July 11 - The Gift That Changed Everything: Harper Lee’s Southern Masterpiece
Raw Material in the Master's Hands
This is the day Harper Lee's groundbreaking novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" was first published in the United States in 1960.
In today's lesson, we will explore how Harper Lee's editorial journey from a flawed first draft to literary masterpiece reveals a profound truth about God's sanctification process in our lives. When Lee's editor saw potential in her raw manuscript rather than rejecting it outright, she transformed it through patient revision into To Kill a Mockingbird. How does God's approach to refining our character mirror this editorial process, and what does it mean that He specializes in taking our rough drafts and creating spiritual masterpieces?
"Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." - Philippians 1:6 (NIV)
This Date in History
It began with a gift—one year's salary, handed to Harper Lee by close friends who believed in her voice. She took that unexpected freedom and poured it into pages shaped by memory, injustice, and conscience. What emerged would soon echo across generations.
On July 11, 1960, J.B. Lippincott & Co. published To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel that would pierce the conscience of a nation. Its impact was neither loud nor immediate, but it grew, like a seed planted in moral soil. Quietly, then powerfully, Lee's story altered how Americans reckoned with their deepest failures and highest ideals.
Nelle Harper Lee had never set out to become a famous author. Born in Monroeville, Alabama, in 1926, she grew up in a small Southern town where racial tensions simmered beneath the surface of daily life. Her father, Amasa Coleman Lee, served as a lawyer and newspaper editor, instilling in his daughter both a love of literature and an acute awareness of justice. Young Harper witnessed firsthand the inequalities that plagued the South, experiences that would later breathe life into the fictional town of Maycomb.
During her childhood, Lee formed an inseparable friendship with her next-door neighbor, Truman Streckfus Persons, who would later become famous as Truman Capote. The tough, tomboyish Lee and the sensitive, precocious Capote bonded over reading, writing, and exploring their Southern town together in the 1930s. Their childhood adventures and shared love of storytelling would shape both of their literary sensibilities. Capote would later inspire the character Dill in To Kill a Mockingbird.
After studying law at the University of Alabama, Lee moved to New York City in 1949, working various jobs while nurturing her writing ambitions. Her childhood friend Capote had already achieved literary success by this time and encouraged Lee's literary pursuits.
But it was the generosity of Michael and Joy Brown, friends from New York, that opened the door to the novel's creation. Michael Brown, an executive at the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency, and his wife Joy, a ballet dancer and choreographer, recognized something rare in Harper's voice. In 1956, they handed her a check equal to a year's salary with a note that read, "You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas." Lee was stunned. She later called it the best Christmas gift she ever received.
That act of quiet support changed everything. Freed from financial pressures, Lee spent the next year crafting stories drawn from her childhood in Alabama, exploring themes of justice, race, and moral conscience through the eyes of a young girl named Scout Finch.
The path to publication was not without its challenges. Early drafts lacked structure and narrative clarity. However, Maurice Crain, Lee's literary agent—introduced to her by Michael Brown—recognized the manuscript's promise. He connected her with Tay Hohoff, an editor at J.B. Lippincott & Co., who worked closely with Lee to refine the novel. Hohoff encouraged her to rework the structure, deepen the character of Atticus Finch, and focus the story around a central trial that exposed the moral and social fault lines of the American South.
The novel that emerged centered on Scout Finch's coming-of-age in Depression-era Alabama, where her father, lawyer Atticus Finch, defends a Black man falsely accused of rape. Through Scout's innocent yet perceptive narration, Lee illuminated the complexities of racial prejudice, moral courage, and the painful loss of innocence. The story drew heavily from Lee's childhood observations, including the legal work of her father and the echoes of real-life trials such as the Scottsboro Boys case of the 1930s, in which nine Black teenagers were falsely accused of raping two white women in Alabama.
When To Kill a Mockingbird appeared in bookstores on July 11, 1960, initial sales were modest. But word-of-mouth praise and glowing reviews soon propelled the novel to national attention. Readers connected deeply with Scout's honesty and Atticus Finch's quiet strength. As the civil rights movement unfolded across the country, Lee's novel struck a timely chord, challenging Americans to examine their assumptions about justice, equality, and conscience.
Lee's sudden literary success brought unforeseen challenges. The shy, private author found herself thrust into the public eye, receiving invitations to speak at events and participate in interviews she would have preferred to avoid. Despite her novel's acclaim, Lee largely stepped back from public life, granting few interviews and retreating to Monroeville, where she lived quietly for much of her remaining years.
