Nelle Harper Lee Essay Research Paper Nelle

Nelle Harper Lee Essay, Research Paper

Nelle Harper Lee

Nelle Harper Lee was born on April 28 1926 in Monroeville Alabama, a city of about 7,000 people in Monroe County, which has about 24,000 people. Monroeville is in southwest Alabama, about halfway between Montgomery and Mobile.

She is the youngest of four children of Amasa Coleman Lee and Frances Finch Lee. Harper Lee attended Huntingdon College 1944-45, studied law at University of Alabama 1945-49, and studied one year at Oxford University. In the 1950s she worked as a reservation clerk with Eastern Air Lines and BOAC in New York City.

In order to concentrate on writing Harper Lee gave up her position with the airline and moved into a cold-water apartment with makeshift furniture. Her father’s sudden illness forced her to divide her time between New York and Monroeville, a practice she has continued.

In 1957 Miss Lee submitted the manuscript of her novel to the J. B. Lippincott Company. She was told that her novel consisted of a series of short stories strung together, and she was urged to re-write it. For the next two and a half years she re-worked the manuscript with the help of her editor, Tay Hohoff, and in 1960 To Kill a Mockingbird was published, her only published book. In 1961 she had two articles published: Love–In Other Words in Vogue, and Christmas To Me in McCalls. “Christmas To Me” is the story of Harper Lee receiving the gift of a year’s time for writing from friends. When Children Discover America was published in 1965.

In June of 1966, Harper Lee was one of two persons named by President Johnson to the National Council of Arts. Also named to the 26 member council was artist Richard Diebenkorn Jr.

Miss Lee attended the 1983 Alabama History and Heritage Festival in Eufaula, Alabama. She presented the essay Romance and High Adventure. Most of what has been published on the doings of Miss Lee in the last many years is speculation. Apparently she still plays golf, and there are various stories of her writing her memoirs. An article in the Standard Times reported that Miss Lee was working on a book about the Reverend Maxwell of Alexander City, Alabama. He was a local black preacher who murdered several family members in order to collect their life insurance, and who was murdered at the funeral of his last victim.

Miss Lee has received a number of honorary doctorates, perhaps four. In 1990 she was one of five recipients at the University of Alabama. She did not speak or give an interview

In 1997 she was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters at Spring Hill College in Mobile Alabama. Professor Margaret Davis told Miss Lee she was being honored for her “lyrical elegance, her portrayal of human strength, and wisdom.” Miss Lee did not speak to the cheering and applauding audience; Colman McCarthy, another degree recipient did. A photograph of a radiant Miss Lee appeared in the Mobile Register on May 12, 1997.

There is a small piece of newer writing by Miss Lee through the Other Works link.

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Amasa Coleman Lee

Harper Lee’s father was born on July 19 1880, in Georgiana, Butler County, son of Cader A. and Theodosia Windham Lee. Theodosia (in some sources spelled Theodocia) was originally from Dale County. She lived for over 50 years in Jackson County, Florida, and died in May 1933. Cader and Theodosia had at least eight other children.

A.C. Lee grew up in Florida, and came to Monroe County in 1902. (One source says 1910.) He first worked as a bookkeeper, and was admitted to the bar in 1915. Amasa Lee was a valued citizen of Monroeville. He practiced law, was a member of the State Legislature from 1926 to 1938, and edited The Monroe Journal from 1929 to 1947.

In 1961 A.C. Lee was reported in the Monroe Journal as being busy autographing copies of To Kill a Mockingbird for Monroeville friends and neighbors. Some of them asked him to sign his name, “Atticus Finch”. Gregory Peck visited Monroeville in January 1962, and said of A.C. Lee, “Mr. Lee is a beautiful man–and I am very proud to have known him.”

Mr. Lee said of Harper that, “It was my plans for her to become a member of our law firm–but it just wasn’t meant to be. She went to New York to become a writer.” He died in the early morning of Palm Sunday, April 15 1962 at the age of 81. In his memory, J.B. Lippincott donated 300 books to the Monroe County Library. An editorial in The Monroe Journal of April 19 said he was “a warm, friendly and good citizen who served his family, his community, his county and his state extremely well in many varied capacities.” Alice Finch Lee was the Executrix of his estate.

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Alice Finch Lee

Alice Lee, a sister of Harper Lee, graduated from high school in 1929, and like Harper Lee, attended Huntingdon College in Montgomery. As the effects of the depression continued, Alice Lee returned to Monroeville and with her father and nephew bought into The Monroe Journal, a weekly newspaper in Monroeville. She wrote stories, proof read and helped with the printing. She is listed in a history of The Monroe Journal as having been an associate editor and partner of the paper from 1929 to 1947.

In 1937 Alice Lee went to Birmingham and worked for the Internal Revenue Service. At night she went to the University of Alabama, and then the Birmingham School of

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