not many things standing that were
0:07:06 > 0:07:09- here when she was a child.- Right.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11So we have old pictures.
0:07:15 > 0:07:17Pat begins my tour of buildings that filled
0:07:17 > 0:07:20the world of the young Harper Lee.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23This is the old court house here.
0:07:23 > 0:07:24This one has no significance.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27Or rather a tour of buildings that have replaced
0:07:27 > 0:07:30the buildings that filled the world of the young Harper Lee.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33There were houses across the street...
0:07:33 > 0:07:36Thank goodness for those pictures!
0:07:36 > 0:07:39- There's a mockingbird.- Oh, yes! - That's a mockingbird.
0:07:39 > 0:07:41That is the first mockingbird I've seen.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44They're a bit like Nelle Lee, they're everywhere,
0:07:44 > 0:07:46- but you don't see her.- Yes, right!
0:07:46 > 0:07:49'I may have seen my first mockingbird,
0:07:49 > 0:07:52'but I'm having to stretch my imagination to see the town
0:07:52 > 0:07:56'featured in the novel and even Pat seems to be clutching at straws.'
0:07:56 > 0:08:00We are walking up the steps to the school that Harper Lee attended.
0:08:00 > 0:08:05And I think perhaps these steps were actually here.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09A lady describing herself as a relative of Harper Lee
0:08:09 > 0:08:12arrives with some more more photos to show me.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15Let them guess which one is Harper Lee.
0:08:15 > 0:08:16- Right.- OK. Let me try and guess.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18Let me try and guess.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23- That one.- That's she.- Yay!
0:08:23 > 0:08:26It's a widely held view that she was writing
0:08:26 > 0:08:30about herself when she created Scout, the narrator.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35- Patsy, thank you.- Thank you. - That's really interesting.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37Pat tells me locals are convinced
0:08:37 > 0:08:40that pretty much everything that happened in the novel
0:08:40 > 0:08:43is a mirror image of real-life Monroeville
0:08:43 > 0:08:45during Harper Lee's childhood.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49This is a picture of the, of a house
0:08:49 > 0:08:53that people remember as looking very much like
0:08:53 > 0:08:57the house that was here that Truman Capote
0:08:57 > 0:08:59stayed in with his aunt.
0:09:01 > 0:09:02Remarkably, as children,
0:09:02 > 0:09:07two greats of American literature lived next door to each other.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09Just like Scout, Jem and Dill in the book,
0:09:09 > 0:09:13Truman Capote and Nelle Lee used to make up stories together.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17That creative collaboration
0:09:17 > 0:09:19continued into their professional lives.
0:09:19 > 0:09:24Truman himself said the geeky character of Dill was based on him.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27...inspiration for Boo Radley. Where that filling station is
0:09:27 > 0:09:33was an old house and the family that lived there
0:09:33 > 0:09:37had a son and he was a recluse.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40Boo Radley is Scout's malevolent phantom.
0:09:40 > 0:09:42Scout, Jem and Dill dare each other
0:09:42 > 0:09:45to provoke their reclusive neighbour into coming out of the house.
0:09:45 > 0:09:50The mysterious Boo leaves gifts for them in a tree
0:09:50 > 0:09:53and ultimately saves their lives.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55Nelle Lee, Harper Lee has
0:09:55 > 0:09:58- not said that this was based on that.- Oh, no.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01But children had all kinds of stories and rumours about him.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04Absolutely. Absolutely. I left out one important thing.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07- This is Harper Lee's house.- Wow!
0:10:07 > 0:10:10So we're right in the heart of the story.
0:10:10 > 0:10:12There's a little shiver going down my spine.
0:10:23 > 0:10:27In 1962, Hollywood turned its attention to the novel
0:10:27 > 0:10:28that was sweeping the country.
0:10:28 > 0:10:34Gregory Peck was perfectly cast as Atticus Finch, Harper Lee's quietly
0:10:34 > 0:10:37wise, chivalrous hero.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40Atticus is Scout's father, a lawyer appointed to defend
0:10:40 > 0:10:42an innocent black man.
0:10:45 > 0:10:51Lee adored Peck's portrayal of her hero and they became close friends.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54- Hello.- I'd like some popcorn, please.- OK.
0:10:54 > 0:10:59I've never seen the film as I've always been afraid
0:10:59 > 0:11:02it would detract from the beauty of Lee's writing.
0:11:02 > 0:11:03But where better place to watch it
0:11:03 > 0:11:06then in a drive-in movie theatre in Alabama?
0:11:06 > 0:11:10LAUGHTER
0:11:10 > 0:11:13We're really not comfortable or anything.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17- How are y'all?- Hi. Are you fans?
0:11:17 > 0:11:20- You look like you might be. - Oh, absolutely.- We are.
0:11:20 > 0:11:21Have you seen the film before?
0:11:21 > 0:11:26- Yes.- Oh, gosh. Probably at least 20 times.
0:11:26 > 0:11:28What do you like about it so much?
0:11:28 > 0:11:31It's just a really good life movie and it really makes you
0:11:31 > 0:11:34think about what you think about other people,
0:11:34 > 0:11:36and how you treat other people and things.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39- And how different it was back then... - Yes.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41..In some ways, and yet still we're in the south
0:11:41 > 0:11:43and there places where it's still the same.
0:11:50 > 0:11:54- 'I was six years old. - Morning, Mrs Cunningham!'
0:11:54 > 0:11:56You never really understand a person
0:11:56 > 0:12:00until you consider things from his point of view.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03There are a number of differences to the novel,
0:12:03 > 0:12:05but I like the way the film, like the book,
0:12:05 > 0:12:08eases me gently into the character of small-town America
0:12:08 > 0:12:12before the ugly cracks and harsh realities are exposed.
0:12:12 > 0:12:17The only bit in the book that often strikes me as a little bit flat
0:12:17 > 0:12:21or weaker than the rest, is the courtroom scene where Atticus
0:12:21 > 0:12:25is summing up, but actually Gregory Peck did that brilliantly.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29It came alive and it made me hear that speech afresh
0:12:29 > 0:12:32and really for it to mean something.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42Today, Monroeville's court house is a key stop
0:12:42 > 0:12:44on the Mockingbird tourist trail.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47To make the film, they copied it down to the last detail
0:12:47 > 0:12:50and rebuilt it in Hollywood.
0:12:50 > 0:12:53The spirited Scout begins by finding her father,
0:12:53 > 0:12:56Atticus Finch to be dull and old.
0:12:56 > 0:13:00When she sees him taking on the controversial case of Tom Robinson,
0:13:00 > 0:13:03her view changes, and by the end of the book
0:13:03 > 0:13:05she sees him for the hero he really is.
0:13:05 > 0:13:10Like Scout, Harper Lee's own father was a lawyer.
0:13:10 > 0:13:15"It was times like these when I thought my father,
0:13:15 > 0:13:19"who hated guns and had never been to any wars,
0:13:19 > 0:13:23"was the bravest man who ever lived".
0:13:25 > 0:13:29To find out how much like Atticus Harper's father was,
0:13:29 > 0:13:35I've asked for an interview with her 98-year-old-sister, Miss Alice Lee.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39Amazingly, she still practises law at her father's firm.
