April 28, 1926

Nelle Harper Lee was born in Monroeville on April 28, 1926; and though she traveled the world, her roots remained strong.

After graduating from Monroeville High School, she continued her studies at the University of Alabama and later Oxford University in England. She returned to the United States in 1949, moving to New York City for odd jobs while writing fiction on the side. In 1960, her “To Kill a Mockingbird” went to press, and landed her the Pulitzer Prize for fiction that next year. Many consider it to be the best novel of the 20^th century.

She worked on a follow-up novel, but was unsatisfied with it and shelved the project. In 2015, her original manuscript for “Go Set a Watchman” was published, with some considering it a prequel to “Mockingbird,” and others seeing it as a first draft of the more famous book. Lee spent her latter years in Monroeville, where she died in 2016.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Novelist Harper Lee poses with actor Mary Badham in a tire swing during a break in filming the motion-picture adaption of Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” in Hollywood, California, in 1961. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, photo courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division)

Monroeville is the county seat of Monroe County and the county’s largest city. It is the hometown of Harper Lee, whose novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” drew from her experiences in this small town. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, photograph by Mike Kittrell, courtesy of The Mobile Press-Register)

Nelle Harper Lee (1926-2016) is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel To Kill A Mockingbird, one of the most celebrated novels by an American author. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of The Birmingham News)

The cover of Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird,” one of the most widely read works of American fiction. It won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1961 and was adapted to the screen in 1962 starring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch. It regularly tops reader’s choice lists and has been translated into more than 40 languages. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama)

“Go Set a Watchman” was Monroeville native Harper Lee’s second published novel. When its publication was announced in 2015, the event sparked a media frenzy regarding the involvement of the notoriously private and reclusive author. It sold 720,000 copies in its first 36 hours of sales. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.