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 "To Kill a Mockingbird" was published in 1960 as the civil
rights movement was heating up and its unflinching examination
of racial hatred in the South made it especially poignant. Its
theme could be summed up with the advice that Atticus Finch, the
noble lawyer, gave his young daughter, Scout: "You never really
understand a person until you consider things from his point of
view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
A statement from Tonja Carter, Lee's attorney in her hometown of
Monroeville, Alabama, said Lee had "passed away early this
morning in her sleep" there and that her death was unexpected.
She would have a private funeral but no date was announced.
It had appeared that Lee's sole literary output would be "To
Kill a Mockingbird," especially since she acknowledged she could
not top the Pulitzer Prize-winning book. That was what made the
publication 55 years later in July 2015 of "Go Set a Watchman"
such an unexpected and somewhat controversial literary event.
In the first book, Finch, the adored father of the young
narrator Scout, stood up to a white lynch mob and unsuccessfully
defended a black man wrongly accused of raping a white woman.
But in "Watchman," an older Atticus had racial views that left
the grown-up Scout greatly disillusioned.
Lee reportedly had written "Go Set a Watchman" first but, at the
suggestion of a wise editor, set it aside to tell a tale of race
in the South from the child's point of view in the 1930s.
For many years, Lee, a shy woman with an engaging Southern drawl
who never married, lived quietly and privately, always turning
down interview requests. She alternated between living in a New
York apartment and Monroeville, where she shared a home with her
older sister, lawyer Alice Lee.
After suffering a stroke and enduring failing vision and
hearing, she spent her final years in an assisted living
residence in Monroeville.
"When I saw her just six weeks ago, she was full of life, her
mind and mischievous wit as sharp as ever," her agent, Andrew
Nurnberg, said in a statement. "She was quoting Thomas More and
setting me straight on Tudor history."
The movie version of "To Kill a Mockingbird also became an
American classic. It won the Academy Award for best picture in
1963 while Gregory Peck, who played Atticus and would become
Lee's good friend, was named best actor.
SAD DAY IN MONROEVILLE
Spencer Madrie, owner of the Ol’ Curiosities & Book Shoppe
dedicated to the work of Lee and other Southern authors, said
Monroeville was in a somber mood.
"You wish somebody like that could go on forever and be this
lifelong legend," he said. "You don’t ever consider somebody
like that passing, even though her legacy will last for
generations after."
Monroeville, which inspired the town of Maycomb in the book,
eventually took on aspects of a "To Kill a Mockingbird" theme
park with statues of the main characters, murals of important
scenes, a museum display and tours of the courtroom.
Lee's state of mind would become an issue last year when plans
were announced to publish "Go Set a Watchman." Some friends said
that after the death of her sister Alice, who handled Harper's
affairs, lawyer Carter had manipulated Lee to approve
publication.
Carter had said she came across the "Watchman" manuscript while
doing legal work for Lee in 2014 and an investigation by Alabama
state officials found there was no coercion in getting Lee's
permission to publish.
A family friend, the Reverend Thomas Lane Butts, told an
Australian interviewer that Lee had said she did not publish
again because she did not want to endure the pressure and
publicity of another book and because she had said all that she
wanted to say.
Despite her private nature, Lee regularly attended an annual
luncheon at the University of Alabama to meet the winners of a
high school essay contest on the subject of her book.
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In November 2007, she went to the White House to accept a
Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush, who at
the time called her book "a gift to the entire world."
Bush said in a statement on Friday that he and his wife, Laura Bush,
a former librarian, mourned Lee. "Harper Lee was ahead of her time
and her masterpiece 'To Kill a Mockingbird' prodded America to catch
up with her," he said.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Lee "had a way of telling
stories that does have an influence and resonates with so many
Americans." He said President Barack Obama had great respect for
her.
News of Lee's death spread widely on social media and tributes
poured in from well-known figures, such as Apple Inc Chief Executive
Officer Tim Cook, who quoted the author in a tweet by saying, "Rest
in peace, Harper Lee. 'The one thing that doesn't abide by majority
rule is a person's conscience.'"
CHANGING RACIAL VIEWS
Nelle Harper Lee was born April 28, 1926, in Monroeville, the
youngest of four children of A.C. and Frances Finch Lee and a
descendant of Civil War General Robert E. Lee. Like Scout, Lee grew
up a tomboy.
Lee had studied law at the University of Alabama but, six months
before finishing her studies, she went to New York in the early
1950s to pursue a literary career while working as an airline
reservation clerk.
In 1956 friends Michael and Joy Brown gave Lee a special Christmas
gift, a year of financial support so she could work full time on "To
Kill a Mockingbird."
An estimated 30 million copies of the book were sold. It would
become required reading in many American schools but the American
Library Association said it was frequently challenged by those who
did not like its subject matter.
Lee also played a key role in researching another great American
book by Truman Capote, her childhood friend and the inspiration for
the frail, precocious Dill in "To Kill a Mockingbird."
In 1959 she accompanied Capote to Holcombe, Kansas, to work on "In
Cold Blood," the chilling account of the murders of a farming
family. Her mannerly, down-home approach undoubtedly smoothed the
way for the flamboyant Capote.
There was speculation that Capote helped her write "To Kill a
Mockingbird" but in his 2006 biography, "Mockingbird: A Portrait of
Harper Lee," Charles J. Shields disputed that. He also said Lee's
contribution to Capote's "In Cold Blood" was greater than believed.
Lee's sister said the authors eventually fell out because Capote was
jealous of Lee's Pulitzer, which she won in 1961.
In 2006 Lee wrote a piece for O magazine about developing a
childhood love of books, even though they were scarce in
Monroeville.
"Now, 75 years later in an abundant society where people have
laptops, cell phones, iPods, and minds like empty rooms, I still
plod along with books," she wrote.
(Reporting and writing by Bill Trott; Additional reporting by
Letitia Stein and Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Grant McCool)
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