"Cultural Education and Economic Background of the Town."

Miss Farish, Mr. Jones, and Mr. Skinner wanted to provide "cultural education and the economic background" of Monroeville in the Depression Era. Some of the points they made include:

• The Old Courthouse courtroom is considered the most famous courtroom in America because of its prominence in the novel and film of TKAM.
  
• In 1852, the original town courthouse, made of local clay bricks handformed by slave labor, burnt down. The Old Courthouse -- the one in which A.C. practiced -- was built in 1903 for $26,000 under the direction of Judge Stallworth. In the 1960s, a new courthouse was built and the old one was left to decay. In the 1970s, the local merchants with shops and other businesses on the square proposed to tear down the old courthouse to build a parking lot. Thanks to townspeople who came to the rescue, a $1.5 million dollar restoration was completed instead and the courthouse was registered as a historical landmark.
  
• George Washington Carver spoke in the courtroom.Everybody was poor. There was not a lot of difference between professional people and average people.
• Total segregation dominated the 1930s. The Blacks lived outside of town and were refered to as "colored people" or "Negroes."
• The only job available to Black women was to be a "domestic," meaning to work in the house of a white family.
• Firemen were volunteers. When there was a fire, the siren would sound and then the first volunteer to the firehouse would drive the truck slowly around the town square so that the other volunteers could run out and jump on.
  
• In the 1930s, the telephones were run by "live operators." You would pick up the telephone and ask the operator to connect you to whomever you wanted to call. Often the operator knew everyone's comings and goings.