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As part of its commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the publishing of To Kill a Mockingbird, the Alabama Humanities Foundation (AHF) will host “TKAM 2010: To Kill a Mockingbird—Awakening America’s Conscience,” a series of statewide celebratory events to honor the book’s lasting significance for the state, country and the world. The ongoing celebration will include, among others, a traveling art exhibit and auction, a To Kill a Mockingbird discussion panel and a sneak-preview screening of the documentary film Our Mockingbird. The event is sponsored in Birmingham by the Frances Marlin Mann Center for Ethics and Leadership and the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University, Regions Bank and Balch & Bingham LLP, and in Montgomery by Jere Beasley, Alabama River Pulp, Parsons & Whittemore, Pickwick Antiques, Regions Morgan Keegan and Balch & Bingham LLP. 

“TKAM 2010: To Kill a Mockingbird—Awakening America’s Conscience” will kick off on April 9 at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI) at 4:30 p.m. with “To Kill a Mockingbird at 50: Perspectives on One Book’s Influence,” a panel discussion on the novel co-sponsored by the Frances Marlin Mann Center for Ethics and Leadership and the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University. The panel discussion is free and open to the public and features moderator John Carroll, dean of the Cumberland Law School at Samford University; panelist Delores Boyd, former federal judge and co-author of Jim Crow and Me: Stories From My Life As a Civil Rights Lawyer; panelist Jonathan Bass, chair of the Samford University history department and a leading expert on the civil rights movement in Alabama; and panelist Susan Swagler, book critic for several publications, including Birmingham Magazine.

An opening night reception for the “TKAM 2010: To Kill a Mockingbird—Awakening America’s Conscience” art event, also free and open to the public, will follow the panel discussion from 6 to 8 p.m., also held at the BCRI. The art exhibit features original works of art inspired by the book and its themes by select local, statewide and national artists. The “TKAM 2010: To Kill a Mockingbird—Awakening America’s Conscience” traveling art show will be open to the public at the BCRI from April 10 to May 14, and will travel to Montgomery, where it will be on display at the Stonehenge Art Gallery May 18–21. In conjunction with the art show at the Stonehenge Gallery, Montgomery’s historic Capri Theatre will be showing the award-winning To Kill a Mockingbird motion picture on May 20 at 7:30 p.m.

All of the exhibit’s works of art, including pieces by nationally known artists Nicolosi, Nall, Charlie Lucas and William Christenberry, as well as a host of other talented Alabama artists, will be auctioned as part of a special reception and celebration hosted by AHF in Montgomery at Wynfield Estates, the home of the late Red and Carolyn Blount, on May 22 from 6 to 9 p.m. The event will be attended by Mary Badham, who portrayed Jean Louise “Scout” Finch in the film version of To Kill a Mockingbird, as well as by Alabama’s Pulitzer Prize winners Rick Bragg, Joey Kennedy and Harold Jackson, among others. Attendees will also have the opportunity to view a sneak-preview screening of the documentary film Our Mockingbird, by independent filmmaker Sandra Jaffe and supported in part by media grants from AHF. Our Mockingbird is a one-hour documentary film about the influence of Harper Lee’s novel after 50 years. Interwoven through the documentary is the story of two high schools, Mountain Brook and Fairfield, who come together to create a coproduction of To Kill a Mockingbird. How these two groups of students are thrust together and learn about the struggles in their hometown and the larger meanings of the story expresses the lasting impact of the novel. The film also includes interviews with Alabama scholars Wayne Flynt and Nancy Anderson.

Those attending the opening night reception at the BCRI will have an opportunity to bid on the artwork, as well. An online artwork catalog will be available for viewing on ahf.net/mockingbird.

In an online collaboration with more than 600 educators across the state of Alabama, AHF asked students to offer brief responses to the novel and its themes. Responses to the novel will be incorporated into Alabama folk artist Lonnie Holley’s To Kill a Mockingbird inspired painting, also to be auctioned.

For more information on the event, visit ahf.net/mockingbird. Tickets for the May 22 Montgomery Wynfield Estates event are $50 per person and will go on sale May 5 at ahf.net/mockingbird. For information on purchasing tickets, contact Paul Lawson, AHF development director, at (205) 558-3992.

In-kind support for “TKAM 2010: To Kill a Mockingbird—Awakening America’s Conscience” is being provided by Amanda Schedler Fine Art; Auburn University—Montgomery; Bare Hands Gallery; Gallo Wine; Jennifer Hartwell Gallery; Jennifer Hunt Gallery; Mail Enterprises; Maralyn Wilson Gallery; Monty Stabler Galleries; Portico; Space One Eleven; Stonehenge Gallery; Sirote & Permutt P.C.; the UPS Store at Patton Chapel Plaza; the University of Alabama at Birmingham Visual Arts Gallery; and www.scottfisk.com.

Participating Artists
Barrett Bailey, Doug Baulos, Barbara Bondy, Jerry Brown, Annie Butrus, Catherine Cabaniss, Merrilee Challiss, William Christenberry, Clayton Colvin, Chip Cooper, Jane Timberlake Cooper, Dereck Cracco, Beverly Edereich, Brian Edmonds, Barbara Evans, Frank Fleming, Randy Gachet, Carolyn Goldsmith, Karen Grapheo, Jennifer Hartwell, Wesley Higgins, Bethanne Hill, Darius Hill, Lonnie Holley, Mary Kimbrough, Janice Kluge, Bruce Larsen, Sally Legg, Charlie Lucas, Jane Marshall, Nall, Nicolosi, Caleb O’Connor, Amy Pleasant, Susan Perry, Larry Thompson and Maralyn Wilson