0:13:39 > 0:13:43As she normally refuses interviews, I am surprised to receive the news
0:13:43 > 0:13:45that she will see me.
0:13:48 > 0:13:52Her childhood must have been mostly in the Depression?
0:13:52 > 0:13:55Well...
0:13:55 > 0:13:59As I said, I do not discuss her.
0:13:59 > 0:14:00Oh, I'm sorry, yes.
0:14:00 > 0:14:02I'm sorry, I didn't mean to...
0:14:02 > 0:14:07OK. I'm really interested to know what kind of a man your father was.
0:14:07 > 0:14:12Well, he was a very gentle man.
0:14:12 > 0:14:17He was a very family oriented man.
0:14:17 > 0:14:19He loved his children.
0:14:19 > 0:14:25He was just a very community oriented person.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28AC Lee was a successful lawyer who,
0:14:28 > 0:14:31according to legend, stood up to racists.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34Just as Atticus Finch does in the novel.
0:14:34 > 0:14:41There was a story of your father going and stopping the Ku Klux Klan
0:14:41 > 0:14:45march through the town?
0:14:45 > 0:14:49- Is that true? - No! There was no march.
0:14:49 > 0:14:53The whole thing was a fabrication.
0:14:53 > 0:14:57Oh, OK. How aware were you of segregation here
0:14:57 > 0:14:59when you were growing up?
0:15:01 > 0:15:06It was a way of life. Nobody thought anything about it.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11The civil rights. LAUGHS
0:15:11 > 0:15:17You know, you knew black people, but you didn't know them socially.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20They were a servant class
0:15:20 > 0:15:25and you always had a great relationship with your servants.
0:15:25 > 0:15:26Right.
0:15:29 > 0:15:31Is there anything I should do while I'm here?
0:15:31 > 0:15:34Do you like fresh catfish?
0:15:34 > 0:15:35Yes, indeed, yeah.
0:15:35 > 0:15:40We have Davy's Catfish House
0:15:40 > 0:15:45about four miles down the road.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06It appears that while Harper Lee isn't in any rush to give
0:16:06 > 0:16:09her first interview for 45 years,
0:16:09 > 0:16:11she did sanction Miss Alice to speak to me.
0:16:11 > 0:16:15Nelle seems to be everywhere and nowhere.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18She seems to know what I'm up to at every turn.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21It's a peculiar feeling.
0:16:21 > 0:16:23However, at least I'm starting to
0:16:23 > 0:16:26get some local knowledge - and not just about the book.
0:16:26 > 0:16:29Miss Alice was right - this place is great.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34To Kill A Mockingbird is written in the style of a Southern Gothic novel
0:16:34 > 0:16:38in that it uses extraordinary events to explore the character
0:16:38 > 0:16:41of the American South.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45Lee uses the story of Tom Robinson's trial to expose the prejudice
0:16:45 > 0:16:48of small town America in the '30s.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53This trial is said to have been based
0:16:53 > 0:16:55on a number of real life cases.
0:16:58 > 0:17:02One of those cases is said to have occurred right here in Monroeville.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08If that's true, Harper Lee would have had access to the details.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10Her father was not only the town lawyer,
0:17:10 > 0:17:13but also editor of the local paper.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21I'm meeting up with columnist and local historian George Thomas Jones.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23Nice to meet you, really nice to meet you.
0:17:23 > 0:17:27I was just looking here where the first black man
0:17:27 > 0:17:33- was accused of raping a white woman back in November 1933.- Oh, yeah?
0:17:33 > 0:17:41He was a well respected black man.
0:17:41 > 0:17:45- So this was actually in Monroeville? - Oh, yes.- OK.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49It says here that the sheriff was afraid for his safety.
0:17:49 > 0:17:51Why would the sheriff have been afraid for his safety?
0:17:51 > 0:17:58He was afraid a group would come to the jail and kill him.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01- Really?- Yeah. Lynch him.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03Because that happens in To kill A Mockingbird,
0:18:03 > 0:18:05where Tom Robinson is in the jail,
0:18:05 > 0:18:08a bunch of people come and Atticus stops them.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11All white, male juries back then.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14So they found him guilty, just like Tom Robinson.
0:18:14 > 0:18:20One thing that's interesting, we found in a closet a whole box,
0:18:20 > 0:18:24files of criminal cases that went back to this era.
0:18:24 > 0:18:28They were all chronologically perfect in order,
0:18:28 > 0:18:33except this file was missing.
0:18:33 > 0:18:35No! Really?
0:18:35 > 0:18:38So there's a mystery attached to that one then.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42Is it too fanciful to wonder if the editor borrowed the old files
0:18:42 > 0:18:47for his daughter, who was writing a book, and forgot to return them?
0:18:47 > 0:18:52Harper Lee's father, AC Lee, wasn't a criminal lawyer.
0:18:52 > 0:18:54He was a civil lawyer.
0:18:54 > 0:18:59But in 1934, the court appointed him
0:18:59 > 0:19:03to defend two black men who were charged with murder.
0:19:03 > 0:19:05Oh, OK, again, like the book - Atticus is appointed
0:19:05 > 0:19:09to defend Tom Robinson. It's a case that no-one else wants.
0:19:09 > 0:19:11That's supposed to be the only criminal case
0:19:11 > 0:19:12he ever tried in his life.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15Did you know AC Lee?
0:19:15 > 0:19:18I was his golf caddy when I was 15 years old.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21- Really, were you? - Oh, he was a great guy, real quiet,
0:19:21 > 0:19:23but when he said something, he had something to say.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26AC Lee used to write editorials in the paper.
0:19:26 > 0:19:32What were his views on the race issue and civil rights?
0:19:32 > 0:19:35He never wrote about it, that I know of.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39- Never?- Never.- You'd have expected him to be addressing that,
0:19:39 > 0:19:41wouldn't you? Why not?
0:19:41 > 0:19:43There again, he couldn't afford to.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46People wouldn't have read his paper.
0:19:46 > 0:19:48They'd have blackballed him.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51So it was a stranglehold. You're talking about a large
0:19:51 > 0:19:54- social pressure here against change? - Sure, yeah.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57AC Lee was a plain speaking man,
0:19:57 > 0:19:59so effected by the mores of his time
0:19:59 > 0:20:02that he couldn't speak freely in his own paper.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05It seems today things are different.
0:20:05 > 0:20:09If you write a story of your trip and your findings
0:20:09 > 0:20:13and send it to me, I'll get it published.
0:20:13 > 0:20:15- Fantastic.- I'll send you a copy.
0:20:15 > 0:20:17That would be brilliant, thank you, George.
0:20:32 > 0:20:38There's a story here in yesterday's paper about the guy who assassinated
0:20:38 > 0:20:43Malcolm X in 1965 being released from prison after 45 years.
0:20:43 > 0:20:45There was another story, the other day,
0:20:45 > 0:20:50about a white supremacist being murdered in Jackson, Mississippi.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53This morning, on CNN there was a big story
0:20:53 > 0:20:57about a memorial for a civil rights activist from the '60s,
0:20:57 > 0:21:00Dorothy Height, all of which serves
0:21:00 > 0:21:04to show how ever present this issue is.
