Mockingbird Summer

Rutledge positions the small, Southern town of High Cotton—segregated under Jim Crow laws—as a microcosm of the rising social and political unrest in the United States as a result of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. The fictional Texas town is founded on the premise of white supremacy through the family history of Noah IV Boatwright, whose male ancestor built a “post–Civil War cotton plantation” (84) and employed Black people as laborers. Noah IV perpetuates a legacy of white authority “inherited” from his ancestors and his powerful position in the town prevents people in town from challenging his authority. He instills racist ideals in his sons, who express their racism toward High Cotton’s Black residents, most notably, America. Obsessed with maintaining his personal power and his belief that he “owns” the town, Noah IV embodies the ideology of White Supremacy and its need to self-protect. America’s participation in the softball team unsettles Boatwright because he views racial integration as a threat to his power and influence over the community. The momentum of the civil rights movement reaches High Cotton as Mack and Corky’s generation begins to defy segregation laws and the town experiences its first sit-in protest. America’s official participation in the softball team signals the gradual collapse of segregation laws.

By paralleling Corky’s reckoning with racial injustice with her mother’s expanding interest in Women’s rights, Rutledge creates a narrative link between the two social justice movements. The traditional white, Southern mindset of the early 1960s centered the idea that “[a] woman’s place is in the home” (3). Men were considered the breadwinners and women’s roles were restricted to mothers and housewives—a role Corky’s mother has always accepted and embraced. However, as Belle’s developing consciousness expands, she asserts her right to work. Her belief that gender oppression is an issue that has “no name” reflects the developing feminist discourse of her time. Rutledge highlights the differences between Belle and Evangeline—who, as a Black woman, needs to work to provide for herself and her daughter—pointing to the integration of racial justice with women’s rights. Belle’s privilege affords her financial security and a husband who able to support her, while Evangeline’s husband struggles to find work. Still, the two women share “an understanding of things beyond words” (116).

Belle’s growing consciousness influences Corky as she transitions from childhood to adulthood. Even as a child, Corky defies traditional standards of femininity, preferring to be a “tomboy.” However, her friendship with America encourages her to question her society’s prejudicial understanding of race as well as gender. Corky idolizes America, viewing her as somebody who is “more talented and grown-up than any other teenage girl” (178). America challenges common perceptions that girls cannot play ball or run as fast as boys, whom she bests in a footrace. The prejudice that America experiences for both her race and her gender reinforce an integrated understanding of feminist discourse in the novel. While Corky grows up in a society that relegates women to the domestic sphere, the social justice movements in the world around her point her toward a different future for her—a career as a journalist and activist in the women’s liberation movement in the following decades. The narrative emphasizes the 1960s as a turning point in the American history of social justice that influences the protagonist’s journey.