TKAM Photo Analysis

 If you've read TKAM (To Kill a Mockingbird), you should know that the setting is crucial to the story. But since Maycomb County is a fictional city, we were given the task (during ELA) to find a photo that relates to Scout's description of Maycomb County. The following photo is from the FSA photo archives and it was taken at Greensboro, Alabama. (Photo is at the very bottom)

Here is how Scout describes Maycomb (quotes below):

• “ He liked Maycomb, he was Maycomb County born and bred; he knew his people, they knew him, and because of Simon Finch’s industry, Atticus was related by blood or marriage to nearly every family in the town.”
• “Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square. Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog suffered on a summer’s day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square. Men’s stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o’clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum. People moved slowly then. They ambled across the square, shuffled in and out of the stores around it, took their time about everything. A day was twenty-four hours long but seemed longer. There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County. But it was a time of vague optimism for some of the people: Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself.”

Overall, Scout describes Maycomb as a slow paced town with a low population (in comparison to most areas). In the summer, Maycomb County is especially warm, she uses literal examples and people to set the scene, the specific part will be highlighted.

Observe:
The photo below is what I would imagine would look like the main area of Maycomb, because as scout described it, there is not much outside of Maycomb County.

(Main street of Greensboro, Alabama) As you can see, it is very bright outside and most people are in the shade. Not very fast paced or highly populated, and most of the population is in one general area, and around that is an empty farmland (near the bottom left of the image shows that there isn’t much there). Most people are walking casually, either with hats or in the shade. No one looks especially rich, and actually, most look very poor. Their clothes are dirty and barely anyone is using a car. Most of the buildings do not look brand new, as many of the buildings/structures don’t look clean. A good example of this is the second building down, which shows marks near the road.

- This is an image of the Mainstreet of Greensboro, Alabama. In it, the picture contains a fair amount of cars parked near a semi-messy sidewalk. The sidewalk is shaded by the surrounding buildings which attract most to hide from the sun that has appeared especially bright on a late spring day. As you can notice, there aren't many people in the area, which is a thing Greensboro (in the image) and Maycomb have in common. The only visible words say, "Grady Lawless and Co." and "Coca-Cola!", these are signs for businesses.

Reflect:

- This is Similar to the description that scout gives us for Maycomb County. Maycomb County is described as a slow-paced town with a low-ish population. It also doesn't have much of a population outside of the main area where people live/shop/etc. . Finally, it is generally quite hot/warm in Maycomb all year and especially in the summer. The Picture was taken late in May 1941 so it is probably quite hot outside during the photo, which leads to people sticking to the shaded sidewalk, with those that aren't in the shade scurrying towards their destination.
- This Image was probably taken to showcase Greensboro, as they were mainly rural, and the FSA usually photographs areas that are very rural, and Greensboro is very rural. The photo was taken in May of 1941, there was probably no specific audience, as it is just a picture of the Main Street of Greensboro. Tools to create, most likely a person and a camera. From this image, you can learn that most towns around this area are lowly populated, and mostly farm land with most people living near the main street. If the picture was taken today, there would probably be more modern things like light bulbs and street lamps, along with a cleaner sidewalk. But, population wise, it is generally the same with less than 3000/4000 people, living in the main areas.

QUESTIONS:

"Are there any modern touches that are in this picture?"

Yes, since the photos were taken a while after TKAM (TKAM = 1933+, PIC = 1941) they are using mainly cars instead of the Mules and cars that Scout included in her description of Maycomb. 1941 is outside of the Great depression area, so most likely by this time people could afford cars, but in the Depression Area, mules and carts were a lot cheaper than a Car even though cars existed beforehand.

"What makes you think that there isn't much around Greensboro?"

If you look at the zoomed in part of the photo, there are no buildings at the end of the road. Also, even now the population of Greensboro is quite low with the last census reporting less than 3,000 civilians. There were most likely a lot less back in 1941. Around 1940, the population was only hovering slightly above 2,000.

FURTHER INVESTIGATION:

- The photo was taken by Jack Delano who was a photographer for the FSA.

- The photographer died at age 83 in 1997.

- The picture is a picture of the Main Street in Greensboro during May of 1941
- Jack Delano came to the USA in 1923 and has taken many photographs for the FSA.
-While TKAM takes place in the Great Depression era, this photo was taken after the GD era.

Photo:

Delano, Jack. Main Street of Greensboro, Alabama. May 1941. Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives, Library of Congress, Washington DC.

Zoom in:

(above) Google image of Greensboro Alabama. There is not much around it.