0:21:09 > 0:21:11Hello!
0:21:11 > 0:21:13Hi, come in.
0:21:13 > 0:21:17'Tour guide Pat has kindly offered me a bed for the night,
0:21:17 > 0:21:18'and some renowned Southern hospitality.'
0:21:21 > 0:21:25I wonder if this too has the blessing of Harper Lee.
0:21:25 > 0:21:26Perhaps I'm getting paranoid.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29She can't be in touch with everyone in town.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32How many of you know Nelle Harper?
0:21:35 > 0:21:38- All of you. - Backdoor labour for years.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42She's not a recluse.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44She's just a private person.
0:21:44 > 0:21:46She's so private, and we all,
0:21:46 > 0:21:49meaning the entire town, protect her privacy.
0:21:49 > 0:21:53Like Miss Alice, everyone here is closing ranks on Nelle.
0:21:53 > 0:21:57So how do they feel about her novel?
0:21:57 > 0:22:00On the whole, it doesn't paint the white people
0:22:00 > 0:22:01of this town in a great light.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04I've never heard anyone
0:22:04 > 0:22:08in this community question the book.
0:22:08 > 0:22:10Never.
0:22:10 > 0:22:14I think it depicted the fact that there were people
0:22:14 > 0:22:18who always stood for justice.
0:22:18 > 0:22:22One of the things that I always found most beguiling about the book,
0:22:22 > 0:22:26actually, by the end of the first page you feel like
0:22:26 > 0:22:32you've descended into this world and you don't want to leave it.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35I couldn't put it down and the tears... I was just weeping
0:22:35 > 0:22:37because I was so homesick for it.
0:22:37 > 0:22:41She'd captured how it really felt.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49In the morning, as I begin to write my article for the Monroe Journal,
0:22:49 > 0:22:54I can't help reflecting on, like Lee's Maycomb,
0:22:54 > 0:22:56this seems to be a genteel little town.
0:22:56 > 0:22:58They like things to be nice,
0:22:58 > 0:23:00and people know their traditional roles.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03In terms of the feeling you get when you're here, again,
0:23:03 > 0:23:07and this ties into the book very clearly,
0:23:07 > 0:23:08it feels the friendliest,
0:23:09 > 0:23:11most welcoming place you could ever walk into.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14That Southern hospitality cliche, stereotype,
0:23:14 > 0:23:18does really seem to be real, and what you get is this
0:23:18 > 0:23:22feeling of comfort being here.
0:23:22 > 0:23:24But you do get the odd discordant note that suggests
0:23:24 > 0:23:27there's stuff going on underneath that.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32"You might hear some ugly talk about it at school,
0:23:32 > 0:23:34"but do one thing for me, if you will.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38"You just hold your head high and keep those fists down.
0:23:38 > 0:23:43"No matter what anybody says to you, don't you let them get your goat."
0:23:49 > 0:23:52I'm heading out of Monroeville to keep an appointment
0:23:52 > 0:23:54I have very mixed feelings about.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57To Kill A Mockingbird initially paints
0:23:57 > 0:24:01a nostalgic picture of small town Alabama,
0:24:01 > 0:24:03but as Scout loses her innocence,
0:24:03 > 0:24:06Harper Lee reveals something much more unsettling.
0:24:06 > 0:24:11To Kill A Mockingbird is set during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
0:24:11 > 0:24:15Despite the end of slavery 70 years before,
0:24:15 > 0:24:19the '30s were a time of deep racial division.
0:24:21 > 0:24:25Lee captures the casual racism of the small town, Southern life
0:24:25 > 0:24:26of her childhood.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33As Lee was growing up, southern states were well acquainted
0:24:33 > 0:24:37with members of a notorious hate group, the Ku Klux Klan.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44Through the '50s, as Harper Lee wrote her novel,
0:24:44 > 0:24:46their numbers swelled.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49They're no longer the force they once were,
0:24:49 > 0:24:52but the Ku Klux Klan is still very much in business.
0:24:52 > 0:24:56I want to interrogate the racist attitudes that surrounded
0:24:56 > 0:24:59Harper Lee in her formative years.
0:24:59 > 0:25:02Tomorrow I'm meeting a member of the Ku Klux Klan, Ray Larson,
0:25:02 > 0:25:07and I want to try to take a leaf out of Atticus's book.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10Again, it's all there, isn't it?
0:25:10 > 0:25:15His approach to Mrs Dubose, the grumpy old lady in the corner house
0:25:15 > 0:25:20who insults his children as they go by and is racist,
0:25:20 > 0:25:24and he treats her with the same respect
0:25:24 > 0:25:27and courtesy as everybody else. I'm going to try and do that.
0:25:40 > 0:25:42This is really strange, this is really strange.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47Ray? Hi.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50Thanks for coming. Glad you could make it.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53He calls himself the Imperial Wizard of the National Knights
0:25:53 > 0:25:56of the Ku Klux Klan, a man who has a history of violence
0:25:56 > 0:26:00and who joined the Klan the year Mockingbird was published.
0:26:05 > 0:26:08They say, "Ray, are you a racist?" Well, damn right I'm a racist,
0:26:08 > 0:26:09"but you are too."
0:26:09 > 0:26:12A racist is anyone who takes pride in the accomplishments of his race
0:26:12 > 0:26:15regardless of what his race is. That's a racist.
0:26:15 > 0:26:17Racist isn't usually used to mean
0:26:17 > 0:26:21someone who takes pride in their own race's accomplishments.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24They don't want it used that way, they sure don't.
0:26:24 > 0:26:26What you got here?
0:26:28 > 0:26:30Blimey.
0:26:30 > 0:26:33That's a Grand Dragon of Alabama on the motorcycle.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36OK. The Klan is often called a hate group.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39Do you think of it as a hate group?
0:26:39 > 0:26:41Myself, no.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44Just because I don't get along with niggers don't mean I hate them.
0:26:44 > 0:26:45Listen.
0:26:45 > 0:26:48But it's really insulting to call them niggers.
0:26:48 > 0:26:50You think it is. To me, I don't.
0:26:50 > 0:26:52I look at them like a dog.
0:26:52 > 0:26:54I don't hate a dog.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56Calling a human being a dog is quite insulting.
0:26:56 > 0:26:58- Not to me. They're the same. - How do you justify...
0:26:58 > 0:27:01Explain to me where that view comes from though,
0:27:01 > 0:27:03I've never heard it before.
0:27:03 > 0:27:05There was our Klan motorcycle corps.
0:27:05 > 0:27:06Yeah. Very nice.
0:27:06 > 0:27:11There's a history of violence, including murder,
0:27:11 > 0:27:15in the Klan. Do you still believe in that kind of violence?
0:27:15 > 0:27:18- If it calls for it, yes. - What would call for it?
0:27:18 > 0:27:20What would call for someone to be murdered?
0:27:20 > 0:27:23If somebody rapes your wife, won't you want to do them in?
0:27:23 > 0:27:25There's one of my Christmas cards.
