This past Sunday marked the 50th year that the Harper Lee book To Kill a Mockingbird was published. The novel centers around Atticus Finch and his willingness to be the attorney to one Tom Robinson against the plaintiff Bob Ewell. Robinson, as you can gather from the photo, is black, and given that the novel is set in the South, you can imagine the racial tension there, if you haven't read about it from other accounts first. Also in the story is Atticus' children Jem and Scout, who are on some level, oblivious to the racial conflicts of the South, which is most evident when Robinson is eventually found guilty, despite overwhelming evidence that he was in fact, innocent. The Finches receive some unlikely help in the end from the reclusive Boo Radley, who for the most part, was thought of as being a menace to the neighborhood.
Even today, the book is still relevant to today's issues, as race is still a conflict in today's society. The book is also one of the few that has managed to translate well onto the silver screen, which is an accomplishment in itself.
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