The impact of To Kill a Mockingbird extended far beyond literature. The novel became required reading in schools across the country, introducing generations of students to enduring questions about racism, empathy, and integrity. The 1962 film adaptation, starring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch, further cemented the story's legacy in American culture. Peck's performance earned him an Academy Award and made Atticus Finch an enduring symbol of moral courage and justice.
Historical Context
The publication of To Kill a Mockingbird occurred during a pivotal moment in American history when the civil rights movement was gaining unprecedented momentum. Just four years earlier, the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision had declared school segregation unconstitutional, yet many Southern states continued to resist integration through massive resistance campaigns. The year 1960 itself marked a turning point as sit-in protests began sweeping across the South, with Black college students challenging segregated lunch counters and public facilities.
The novel's exploration of racial injustice resonated powerfully because it addressed the very issues dominating national headlines. The Scottsboro Boys case that influenced Lee's narrative had occurred three decades earlier, but similar miscarriages of justice continued to plague the American legal system. Meanwhile, the growing civil rights movement was bringing increased scrutiny to the South's Jim Crow laws and practices. Leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. were advocating for nonviolent resistance, while organizations such as the NAACP were challenging discriminatory laws in courts across the nation. Lee's fictional Maycomb County served as a mirror reflecting the real struggles taking place in communities throughout the American South, making her story both timely and timeless in its examination of conscience, courage, and the ongoing fight for equality.
Did You Know?
Harper Lee produced only one page of manuscript text per day during the writing process, spending six to 12 hours daily at her desk crafting the novel with painstaking attention to detail.
The original title for the manuscript Harper Lee first submitted was Go Set a Watchman. After her editor, Tay Hohoff, encouraged her to rewrite it from young Scout's perspective, it was retitled To Kill a Mockingbird. In 2015, the original title was repurposed for the long-lost "sequel" set 20 years after the events of the first book. The "sequel" was, in fact, Lee's original first draft of To Kill a Mockingbird from before it was reworked.
Publishers initially told Lee she should expect to sell only a few thousand copies, but the novel has now sold more than 40 million copies worldwide and has never been out of print since 1960.
Gregory Peck's grandson was named "Harper" in honor of Harper Lee, reflecting the deep friendship that developed between the author and the actor who portrayed Atticus Finch.
Lee served as Truman Capote's "assistant researchist" for his famous true-crime novel In Cold Blood, spending months in Kansas interviewing townspeople and attending the trial of the accused murderers.
Today’s Reflection
The manuscript was raw, unpolished, and structurally flawed.
When Harper Lee first submitted Go Set a Watchman to her editor, it contained the seeds of greatness but lacked the focus and clarity needed to reach its potential. Rather than rejecting it outright, editor Tay Hohoff saw something worth refining. She encouraged Lee to reframe the entire story from young Scout's perspective, transforming a confused narrative into what would become one of America's most beloved novels.
The process wasn't about discarding Lee's original vision but about reshaping it into something far more powerful.
This editorial journey mirrors a profound spiritual truth about how God works in our lives.
"Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:6 (NIV)
God doesn't work with us the way a demolition crew approaches a condemned building. He works like a master editor with a promising but unfinished manuscript.
When we first come to Christ, we arrive as rough drafts. Our experiences are genuine but unrefined. Our instincts are real but misguided. Our stories are authentic but lack the coherence that only divine perspective can provide. God doesn't throw away our history or erase our personality. Instead, He begins the patient work of sanctification, reshaping our raw material into something that reflects His glory.
Consider how Lee's original manuscript contained all the essential elements that would make To Kill a Mockingbird powerful. The characters were there. The setting was established. The moral questions were present. But the perspective was wrong, and the structure was confused. Hohoff didn't give Lee an entirely new story to write. She helped her discover the story that was already there, waiting to be properly told.
This is precisely how sanctification works in the believer's life.
God takes our genuine experiences and reframes them through the lens of His truth. He takes our natural gifts and redirects them toward Kingdom purposes. He takes our painful memories and transforms them into sources of compassion for others. He takes our stubborn determination and channels it into perseverance for His glory.
The woman who once gossiped becomes an encourager. The man who was ruthlessly ambitious becomes zealous for justice. The person who struggled with addiction becomes a beacon of hope for others fighting similar battles. God doesn't erase who we were. He sanctifies who we are.
This process requires our cooperation, just as Lee had to be willing to do the hard work of revision. Sanctification isn't passive. God provides the vision and the power, but we must be willing to let Him reshape our perspective, restructure our priorities, and refine our character. Some days this feels like starting over completely. Other days it feels like subtle adjustments to things we thought we already understood.