0:27:25 > 0:27:29He knows if he's been good or bad, he's got the presents for you.
0:27:29 > 0:27:34I'll tell you what, there's not much that fazes me.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36Ray, Ray, stay with me just for a sec.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39There's not much that fazes me,
0:27:39 > 0:27:42but seeing nooses, that really upsets me.
0:27:42 > 0:27:44- That's a joke.- It's not a joke.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47It's not funny, Ray. Ray, it's not funny, it's not a joke.
0:27:47 > 0:27:49- I send that to kids. - It's not a joke.
0:27:49 > 0:27:51Black people were routinely lynched.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54This is talking about white people. I send this to white kids.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57- This is a Ku Klux Christmas. - You send it to kids?- Sure.
0:27:57 > 0:28:01Do you not care anything about what anyone thinks about anything?
0:28:01 > 0:28:04- No.- What about your colleagues?
0:28:04 > 0:28:07Do you not have any empathy with other people at all?
0:28:07 > 0:28:09Absolutely, of course.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13- My family, I love my family. - Yeah, but, I mean, just your family?
0:28:13 > 0:28:16My Klan is my family.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19I've been thinking that the Klan was in decline.
0:28:19 > 0:28:21You're saying that it's...
0:28:21 > 0:28:23Absolutely not. Like it did in the '60s.
0:28:23 > 0:28:25In the '60s we were strong as hell,
0:28:25 > 0:28:27but when the time come, they backed down.
0:28:27 > 0:28:29Now, we've got that nigger president...
0:28:29 > 0:28:31It's coming back, roaring back.
0:28:31 > 0:28:36This is the book that sent me on this journey in the first place.
0:28:36 > 0:28:38- You've never read it? - No, I've seen the movie, though.
0:28:38 > 0:28:40What did you think of it?
0:28:40 > 0:28:43I didn't care for it, naturally.
0:28:43 > 0:28:46- Yeah, OK.- There are a lot of other books I could tell you to read,
0:28:46 > 0:28:48that would be far better for you.
0:28:48 > 0:28:50I can't tempt you with it at all?
0:28:50 > 0:28:53No, no, I wouldn't want it seen in my house.
0:28:53 > 0:28:56The colloquial term
0:28:56 > 0:28:59for what you're describing about yourself,
0:28:59 > 0:29:02- is someone who's very close minded. - I am.
0:29:02 > 0:29:06Would you say that's true of most of the people around you in the Klan?
0:29:06 > 0:29:09- Pretty much. - OK, so they're close minded people.
0:29:09 > 0:29:12- I'd say, pretty much. You're not going to swing any of us, no.- OK.
0:29:16 > 0:29:20- Can you button that for me there? - Sure.- I have no depth perception.
0:29:22 > 0:29:26This is never something I thought I'd find myself doing.
0:29:26 > 0:29:28Helping out a Klansman.
0:29:30 > 0:29:32Are you aware that it looks ridiculous to me?
0:29:32 > 0:29:35It just looks like a Halloween costume.
0:29:35 > 0:29:37Right, there you have the Imperial Wizard.
0:29:39 > 0:29:41Yeah.
0:29:41 > 0:29:44I see Ray off in a taxi.
0:29:46 > 0:29:47Half an hour later,
0:29:47 > 0:29:50I've just spotted the same cab driver in the street.
0:29:50 > 0:29:52What did he seem like to you, as a guy?
0:29:52 > 0:29:55He was interesting.
0:29:55 > 0:29:57His viewpoint was well taken.
0:29:57 > 0:30:00He was well versed in politics.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03If you'd known, would you still have taken him?
0:30:03 > 0:30:05Of course I'd have taken him.
0:30:05 > 0:30:07I don't deal with hatred in my heart every day.
0:30:07 > 0:30:10I wake up, I pray to Jesus Christ my Lord and saviour
0:30:10 > 0:30:14to take care of me and bless me throughout my entire day.
0:30:14 > 0:30:16I pray for the evil ones, too.
0:30:16 > 0:30:20If God can bless them every day
0:30:20 > 0:30:23- with blood in their veins, why should I hate them?- OK.
0:30:23 > 0:30:27This is the book I read every day. That's the New Testament.
0:30:27 > 0:30:31I have an extra copy here. Why don't you take that?
0:30:31 > 0:30:34OK, so we do a swap, yeah?
0:30:34 > 0:30:37- Have you read that?- No, I haven't. Thank you very much.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40- Good talking to you. - Have a good day.- Yeah, you, too.
0:30:42 > 0:30:46It's quite humbling, in a way.
0:30:46 > 0:30:50And um...
0:30:50 > 0:30:53seems a real cause for optimism, actually,
0:30:53 > 0:30:56that the hate is not on all sides.
0:30:56 > 0:30:57Some people have it, some don't.
0:31:10 > 0:31:14The novel covers three formative years in the life of Scout.
0:31:14 > 0:31:16Part of the book's charm is in seeing
0:31:16 > 0:31:18the changing world through her eyes.
0:31:18 > 0:31:21It permits Harper Lee to sidestep
0:31:21 > 0:31:24the niceties and manners of adult life,
0:31:24 > 0:31:28the very things that allow prejudice and injustice to perpetuate.
0:31:33 > 0:31:37"Men, stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning,
0:31:37 > 0:31:43"ladies bathed before noon, after their three o'clock naps,
0:31:43 > 0:31:45"and by nightfall were like soft tea cakes
0:31:45 > 0:31:48"with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum."
0:31:52 > 0:31:56Harper Lee draws us into Scout's innocent world at the start
0:31:56 > 0:31:59of a work that was to become one of the most controversial
0:31:59 > 0:32:03and censored books in the history of American literature,
0:32:03 > 0:32:05as it deals with rape, racism and poverty.
0:32:13 > 0:32:16Pulitzer Prize-winning Alabaman author Rick Bragg
0:32:16 > 0:32:20is a lecturer and an admirer of the way Harper Lee managed
0:32:20 > 0:32:22to make those difficult subjects palatable.
0:32:22 > 0:32:24If it had not been beautifully written,
0:32:24 > 0:32:29if it had not been so pleasing to the ear,
0:32:29 > 0:32:36then I don't think any of that other great impact would have occurred.
0:32:36 > 0:32:40We have this remedy down here for a bad cold,
0:32:40 > 0:32:43popular with children,
0:32:43 > 0:32:47and we take white whisky, moonshine,
0:32:47 > 0:32:50and you take crushed peppermint -
0:32:50 > 0:32:53my grandmother used to put it in a sock
0:32:53 > 0:32:55and bang it against the wall to break it up.
0:32:55 > 0:32:59Then you sprinkle the crushed peppermint in the whisky.
0:32:59 > 0:33:01You can't get it down without the peppermint,
0:33:01 > 0:33:03and I think that the beautiful writing
0:33:03 > 0:33:09in To Kill A Mockingbird helped people get it down.
0:33:09 > 0:33:11They might not even have known that they
0:33:11 > 0:33:15were being fundamentally changed.
0:33:15 > 0:33:19They were reading a great book, they were reading a book that
0:33:19 > 0:33:22they couldn't wait to turn the next page.
