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Nelle Harper Lee died on February 19 at age 89. The Pulitzer Prize winning author had only published two novels in her lifetime, but is widely regarded as one of the greatest 21st century novelists.
Part of Lee's notoriety comes from anecdotes of her bold nature and unwillingness to succumb to those to believed her novel to be too controversial.
One favorite story comes from a 1966 local paper called the Richmond News Leader. When the nearby Hanover County School Board voted unanimously to ban "To Kill a Mockingbird" from their schools, Lee sent in an editorial letter.
She accused the board members of being unable to read, and sent them a donation to be used for their re-enrollment in grade school.
Here's the full letter, as it appeared in the paper and as was recorded in Lee's biography by Charles J. Shields:
Editor, The News Leader:
Recently I have received echoes down this way of the Hanover County School Board's activities, and what I've heard makes me wonder if any of its members can read.
Surely it is plain to the simplest intelligence that "To Kill a Mockingbird" spells out in words of seldom more than two syllables a code of honor and conduct, Christian in its ethic, that is the heritage of all Southerners. To hear that the novel is "immoral" has made me count the years between now and 1984, for I have yet to come across a better example of doublethink.
I feel, however, that the problem is one of illiteracy, not Marxism. Therefore I enclose a small contribution to the Beadle Bumble Fund that I hope will be used to enroll the Hanover County School Board in any first grade of its choice.
Harper Lee
AP ImagesThis anecdote has made it onto Reddit's "Today I Learned" page multiple times, where people are frequently impressed by her gumption. "F-ck yeah, Harper Lee," Redditor cvillemade wrote.
"Now that is some Grade-A sass right there!" user DictatorKris said on a different post.
Another praised her for showing class. "That's is the most high-class way of calling them little b-tches I've ever heard," W1ULH wrote. "Yet more proof she was a true bard."
The consistent top comment whenever this story gets shared is usually a suggestion for a new book title: "To Mock a Schooling Board."
With her recent death, it is likely fans of her work will share this example of her spunky-personality even more.