The key insight is that God sees potential where we see problems. He sees the finished work while we're still struggling with the rough draft.
"For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)
The Greek word for "handiwork" is "poiema," from which we get our word "poem." God is crafting each believer into a living poem, a work of art that tells the story of His grace and power. But poems require editing. They need revision, refinement, and careful attention to detail.
Just as Lee spent six to twelve hours a day at her desk, producing only one polished page at a time, sanctification is often a slow, meticulous process. God is more interested in depth than speed, more concerned with lasting transformation than quick fixes. He's willing to work with us through multiple drafts, helping us discover the story He's been writing in our lives all along.
The beautiful truth is that God never grows frustrated with our need for revision. He doesn't look at our spiritual rough drafts and decide we're hopeless. Instead, He sees the potential for something extraordinary.
God's commitment to our sanctification is absolute. He will keep working with us, keep refining us, keep shaping us until we reflect His character perfectly. This isn't about achieving sinless perfection in this life. It's about trusting that God's editorial process has a purpose and a timeline that extends beyond our earthly existence.
What areas of your life feel like rough drafts right now? What parts of your character seem unpolished or unfocused? Instead of being discouraged by your spiritual immaturity, remember that God specializes in taking raw material and creating masterpieces.
Submit yourself to His editorial process. Trust His perspective when yours feels confused. Allow Him to reframe your story from His point of view. The manuscript of your life may feel unfinished, but you're in the hands of the ultimate Editor.
He's not looking to start over with someone else. He's committed to helping you become the story He's always seen you could be.
Practical Application
Before you pray tonight, identify one area of your character that feels like a rough draft and write it down on paper. Then, instead of asking God to remove this trait entirely, ask Him to show you how He might want to refine and redirect it for His glory. Spend time considering how your natural tendencies, even the ones that cause you trouble, might contain raw material that God wants to shape rather than discard. Commit to cooperating with His editorial process in this specific area, trusting that He sees potential where you might only see problems.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for not giving up on our rough drafts. Thank You for seeing potential in our unpolished stories and for having the patience to work with us through multiple revisions. We confess that we often become frustrated with our spiritual immaturity and want to start over rather than trust Your refining process. Help us to submit ourselves to Your editorial wisdom, even when we don't understand the changes You're making in our lives. Give us the courage to cooperate with Your sanctification, knowing that You are crafting us into living testimonies of Your grace. Transform our raw experiences into refined testimonies, our misdirected passions into Kingdom purposes, and our character flaws into strengths for Your glory. We trust that You who began this good work in us will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
Final Thoughts
God's sanctification process isn't about erasing who we are but about discovering who we were always meant to become. Like a master editor working with a promising manuscript, He sees beyond our current rough drafts to the masterpiece He's creating. Every experience, every struggle, and every natural gift becomes raw material in His hands. The beautiful truth is that God never starts over with us. He takes what we offer Him, no matter how unpolished, and transforms it into something that reflects His glory and serves His purposes.
Also On This Date In History
July 11 - Tragic Showdown: The Astonishing Duel That Rocked America
This is the day Vice President Aaron Burr fatally wounded Alexander Hamilton in a duel in Weehawken, New Jersey, in 1804.
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Great story Jason, and I've done quite a few on Harper Lee over the years. Monroeville lies only 100 miles west of my home in Ashford, AL, and I will be over there in September for a book signing. Always a treat to visit that town.
You are right, she was a superstar, a must-read if you grew up here during the 1960's through the 1980's while she was still alive and had friends that would speak of her. While private she was not a recluse, not a Howard Hughes character.
So glad you touched on the generosity of Michael and Joy Brown, without them her path would have been completely different. Maybe there would have never been a path. She could have ended up like John Kennedy Toole.
Also it is wonderful that you mentioned Tay Hohoff, her editor. Hohoff was an old school guy, much like Maxwell Perkins at Scribner's that had a HUGE influence on the literary world. The recent movie GENIUS details the life of Perkins and his influence on Thomas Wolfe.
The story of Harper Lee just reinforces that fact that in the world of art, nothing happens in a vacuum.
Hi Jason,
Your devotional theme of sanctification by way of God’s editorial hand spoke to me. I am aware of the blessings and editorial work He has done in my life, but also aware that there is still work to do. It reminds me of the Methodist tradition of cooperating with God so that we may continue to move forward towards His perfection. Thanks for sharing Harper Lee’s story as a way of illustrating your point. May God continue to bless your work.
Gary Creamer