0:33:22 > 0:33:24The thing that struck me,
0:33:24 > 0:33:27the time Harper Lee decided she wanted to be a writer,
0:33:27 > 0:33:31there were really no very successful female
0:33:31 > 0:33:32American novelists to look to.
0:33:32 > 0:33:37So, that was quite an ambitious thing that she took on.
0:33:37 > 0:33:41The fact that it was written by a woman was history-making,
0:33:41 > 0:33:43was profound.
0:33:43 > 0:33:46There's a power and a sensitivity in the language
0:33:46 > 0:33:49that couldn't have come from a man.
0:33:49 > 0:33:55In 1945, Harper Lee came here to the University of Alabama to study law.
0:33:55 > 0:34:00It was just after the second world war, and women dominated the campus.
0:34:00 > 0:34:04They became pioneers, breaking through the stereotype
0:34:04 > 0:34:06of the lash-fluttering Southern belle.
0:34:06 > 0:34:09It was in this environment that Nelle's writing career
0:34:09 > 0:34:10began to take off.
0:34:10 > 0:34:13Librarian Clarke Center showed me
0:34:13 > 0:34:16some rare examples of her early work.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19- So this is from 1946?- 1946.
0:34:19 > 0:34:24Here we have the Rammer Jammer, which was a campus humour magazine.
0:34:24 > 0:34:28- This is the staff, and there she is. - That's hilarious.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31Looks like the sort of thing somebody snuck in with a camera.
0:34:31 > 0:34:34Yeah, yeah, I think she staged that.
0:34:34 > 0:34:37- Oh, I think so. - With the cigarette in hand.
0:34:37 > 0:34:41The harassed editor, juggling a dozen different stories.
0:34:41 > 0:34:46And was this a, it was a satirical magazine?
0:34:46 > 0:34:49It was a satirical magazine. This particular one
0:34:49 > 0:34:53- has an essay by Nelle Lee.- Oh, wow.
0:34:53 > 0:34:56You can see this time she's writing as Nelle Lee.
0:34:56 > 0:35:01"Some writers are of our times. A very informal essay, by Nelle Lee".
0:35:01 > 0:35:05There's an article in there that she wrote, you know,
0:35:05 > 0:35:07writers that I have known
0:35:07 > 0:35:12and in it she's analysed somewhat, why writers write.
0:35:12 > 0:35:16How you write and the only way to learn to write is to write,
0:35:16 > 0:35:17is the way she ended the article.
0:35:17 > 0:35:22Camille Elebash was among her Rammer Jammer writing staff.
0:35:22 > 0:35:25What did you think of Nelle when you met her?
0:35:25 > 0:35:30Well, she was fascinating because she was so very bright.
0:35:30 > 0:35:35She was quiet and a little bit reclusive like she is now, I think.
0:35:35 > 0:35:39- Was she?- But she was full of conversation
0:35:39 > 0:35:41when we were talking about the magazine
0:35:41 > 0:35:43and what we were going to do.
0:35:43 > 0:35:44Had a good sense of humour.
0:35:44 > 0:35:47And there we were in a humour magazine,
0:35:47 > 0:35:49it's a good thing we did have a good sense of humour.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52You went to New York after here?
0:35:52 > 0:35:53Yes, I went to New York.
0:35:53 > 0:35:58Nelle was working for the Eastern Airlines and she stopped
0:35:58 > 0:36:05that job and friends gave her some money, about 1,800 to live on
0:36:05 > 0:36:09for here so she could finish a book that she was writing.
0:36:09 > 0:36:12Little did we know it was To Kill A Mockingbird.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28I have followed Nelle's story to New York.
0:36:32 > 0:36:37In 1949, Harper Lee joined her fellow aspiring creatives
0:36:37 > 0:36:39as they flocked to America's cultural hub.
0:36:39 > 0:36:41The world's largest city.
0:36:41 > 0:36:45She started out as a clerk in the airline industry,
0:36:45 > 0:36:48but she had dreams of pursuing a literary career.
0:36:50 > 0:36:53While the ambitious southerner made friends in the big city,
0:36:53 > 0:36:58her home state of Alabama became the focus of world attention.
0:37:02 > 0:37:06Liberal-minded Americans were demanding change.
0:37:06 > 0:37:09They wanted an end to the Jim Crow laws that legally
0:37:09 > 0:37:11supported racial segregation.
0:37:11 > 0:37:17In 1954, public schools were legally obliged to integrate.
0:37:17 > 0:37:21But legislation doesn't convert minds and black people in America
0:37:21 > 0:37:23remained second-class citizens.
0:37:26 > 0:37:32And then a year later in 1955, seamstress Rosa Parks was arrested
0:37:32 > 0:37:35for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger on a bus.
0:37:35 > 0:37:38It sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
0:37:38 > 0:37:41Led by the Reverend Martin Luther King Jnr,
0:37:41 > 0:37:46it was a key moment in the history of the civil rights movement.
0:37:51 > 0:37:54Back in New York, two friends gave Harper Lee the present
0:37:54 > 0:37:57that would change her life for ever.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03Professional ballerina Joy Williams Brown and her husband,
0:38:03 > 0:38:06producer and songwriter Michael Brown,
0:38:06 > 0:38:08don't usually speak about Harper Lee,
0:38:08 > 0:38:10but I gather she has said they can speak to me.
0:38:13 > 0:38:16I might be 1,000 miles away, but I'm amused to still find
0:38:16 > 0:38:21- the novelist plotting my journey. - She was a straight arrow.
0:38:21 > 0:38:23Yes. She said what she thought.
0:38:23 > 0:38:28If she didn't think something was good, she said that.
0:38:28 > 0:38:30After being introduced by Truman Capote,
0:38:30 > 0:38:34the trio became firm friends and the Browns were well aware
0:38:34 > 0:38:37of Nelle's writing talent and ambitions.
0:38:37 > 0:38:39Their life-changing Christmas present
0:38:39 > 0:38:42was to finance Nelle for a whole year while she wrote her book.
0:38:42 > 0:38:45I don't think we deserve any special praise at all.
0:38:45 > 0:38:48It's what she would have done for me, anybody would have done it.
0:38:48 > 0:38:50Close friends, you know?
0:38:50 > 0:38:52The reason the book is by Harper Lee,
0:38:52 > 0:38:55she didn't want people calling it Nelly.
0:38:55 > 0:38:58She's not a Nelly, I can promise you.
0:38:58 > 0:39:03How was Nelle's feeling about the civil rights movement?
0:39:03 > 0:39:09I don't think she created the book to help the civil rights movement.
0:39:09 > 0:39:13In fact, it was a convergence happens stance.
0:39:13 > 0:39:19The only time I ever heard her make any kind of observation
0:39:19 > 0:39:25was they said, if they go too quickly, it will not work.
0:39:25 > 0:39:29When the book was published, it was an overnight success,
0:39:29 > 0:39:34dragging Harper Lee from obscurity and thrusting both author and book
0:39:34 > 0:39:36into the glare of international publicity.
0:39:36 > 0:39:42In 1961, her novel won the coveted Pulitzer Prize.
