Last year, Harper Lee's Pulizer Prize-winning novel To Kill A Mockingbird turned 50. Since last summer, book lovers have been celebrating the golden anniversary of this signficant, beloved work of American literature.
The book, which has sold over 30 million copies worlwide, was set in a fictional town named Maycomb, Alabama. In the novel, Atticus Finch (played by Gregory Peck in the Academy Award-winning movie version) defends a black man who is falsely accused of raping a white woman. Finch, his young daughter Scout, and readers across the globe are forced to contend with racism and injustice.
The town of Maycomb was modeled after Monroeville, Alabama, which is Harper Lee's hometown and where at age 84 the reclusive author still lives today. She grew up just a few blocks from the old courthouse that has since become a famous icon of film and literature.
According to the Monroe County website tokillamockingbird.com,
It’s now one of the most recognized courtrooms in America because of the popular film version of the book. Although the movie was not filmed here, the set designer came to Monroeville to measure, photograph and draw the courtroom before recreating it on a Hollywood sound stage. Today, fans of the classic novel come to the courthouse from all over the world because it is the most tangible connection to the book’s fictional Maycomb. Visitors are free to move throughout the courtroom, including the balcony, witness chair, judge’s bench and tables used by the prosecutor and defense attorney. Throughout her childhood, Harper Lee often sat in the balcony as she watched her father practice law in this very room.
On Thursday, April 28, the United States Postal Service will be releasing the Gregory Peck Forever Stamp. It is the 17th stamp in the Legends of Hollywood series.
The First Day of Issue ceremony is taking place at 11:00 a.m. at the Motion Picture Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater. Laura Dern, Morgan Freeman, and host Sharon Stone will be honoring Peck (1916 - 2003), who appears on the stamp in his 1962 portrayal of Atticus Finch.
The next day is when the excitement moves to Alabama: Postmarks is pleased to announce the second-day unveiling of the Peck stamp and a special pictorial postmark that will take place in Monroeville on April 29, 2011.
The festivities are to begin at 9:00 a.m. in the courtyard of the Historic Courthouse Museum, which is directly across from the Monroeville Post Office. The address is 31 N. Alabama Ave., Monroeville, Alabama 36460.
Regarding the event, Monroeville Postmaster Kelly Jones writes:
I have just received word that Congressman Bonner's representative will be speaking at our 9:00 AM Gregory Peck event on April 29 ( this Friday) at the Historic Museum directly across the street from the Monroeville Post Office in the Courtyard....The Monroeville Elementary Second Grade students will say the Pledge of Allegiance at 9:00AM, followed By SSA Stacey Walton Leggitte singing the National Anthem prior to the unveiling of the pictorial cancellation and presentation of the Peck stamp.
Refreshments and sales of stamps and envelopes will then be available to the public in the square.
Below is a preview of the pictorial (with the real courthouse underneath). The
"Mockingbird Station" postmark will be available at the Monroeville Post Office through May 31, 2011.
For more information, contact the Old Courthouse Museum at 251-575-7433.
"Mockingbird Station" postmark will be available at the Monroeville Post Office through May 31, 2011.
For more information, contact the Old Courthouse Museum at 251-575-7433.
