‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ turns fifty

Fifty years ago this summer, Harper Lee’s only book “To Kill a Mockingbird,” was published. Popular with critics and readers from the beginning, it won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and a year later was adapted for film, with Gregory Peck starring as Atticus Finch, and Mary Badham as his daughter, ‘Scout.’

Today, in honor of To Kill a Mockingbird’s anniversary, we talk with Mary Badham, about her Oscar-nominated role in the film.

Our friend Patrik Henry Bass, senior editor for Essence magazine, also joins us to talk about the book’s influence, and why it continues to capture our imaginations after fifty years.