0:39:42 > 0:39:47I would rather have had her enjoy a moderate success
0:39:47 > 0:39:51and then we would have seen another book and maybe another after that,
0:39:51 > 0:39:53but this was a show-stopper.
0:39:53 > 0:39:56What could she possibly do?
0:39:56 > 0:40:01She did all the interviews that she was asked to do.
0:40:01 > 0:40:05And then she said, "That's enough. No more."
0:40:05 > 0:40:08Many, many, many years ago they put up
0:40:08 > 0:40:10the outside of...
0:40:10 > 0:40:12"You are now entering Monroeville.
0:40:12 > 0:40:15"Home of the author of To Kill A Mockingbird".
0:40:15 > 0:40:17And she called up the Mayor and she said,
0:40:17 > 0:40:21"You take those signs down. Right now."
0:40:21 > 0:40:22She hates all of that.
0:40:25 > 0:40:27Maybe the reason she never wrote another book
0:40:27 > 0:40:31or publicly comments on the novel is because she doesn't like the fuss.
0:40:40 > 0:40:43I've worked out that the apartment block where Harper lived
0:40:43 > 0:40:45when she wrote To Kill A Mockingbird
0:40:45 > 0:40:47should be at this address.
0:40:47 > 0:40:49This is a new building, it's obviously not here.
0:40:49 > 0:40:51We've lost it.
0:40:51 > 0:40:53Could she have imagined that her book
0:40:53 > 0:40:56would become an instant best seller?
0:40:56 > 0:40:58Initially, they printed a few thousand copies,
0:40:58 > 0:41:01but in the first year it sold half a million.
0:41:07 > 0:41:09The book hit the shelves in a pivotal year
0:41:09 > 0:41:12for the civil rights movement.
0:41:12 > 0:41:18In 1960, protests and riots erupted across its major cities.
0:41:24 > 0:41:28I'm back in the South, the crucible of the civil rights movement
0:41:28 > 0:41:32to meet Elaine Turner, a prominent civil rights campaigner.
0:41:32 > 0:41:391960 was my awakening into the movement.
0:41:39 > 0:41:45And to change. That's when the walls of segregation
0:41:45 > 0:41:48began to be challenged.
0:41:48 > 0:41:51I remember checking out To Kill A Mockingbird.
0:41:51 > 0:41:52- Do you?- And reading that book.
0:41:52 > 0:41:55It was a flashback to me.
0:41:55 > 0:42:00Because, I guess a very traumatic time
0:42:00 > 0:42:03for me was 1955
0:42:03 > 0:42:07when I heard about the murder of Emmett Till.
0:42:09 > 0:42:15A 14-year-old-boy who was brutally, brutally murdered
0:42:15 > 0:42:18because he whistled at a white woman.
0:42:18 > 0:42:23I remember in 1955 I was so frightened, you know?
0:42:23 > 0:42:26I could not sleep at night.
0:42:26 > 0:42:30The mother of the murdered boy allowed the world's press
0:42:30 > 0:42:33into her son's funeral so images of his battered body
0:42:33 > 0:42:38lying in an open casket could be shown around the globe.
0:42:38 > 0:42:42This story reverberated across America, right at the time
0:42:42 > 0:42:45Harper Lee was writing her novel.
0:42:45 > 0:42:49Whether or not it was her intention, in 1960 it struck a chord with those
0:42:49 > 0:42:52who were challenging the status quo.
0:42:54 > 0:42:55Over the next few years,
0:42:55 > 0:42:58the civil rights movement gained momentum
0:42:58 > 0:43:00and the book sold millions.
0:43:01 > 0:43:04In 1968, the conflict came to a head.
0:43:06 > 0:43:09Martin Luther King was shot dead.
0:43:14 > 0:43:17The civil rights movement lost a great leader,
0:43:17 > 0:43:20but in the same year segregation was outlawed.
0:43:24 > 0:43:26"You know the truth and the truth is this
0:43:26 > 0:43:31"Some negroes lie, some negroes are immoral.
0:43:31 > 0:43:36"Some negro men are not to be trusted around women, black or white.
0:43:36 > 0:43:39"But this is a truth that applies to the human race
0:43:39 > 0:43:42"and to no particular race of man".
0:43:47 > 0:43:50I've got to grips with the genesis of the book
0:43:50 > 0:43:52and the reasons for its unparalleled success.
0:43:52 > 0:43:55And I'm heading back to Monroeville with a deeper insight
0:43:55 > 0:43:57into the world of To kill A Mockingbird.
0:43:57 > 0:44:01The South is full of seeming contradictions.
0:44:01 > 0:44:04The friendliness of people is just staggering when you get here.
0:44:06 > 0:44:10But then that contrast and seems to contradict this quite violent,
0:44:10 > 0:44:15often fairly nasty history.
0:44:15 > 0:44:18The odd thing and interesting thing about that
0:44:18 > 0:44:20and the thing I'll take away from that is
0:44:20 > 0:44:24that where you get that great negativity,
0:44:24 > 0:44:27people rise to meet it and so you see the worst of people
0:44:27 > 0:44:29and the best people at the same time.
0:44:29 > 0:44:32It's clear to me now that To Kill A Mockingbird
0:44:32 > 0:44:34could only have come from here.
0:44:34 > 0:44:38Those contradictions and ambiguities are the beating heart
0:44:38 > 0:44:41of the book which refuses to sanction stereotypes
0:44:41 > 0:44:42or easy judgment.
0:44:45 > 0:44:47Quite by chance, I've just seen something incredible
0:44:47 > 0:44:50on the side of the road.
0:44:50 > 0:44:53The first place races mixed as equals after segregation
0:44:53 > 0:44:56was in the music industry.
0:44:56 > 0:44:59At the region's recording studios
0:44:59 > 0:45:03and radio stations, black and white artists were free to work together.
0:45:05 > 0:45:07This crumbling building opened its doors
0:45:07 > 0:45:11to the likes of Aretha Franklin, Elvis and the Rolling Stones.
0:45:11 > 0:45:13It's legendary.
0:45:13 > 0:45:15I can't believe there's no marking on it.
0:45:15 > 0:45:17There's no blue plaque or anything.
0:45:26 > 0:45:28Not good. I think it really is empty.
0:45:28 > 0:45:31Here's a couple of barbecues.
0:45:31 > 0:45:33I wonder if it's from the studio days
0:45:33 > 0:45:36or whether someone just uses it as a recreation area now?
0:45:38 > 0:45:40Well, times move on and no-one really
0:45:40 > 0:45:41uses studios like this any more.
0:45:43 > 0:45:46- Hello!- What's up, man?
0:45:46 > 0:45:49- Sorry, have I woken you up? I'm really sorry.- No, come on in.
0:45:49 > 0:45:53What I thought was a shack, is a fully working recording studio.
0:45:53 > 0:45:55Are these people who have worked here?
0:45:55 > 0:45:58- Yes.- Wow. 'I'm passionate about the music of the South
0:45:58 > 0:46:00'and its influence on the world.'
0:46:00 > 0:46:02It's such an unexpected treat.
