In this post we will be examining the life and career of author Harper Lee. Learn more about the legendary author and revisit her timeless classic, To Kill a Mockingbird.
Born Nelle Harper Lee on April 28th, 1926 to Frances and Anassa Lee, she had three older siblings, Edwin, Alice and Louise. Her mother Frances was known to have struggles with mental illness and many believe she could have had bipolar disorder. Due to these health challenges, Frances was not heavily involved in Nelle’s life. Growing up, Nelle was closer in age with her brother Edwin and they often played together until another young boy moved into the neighborhood in the summer of 1928. Truman Persons, who later went by Truman Capote, was sent to live with family in Monroeville shortly after his parents divorced. Nelle and Truman became close friends, and she would stand up for him to the other kids, who were bullying him. Nelle first became interested in writing as a career in high school. After finishing high school, Nelle went to Huntingdon College, an all female school. She then transferred to the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. At Tuscaloosa, Nelle began to study law but also kept writing. She wrote for the school newspaper, The Crimson White and the college humor magazine, The Rammer Jammer. At the start of her junior year, Nelle was accepted into the University of Alabama Law School and began taking classes while completing her undergraduate degree. It was around this time that Nelle told her parents she didn’t think that law was the right profession for her. Nelle spent the summer between her junior and senior year at Oxford University as an exchange student. Sometime during her senior year, Nelle dropped out.
In 1949, Nelle moved to New York City to pursue writing as a full time career. She soon realized that she would need to find a job while trying to get an agent. She took a job for Eastern Airlines, working as a ticket agent for the British Overseas Air Corp. Around this time, she was reacquainted with her childhood friend Truman, who was a rising author and playwright. In December of 1959, Capote read an article in the New York Times about a horrible murder in Holcomb, Kansas. He took Nelle to Kansas to write about the crime. Capote’s publisher, Random House, had to reach out to the FBI office to make sure Capote was allowed onsite in Kansas, as he did not bring any press credentials. Nelle was Capote’s research assistant because the people of Holcomb thought Capote was too arrogant and weird. Nelle was able to get interviews with the locals because of her calm demeanor. In addition to helping Capote, she also wrote an article for the FBI magazine, The Grapevine, about lead detective Alvin Dewey. Capote knew how much Nelle helped him throughout the process, but he would not give her credit for the work. Instead, when In Cold Blood was published in 1965, Capote had dedicated the book to Harper Lee. Nelle was very angry that he would not give her credit for the research, but the two remained friends for the rest of Capote’s life.
Through her friendship with Capote, Nelle met Michael and Joy Brown who would act as her patrons. In the 1950s, the Browns financially provided for her as she worked on her writing career. With the help of the Browns, Nelle found an agent, Maurice Crain. Crain sent her writing samples to the publisher J.B. Lippincott, which is now a part of HarperCollins. Nelle and her editor, Tay Hohoff, worked on what would become her greatest work.
While assisting Capote on the book In Cold Blood, Nelle was writing a new manuscript about life in a small town. The first draft Nelle gave to her editor, Tay Hohoff was titled Go Set a Watchman. Hohoff and Nelle worked on the manuscript for about two years. Hohoff told Nelle that the main character of Jean Louise should be a young child instead of a woman in her 20s. The novel, retitled To Kill a Mockingbird was officially published on July 11, 1960. The novel out sold predictions and expectations, becoming a bestseller. The majority of the reviews were positive. Some of the negative reviews called out the black characters as one dimensional. The book won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1961.
In the 1970s, Nelle slowly moved away from the public eye, opting for something more quiet. She started to split her time between New York City and her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama. Her eldest sister, Alice was her lawyer and helped her get royalties from the new editions. Nelle would spend her money on various charities. President George W. Bush awarded Nelle with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007. This was followed by the National Medal of Arts in 2010 by President Barack Obama.
Sometime in 2014, Nelle’s lawyer at the time, Tonja Carter, came forward and said she found the original manuscript of Go Set a Watchman. Carter said she discovered it in a safety deposit box in Monroeville. When news broke that the manuscript was found, Nelle’s sister Alice was skeptical about its future use. HarperCollins announced in early 2015 that Go Set a Watchman would be published that summer. When the book was released, many fans and critics were shocked to find Atticus Finch as a racist, completely opposite of the noble attorney of the original story. Many believe that the discovery and subsequent publication of the book was a money grab by HarperCollins. Others believe that the book was mis-marketed because it was an unedited draft of To Kill a Mockingbird instead of an actual sequel.
Nelle Harper Lee died on February 19, 2016 at the age of 89.
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