Harper Lee's novel, "To Kill A Mockingbird" was set during the depression era in the South. During the Depression people had a difficult time getting money and taking care of their families. The Black communities especially had a hard time because they didn't have jobs. For the most part they were share-croppers and labored for daily payment of whatever they could get. These people couldn't afford to go to "Krogers" and buy whatever they wanted. For the main part of their diets they grew the vegtables and fruits that fed them. For meat they trapped and hunted. This is the reason most Black families ate squirrel, possum, and rabbit. They also ate a great deal of deer meat and fish. Any type of meat they could trap, catch, or shoot was what went on their tables to feed their families.
"Yet the oppressive society in the South often prevented blacks from taking advantage of this government assistance. Racist groups like the Ku Klux Klan and the Black Shirts terrorized blacks out of their jobs The vigilante practice of lynching was still common in the South in the early 1930s. Only North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Alabama had laws specifically outlawing lynching as an illegal activity. (Surprisingly, only two northern states had similar laws.)"
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