0:46:02 > 0:46:03MUSIC PLAYS
0:46:03 > 0:46:08It's a reminder that culture is often at the vanguard of change.
0:46:09 > 0:46:16# While I'm away from you
0:46:17 > 0:46:20# O-oh, baby
0:46:21 > 0:46:29# I know it's hard for you... #
0:46:29 > 0:46:3140 years after the end of segregation,
0:46:31 > 0:46:34and America has seen a lot of change.
0:46:34 > 0:46:36It's been a long time coming.
0:46:36 > 0:46:38But tonight,
0:46:38 > 0:46:43because of what we did on this day, in this election,
0:46:43 > 0:46:48at this defining moment, change has come to America.
0:46:51 > 0:46:54Today, with a black president in the White House,
0:46:54 > 0:46:57I find myself wondering whether To Kill A Mockingbird
0:46:57 > 0:46:58is still relevant.
0:46:58 > 0:47:00Does it have anything left to say?
0:47:04 > 0:47:08I'm back in Monroeville, where Cedric and Leshannon Hollinger
0:47:08 > 0:47:10have offered me a bed for the night.
0:47:10 > 0:47:15- Hi. You must be Ashley?- Yes.- OK, nice to meet you.
0:47:15 > 0:47:18Their teenage daughter Ashley is studying
0:47:18 > 0:47:20To Kill A Mockingbird at school.
0:47:20 > 0:47:23There's a black president now.
0:47:23 > 0:47:26And when you read it, did it seem to you like something that was
0:47:26 > 0:47:31dealing with important stuff and it was still relevant to now?
0:47:31 > 0:47:33In Monroeville it's still relevant.
0:47:35 > 0:47:38Because, still back then it wasn't as, it was as open
0:47:38 > 0:47:41but now it's not that open.
0:47:41 > 0:47:43But you still can sense it, some people still can sense
0:47:43 > 0:47:48that there is a little racism still in Monroeville. There is.
0:47:48 > 0:47:50- Sure.- There is.- Right.
0:47:50 > 0:47:54You know, for us today there's racism out there, yes.
0:47:54 > 0:47:59Racism, white on black and black on white, you know?
0:47:59 > 0:48:01It's still out there, but, you know,
0:48:01 > 0:48:06we just have to deal with people the way they treat us.
0:48:06 > 0:48:08Black and white kids, they play together all the time.
0:48:08 > 0:48:12They don't know one from the other until grown-ups start teaching them.
0:48:12 > 0:48:15I'm not surprised to find racism here,
0:48:15 > 0:48:17but I am confused and disturbed
0:48:17 > 0:48:21by the amount of segregation that stills shapes this society.
0:48:21 > 0:48:25The family say that city schools are nearly all black
0:48:25 > 0:48:29and the schools in the suburbs are predominantly white.
0:48:29 > 0:48:31They live in a black neighbourhood and Leshannon says
0:48:31 > 0:48:34that most black families wouldn't dream of having a white man
0:48:34 > 0:48:37to stay in their house for the night.
0:48:37 > 0:48:41I feel frustrated and uneasy about these divisions, but maybe people
0:48:41 > 0:48:44know their place and that's just the way they like it.
0:48:46 > 0:48:48In terms of the book, this knowing your place
0:48:48 > 0:48:50and not crossing the lines,
0:48:50 > 0:48:53plays out quite interestingly because there are a lot of examples
0:48:53 > 0:48:56of people getting into trouble when they do cross the line.
0:48:56 > 0:48:59Tom Robinson crossing the line on to the Ewell property
0:48:59 > 0:49:04to help Mayella gets him into, well, it ultimately costs him his life.
0:49:04 > 0:49:07And then, of course, the big one is the Radley property
0:49:07 > 0:49:10where there's a very clear line and you cross that,
0:49:10 > 0:49:12you get into all kinds of horror
0:49:12 > 0:49:15and in fact, that one turns out to be an illusion, doesn't it?
0:49:15 > 0:49:18So, they could always have crossed that line.
0:49:18 > 0:49:21Harper Lee is, in a subtle way, suggesting that maybe
0:49:21 > 0:49:25all these lines which provide the whole structure of this place
0:49:25 > 0:49:27are lines that could be crossed and are illusions.
0:49:32 > 0:49:34Ashley, you're not a morning person,
0:49:34 > 0:49:36are these cameras annoying you?
0:49:36 > 0:49:39- LAUGHS - I thought so! I'm really sorry.
0:49:41 > 0:49:44I'm just getting ready to go to church.
0:49:44 > 0:49:47It's embarrassing, I haven't brought any correct clothes,
0:49:47 > 0:49:50I haven't got a suit so I'm just cobbling together
0:49:50 > 0:49:52something that's vaguely respectable.
0:49:52 > 0:49:56It's so much like what happened in the book,
0:49:56 > 0:49:58when Calpurnia takes Scout and Jem to her church,
0:49:58 > 0:50:00which is a black church.
0:50:00 > 0:50:03It's nothing like theirs, everything's done differently,
0:50:03 > 0:50:06and I'm wondering if it's still like that.
0:50:07 > 0:50:10- Hi.- Time to go? - We're ready.- OK, great.
0:50:18 > 0:50:20SINGING
0:50:25 > 0:50:32# Born of his spirit washed in his blood
0:50:32 > 0:50:39# This is my story this is my song... #
0:50:39 > 0:50:43And one who feared God
0:50:43 > 0:50:47and shunned evil, he stayed away from it.
0:50:47 > 0:50:53The Bible tells us to stay away from the very appearance of evil.
0:50:54 > 0:50:57I haven't been to a service like this before,
0:50:57 > 0:50:59but to my surprise I've enjoyed it.
0:50:59 > 0:51:02It's challenged my preconceptions.
0:51:02 > 0:51:05It occurs to me that not knowing how other people live their lives
0:51:05 > 0:51:07is the beginning of misunderstanding,
0:51:07 > 0:51:10which is what Harper Lee is telling us -
0:51:10 > 0:51:12to get under other people's skin.
0:51:22 > 0:51:25I think my favourite strand in the novel
0:51:25 > 0:51:28is the story about the strange and reclusive Boo Radley.
0:51:28 > 0:51:32Like Harper Lee herself, he is enigmatic
0:51:32 > 0:51:35and the subject of much colourful, but groundless rumour.
0:51:40 > 0:51:43To Kill A Mockingbird challenges our habit of prejudging people,
0:51:43 > 0:51:46and it lays bare the courage needed
0:51:46 > 0:51:50to reject prevailing opinion in favour of real understanding.
0:51:56 > 0:52:00"I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting
0:52:00 > 0:52:03"the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand.
0:52:03 > 0:52:05"It's when you know you're licked before you begin,
0:52:05 > 0:52:10"but you begin anyway and you see it through, no matter what."
0:52:14 > 0:52:18If this is a book about standing up to intolerance,
0:52:18 > 0:52:21then I suspect it may be more relevant today than ever.
0:52:21 > 0:52:26One man who knows all about this is lawyer Morris Dees.
0:52:26 > 0:52:28Morris specialises in crippling
0:52:28 > 0:52:32some of America's most notorious hate groups.
0:52:32 > 0:52:34Hi, I've come to see Morris.
0:52:34 > 0:52:38For Morris, this is a very current problem indeed.
0:52:38 > 0:52:42Could he be a real-life Atticus Finch?
0:52:44 > 0:52:48Judging by the security, this man hasn't made a lot of friends.
0:52:48 > 0:52:52Because of the people that we file lawsuits against, neo-Nazi groups,
0:52:52 > 0:52:56the Klan and others, they don't take that likely, so they burned our
0:52:56 > 0:53:01building in 1983 and there are over 30 people that are in prison today
0:53:01 > 0:53:05for trying to kill me or harm this building or harm our people here.
0:53:05 > 0:53:09What had made you want to become a civil rights lawyer?
0:53:09 > 0:53:12I grew up on a small cotton farm, my people were poor.
0:53:12 > 0:53:14I had two uncles who were in the Ku Klux Klan,
0:53:14 > 0:53:19but my dad wasn't, my dad was very open and fair to black people.
0:53:19 > 0:53:23In fact the book, To Kill A Mockingbird,
0:53:23 > 0:53:26caused me to go into civil rights work, for sure.
0:53:26 > 0:53:30There have been critiques done of To Kill A Mockingbird
0:53:30 > 0:53:36by people saying that really it's a racist book, that Atticus Finch
0:53:36 > 0:53:39didn't do everything he could have done to defend this guy.
0:53:39 > 0:53:42I know it's fiction, but the bottom line is,
0:53:42 > 0:53:45for him to take the stand he took at the time,
0:53:45 > 0:53:47was extremely important.
0:53:47 > 0:53:50Morris Dees' organisation has compiled a hate map
0:53:50 > 0:53:53which pinpoints 932 of the worst offenders
0:53:53 > 0:53:56right across the United States.
0:53:56 > 0:53:58In the last 10 years, we have seen a doubling
0:53:58 > 0:54:01in the number of hate groups in the country, and we think
0:54:01 > 0:54:05all that's attributable to the Latino migration in America,
0:54:05 > 0:54:10it's attributed to to Obama being president, and the economy.
0:54:10 > 0:54:12By the year 2040, people like myself,
0:54:12 > 0:54:15Anglo-whites in this country are going to be in a minority.
0:54:15 > 0:54:18- 121 are black hate groups?- Right.
0:54:18 > 0:54:21Well, that's the black separatist groups,
0:54:21 > 0:54:26the Nation Of Islam is one, their language is no different than
0:54:26 > 0:54:29the language of a Nazi group or hate group or Klan group.
0:54:29 > 0:54:33What you're saying is that your work has broadened from
0:54:33 > 0:54:36civil rights for African-Americans to a whole range of things.
0:54:36 > 0:54:40Well, you know, there's probably a bias everywhere in the world
0:54:40 > 0:54:42against people who are different.
0:54:42 > 0:54:46We find in America today that the most homophobic people
0:54:46 > 0:54:48are African-Americans, it is in their culture.
0:54:48 > 0:54:51But it's one thing to fight hate in court.
0:54:51 > 0:54:54It makes you feel good, you put the Klan out of business,
0:54:54 > 0:54:57You put the neo-Nazis out of business, you take their property.
0:54:57 > 0:54:59But it's just as important to teach tolerance
0:54:59 > 0:55:03and acceptance in the classroom over a whole range of subjects.
0:55:03 > 0:55:06"Atticus was right.
0:55:06 > 0:55:08"One time he said you never really know man
0:55:08 > 0:55:13"until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them.
0:55:13 > 0:55:17"Just standing on the Radley porch was enough."
0:55:27 > 0:55:31I've stood in the shoes of Harper Lee and To Kill A Mockingbird
0:55:31 > 0:55:32and walked around in them.
0:55:32 > 0:55:37And this classic novel now appears, to me, as a kind of love letter
0:55:37 > 0:55:41to and from the South, a gentle plea for tolerance.
0:55:41 > 0:55:45Which seems a simple enough idea, doesn't it?
0:55:45 > 0:55:47But perhaps, in truth, it's so radical that,
0:55:47 > 0:55:5050 years after it was written,
0:55:50 > 0:55:53it has as much to say as it ever did.
0:55:53 > 0:55:56I've been writing about my observations of the South
0:55:56 > 0:55:57for the Monroe Journal.
0:55:57 > 0:56:01As promised, George gets my article published.
0:56:04 > 0:56:07I wanted to share those experiences with the people who kick-started
0:56:07 > 0:56:11my journey, so I've organised a small party to return
0:56:11 > 0:56:14a little of that Southern hospitality.
0:56:14 > 0:56:17And I've invited Harper Lee.
0:56:17 > 0:56:20Perhaps it's time for her to come out of hiding.
0:56:20 > 0:56:24Once again, the weather isn't on my side,
0:56:24 > 0:56:27and at the last minute I'm having to move the party
0:56:27 > 0:56:29from the court house lawn to a bookshop cafe.
0:56:34 > 0:56:38- Hi, how are you? - Hey, I'm really good thanks, you?
0:56:38 > 0:56:40Let me just get the drinks.
0:56:42 > 0:56:44Here you go, Miss Alice.
0:56:44 > 0:56:47- Caramel cake...- Gorgeous.
0:56:47 > 0:56:52There's no sign of Harper Lee, but a strange thing happens.
0:56:52 > 0:56:55Half an hour in, a woman cuts a slice of cake
0:56:55 > 0:56:57and disappears up the road with it.
0:56:57 > 0:57:02I'm told, it's for Nelle, that she's at home, reading my book.
0:57:04 > 0:57:07I still wonder why she removed herself from public life.
0:57:07 > 0:57:12Perhaps she finds the trappings of fame intrusive and distracting,
0:57:12 > 0:57:16or perhaps it's simply because, as she is quoted as saying herself,
0:57:16 > 0:57:20"I said what I had to say, why say more?"
0:57:22 > 0:57:25From a distance, it looks as though this
0:57:25 > 0:57:30is a book about racism and about segregation and discrimination.
0:57:30 > 0:57:33But what I now actually feel having spent time where it was written
0:57:33 > 0:57:36is that it's not about those things.
0:57:36 > 0:57:37What Harper Lee has actually done,
0:57:37 > 0:57:44is use those things to write a treatise on humanity
0:57:44 > 0:57:49and the power of tolerance, of generosity of spirit.
0:57:49 > 0:57:52Things which arguably are in shorter supply now
0:57:52 > 0:57:54than they have ever been before.
0:57:54 > 0:57:58Making this more important than it ever was.
0:57:58 > 0:58:02The fact that it's so beautifully written and it's so funny
0:58:02 > 0:58:05is just a great bonus.
0:58:05 > 0:58:08I think this book is timeless.
0:58:13 > 0:58:18"Mockingbirds don't do one thing, but make music for us to enjoy.
0:58:18 > 0:58:23"They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corn cribs,
0:58:23 > 0:58:27"they don't do one thing, but sing their hearts out for us.
0:58:27 > 0:58:32"That's why it's a sin to kill a Mockingbird."
0:58:47 > 0:58:50Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:50 > 0:58:53E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk