Reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (The Engaged Reader)

Reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Reading The Giver Reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Reading Johnny Tremain Reading The Diary of Anne Frank Reading Sounder Reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Stacy Tibbetts

CHELSEA HOUSE PUBLISHERS

VP, NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT Sally Cheney DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION Kim Shinners CREATIVE MANAGER Takeshi Takahashi MANUFACTURING MANAGER Diann Grasse Staff for READING ROLL OF THUNDER, HEAR MY CRY

EDITOR Matt Uhler PHOTO EDITOR Sarah Bloom PRODUCTION EDITOR Bonnie Cohen EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Sarah Sharpless SERIES DESIGNER Takeshi Takahashi COVER DESIGNER Takeshi Takahashi LAYOUT EJB Publishing Services ©2006 by Chelsea House Publishers, a subsidiary of Haights Cross Communications. All rights reserved. Printed and bound in the United States of America.

www.chelseahouse.com First Printing 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Tibbetts, Stacy Glen, 1967Reading Roll of thunder, hear my cry / Stacy Glen Tibbetts. p. cm. — (The engaged reader) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-7910-8832-4 1. Taylor, Mildred D. Roll of thunder, hear my cry—Juvenile literature. 2. African American families in literature—Juvenile literature. 3. Mississippi— In literature—Juvenile literature. 4. Racism in literature—Juvenile literature. I. Title. II. Series. PS3570.A9463R638 2005 813’.54—dc22 2005009525

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Table of Contents

1

Contexts

2

Narrative Technique

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3

Plot Summary

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4

Characters and Characterization

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5

The Function of Setting

43

6

Understanding Themes and Symbols

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Afterword: Expectations and Controversies

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54

Works by Mildred Taylor

63

Notes

64 65 66 67

Bibliography Further Reading Index

1 Contexts

YOU MAY HAVE HEARD the saying, “Never judge a book by

its cover.” This is sound advice—it means that you shouldn’t go by first appearances when deciding if you like someone or something. But when it comes to actual books, you can learn a lot by looking at the material that surrounds the actual story, such as the front and back covers, the introduction or preface, and other notes. You won’t be able to decide if you like the book from this material, but you can form some ideas about what lies ahead when you start to read. This “pre-reading” is very important,

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Reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry because it will help you understand the story. It should also give you some questions about the book, which you can try to answer as you read. It’s likely that the first thing you learned about Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor was the title. In fact, you probably heard or read this before you even saw the book—perhaps from your teacher. At first, the title may sound like a challenge—“Hear my cry!”—or maybe it’s a cry for help; we don’t know yet. We do know that a “roll of thunder” is a sound, but why would thunder listen to a cry? And who is crying, anyway—to whom does the title word my refer? As you read the book, try to answer these questions. The cover of the book can tell you a lot about what the story is about. Most of the paperback editions of Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry have a picture of three children on the cover. An older girl, maybe ten years old, stands looking over her shoulder at a raging fire. She looks scared, and two younger boys hang on to her as she tries to shield them from the blaze. All three of the children are African-American, and they are standing on the porch of a house. They are barefoot, and they wear either overalls or denim jeans. This illustration raises several questions. First, what is burning? Why is it burning, and what does it have to do with the children? Are the children related to each other? They appear to be very close. From their bare feet and plain dress, you might conclude that they do not have much money. Because the children are African-American, you might also suspect that the fire has something to do with racism and that the children are being threatened by someone. The cover also bears the author’s name, Mildred D. Taylor, and a “gold medal” imprint, which is the seal of the John Newbery Medal, an award given “for the most

Contexts distinguished contribution to American literature for children.” From this, we know that Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is considered to be one of the best children’s books ever written. The back cover also holds many clues to what the book is about, and it explains something about the cover illustration. The description on the back reads: With the land to hold them together, nothing can tear the Logans apart. Why is the land so important to Cassie’s family? It takes the events of one turbulent year—the year of the night riders and the burnings, the year a white girl humiliates Cassie in public simply because she is black—to show Cassie that having a place of their own is the Logan family’s lifeblood. It is the land that gives the Logans their courage and pride, for no matter how others may degrade them, the Logans possess something no one can take away.

From this, we can confirm a couple of the things that we guessed at from the front cover. First, we now know that the fire does have something to do with racism. Second, we can now be pretty sure that the girl pictured on the cover is Cassie Logan and that she is one of the main characters in the book. Also, we learn that the themes, or main ideas, of the book will include courage and pride in the face of racism and the importance of land. HISTORY OF THE SOUTH From the phrase “the year of the night riders and the burnings,” we know that the book is probably set in the American South, some time during the years after the end of the Civil War in 1865 and before the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s. Throughout this time, African Americans were harassed and killed by white supremacists,

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Reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry people who believed that white people were superior to African Americans. These people often traveled during the night, wearing white hoods to conceal their identities, and they sometimes burned crosses on the yards of black families. This time period is a particularly shameful part of American history. It arose from the time of slavery, which was an important part of the South’s economy during the 1700s and early 1800s. Many people in the northern states, however, believed that slavery was immoral and unjust. The conflict over slavery came to a head during the Civil War, which was fought between the North and the South from 1861 to 1865. During the war, President Abraham Lincoln officially freed the Southern slaves by issuing the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and by supporting the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1865. But in the process of winning the Civil War, the North destroyed much of the South’s economy, farms, and businesses. After the war ended, a period known as Reconstruction began, in which the North tried to rebuild the South and change the social life there so that African Americans would have chances for a better education. They would also be able to own land and earn money for their labor. Military troops were placed in charge of entire regions of the South, but they were withdrawn around 1877. After the troops left, whites in the South fought back and re-introduced state laws that took away African-American rights, including the right to vote. By the end of Reconstruction, around 1877, African Americans had gained access to education, although it was rarely equal to what white students had. (This fact is made very clear in the opening chapters of Roll of Thunder, Hear

Contexts My Cry.) Many Southerners who didn’t own land (including most African Americans) were trapped in a cycle of poverty, because they had to work on other people’s land, often in exchange for a share of the crop that they grew but no real money. Some of the characters in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry are so-called “sharecroppers.” Also, violently racist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan persecuted and killed blacks throughout the first half of the 1900s. This is the social situation into which the main characters of Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry are placed. THE REPUTATION OF ROLL OF THUNDER, HEAR MY CRY The back cover of Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry features a quote from a review published in The New York Times Book Review: “Taylor ... writes not with rancor or bitterness of indignities, but with pride, strength, and respect for humanity.” The word rancor means anger, and we might expect that a book about racism in the South would be filled with anger. But if it were an angry book, we might not want to read it. Instead, we learn from this quote that Mildred Taylor was not writing out of anger, but rather to show the humanity, or compassion, and pride of the families who faced racism. The back cover also lists the awards that the book, published in 1976, has won, including the Newbery Medal in 1977, a nomination for the National Book Award, and inclusion in The New York Times Book Review Best of Children’s Books 1970–1980. Like the quotes on the back cover, the book review quotations on the first page tell us that the book is very well respected. We also learn that the story is set “during the Depression,” the most severe economic downturn in Amer-

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Reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry ican history, which lasted from 1930 to the beginning of America’s involvement in World War Two in 1941. During this time, American farmers especially struggled. During World War One they had been able to sell export crops to Europe and they made good money and many went into debt to buy farm machinery and land. But by the late 1920s, Europe’s farmers had recovered, causing the prices paid for American crops to fall. American farmers often could not make enough to pay their debts. Then, in 1929, investors lost confidence in the stock market and began to sell their stocks. The market “crashed,” or lost its value suddenly, causing many people, businesses, and banks to lose all of their money. Businesses started to close and, from 1929 to 1932, unemployment in America went from less than 4 percent to around 25 percent. This is the situation in which the characters in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry find themselves. Another book review quote tells us that the “events and setting ... are presented with such verisimilitude and the characters are so carefully drawn that one might assume the book to be autobiographical ...”1 Verisimilitude means “realness” or “closeness to reality” and autobiographical means “about the author’s own life.” This quote tells us that the book is so realistic that you might think it was true. It is not, however, a true story; it is a work of fiction. NOTES ABOUT THE AUTHOR The dedication was written by Taylor, the book’s author: “To the memory of my beloved father who lived many adventures of the boy Stacey and who was in essence the man David.” This tells us the names of two of the book’s characters. We also learn that the character of David was modeled after the author’s father.

Contexts In the author’s note, we also learn more about Taylor. Her father was a “master storyteller” who could make her laugh or shiver with his words. Taylor was born in the South but lived in the North, and she learned the history of her family from stories that were passed down from generation to generation by word-of-mouth. These stories were about “slavery and the days following slavery; of those who lived still not free, yet who would not let their spirits be enslaved.” This description matches what we know about the history of African Americans in the South, who were “officially” freed from slavery during the Civil War, but who were harassed and repressed throughout the following decades. In an interview, Taylor said this about her father’s stories and how they affected her: ... I was fascinated by the stories, not only because of what they said or because they were about my family, but because of the manner in which my father told them.2

Taylor began to imagine herself as a storyteller too. She wanted to be able to tell stories that would make people laugh or feel a sense of pride. But as a child Taylor was quiet and shy, and so she decided to focus on creating stories for herself instead of entertaining an audience. Taylor began creating elaborate daydreams in her mind, and eventually began to write them down. By the time she was in high school, Taylor knew she would be a writer. She also said this about why she wrote Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry: In Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, I included the teachings of my own childhood, the values and principles by which I and so many other Black children were reared, for I wanted to

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Reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry show a different kind of Black world from the one so often seen.3

With Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Taylor wanted to depict a family that was united in love and had a strong sense of self-respect. She wanted to portray strong and sensitive parents who were able to guide their children through life despite living in a discriminatory society. She also wanted to portray black people as heroic figures that her readers could look up to and be proud of—heroic figures who were missing from the books Taylor read as a child. So, we can expect that the main characters in the novel will be a very close and strong family, and that they will act like heroes—people who have strong values and take positive action based on what they believe, even if danger is involved. Inside the back cover is a page about the life of the author. We learn that Taylor was born in Jackson, Mississippi, and grew up in Toledo, Ohio. She graduated

ON YOUR OWN ACTIVITY #1

Mildred Taylor wrote Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry because she was inspired by stories that her father told her about their family while she was growing up. She dedicated this book to her father. Think about a story you were told when you were growing up—it might have been about something that happened to one of your relatives. If you were to write a book or story about the experience, what title would you give to the book? To whom would you dedicate it? Write the title and a brief dedication, and describe what the book or story would be about.

Contexts from college, served in the Peace Corps, and went to journalism school in Colorado, where she helped to found a Black Studies program. She also wrote one earlier book about the Logan family, Song of the Trees. Like Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, this book was also well received, and was named a New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year in 1975. Taylor went on to write several other novels, some of them about the Logan family. PRE-READING SUMMARY If we carefully read and look at the information surrounding the actual book Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, we will learn a lot about what we’re going to read. We know the names of some of the main characters, including Cassie, Stacey, and David Logan; the themes of dignity, pride, and the importance of land; and the setting in the South during the 1930s. If we understand the historical context of the story—the events that happened in the South during the time in which this story is set—we will probably anticipate an eventful tale about a time filled with danger and racial conflict and tension. Also, by reading about Taylor, what

ON YOUR OWN ACTIVITY #2

Notice that Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry does not have chapter titles. Instead, each chapter is numbered. Some books have chapter titles to help you understand what will happen in each chapter before you read, or to make you curious about what is to come. After you read each chapter of Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, brainstorm some interesting titles for it.

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Reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry she believes, how and where she grew up, and why she wrote the book, we can better understand the characters and their actions.

2 Narrative Technique

IN ROLL OF THUNDER, HEAR MY CRY, one of the first

things we notice is that the story is being told by someone. This person is called the narrator, and we say that the story is told in the first person, or by someone who calls himself or herself “I.” Who is this narrator? We remember from the introduction that our characters include Cassie, Stacey, and David Logan. Consider then the first two sentences of the book:

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Reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry “Little Man, would you come on? You keep it up and you’re gonna make us late.” My youngest brother paid no attention to me.4

We now know that our narrator has at least two brothers, and that one of them is called “Little Man.” In the first full paragraph, we learn that the other brothers are named Stacey and Christopher-John. Next, we see the narrator “pulling with exasperation at the high collar of the Sunday dress Mama had made”—which tells us that she is a girl and that her mother insists that they dress up for the first day of school. At this point, we might guess that our narrator is Cassie Logan; and when Stacey says, “Ah, Cassie, leave him be,” we are proven correct. Now we know that the story is going to be told by Cassie Logan. But what is Cassie like? What do we know about her? Why should we listen to her story? Notice that very early on, the author lets us know that Cassie is responsible and intelligent. In this first scene, she is urging her brothers to hurry to school, and she describes her brother Christopher-John in this way: A short, round boy of seven, he took little interest in troublesome things, preferring to remain on good terms with everyone. Yet he was always sensitive to others ...5

Since Cassie notices this fact about her brother, we can guess that she is also very “sensitive to others” and will be able to tell us what other characters are like very clearly. We need to trust Cassie’s descriptions of people if we are going to understand what happens in the story. Another clue about Cassie’s character is revealed when she reacts to her clothing. She tugs at the collar of her dress and drags her feet in the dust. We learn that she hates the

Narrative Technique dress and the shoes, which imprison her “freedom-loving feet accustomed to the feel of the warm earth.”6 Although she may seem mature and intelligent, Cassie is clearly still a girl at heart. We also learn that her mother is the schoolteacher. As the story continues to unfold, we find out more about Cassie, our narrator. The story she tells is not about her alone, it’s about what happens to her family over the course of a year—Cassie learns a great deal about life during that year. For example, Cassie’s father now has to go to work on the railroad to pay the taxes and mortgage on their property, and Cassie wonders why he has to go away. He explains to her that “You ain’t never had to live on nobody’s place but your own and long as I live and the family survives, you’ll never have to. That’s important.”7

ON YOUR OWN ACTIVITY #3

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is written in the first person, or from the point of view of a narrator (Cassie) who is one of the characters in the story, and who refers to herself as “I.” Cassie knows only her own thoughts; she doesn’t know what other characters are thinking—like her mother, for instance—unless her mother speaks to her. A story that is told by a narrator who knows all of the thoughts and feelings of all of the characters is said to be written in the third person. Imagine if Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry had been written in the third person. How would it be different? Which characters’ thoughts and feelings would you most like to know as the story unfolds? Which ones would spoil the story if you knew them?

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Reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Although her Papa tells her that she will understand “one day,” she doesn’t really understand yet why this is so important. This tells us that she is still somewhat immature at the beginning of the story. As we read, we may notice many critical moments when Cassie starts to grow up, when she learns something new about her place in the world, about her family’s situation, and about the dark secrets of racism in the American South during the 1930s. Finally, Cassie is directly affected when this injustice touches her family, her friends, and herself. By sharing Cassie’s experiences, we also learn what it meant to be a member of an African-American family during this difficult time. Because the story is told from her point of view, as Cassie grows up and learns during the book, so do we, becoming wiser and more aware of the history of racial conflict in America. Some of the critical moments in which Cassie’s understanding of life deepens include the following: •

In Chapter 1, when the students in her class receive old, dirty schoolbooks

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In Chapter 2, when she learns about the burning of the Berry family and is forbidden from going to the Wallace’s store

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At the end of Chapter 3, when Cassie learns about the “night riders” (a lynch mob) and actually sees them approach her house one evening, then leave

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At the end of Chapter 4, when her mother takes Cassie and her brothers to see the Berry family and explains that the Wallace family burned them

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In Chapter 5, when she faces direct discrimination

Narrative Technique for the first time at Mr. Barnett’s store in Strawberry and then is forced to apologize to Lillian Jean Simms •

In Chapter 6, when her mother explains racism and the history of slavery to her

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In Chapter 7, when Mr. Morrison tells the story of how his parents were killed by Confederate soldiers (those who fought for the South in the Civil War)

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In Chapter 8, when Cassie is warned by her father not to let the conflict with Lillian Jean involve her father, Charlie Simms; Cassie takes a stand against racism for the first time and strikes out at Lillian Jean anyway

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In Chapter 9, when her father and Mr. Morrison are attacked on the trip to Vicksburg

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In Chapter 10, when Cassie sees Mr. Morrison threatened by Kaleb Wallace; she also learns why her family cannot complain about being attacked

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In Chapter 11, when she witnesses the lynch mob that arrives to take T.J. Avery

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Finally, in Chapter 12, when Cassie learns that her father has burned their land to prevent the lynching; and that despite this, T.J. has been successfully and unjustly framed by the Simms family and will either be executed or put on a chain gang

In a sense, this book traces, chapter by chapter, Cassie’s movement into a full understanding of injustice, as one of her childhood friends finally becomes the victim of racism and hatred. In doing so, the book teaches us an important lesson also.

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Reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry If we look closely at some of the places where Cassie starts to understand the world, we can get a sense of how she changes throughout the book. First, after she sees the night riders pull into her driveway and then leave, Cassie has this reaction: Feeling sick, I crawled onto the porch and crept trembling toward the door. Once inside the house, I leaned against the latch while waves of sick terror swept over me. I lay very still for a while, not allowing myself to think. But soon, against my will, the vision of ghostly headlights soaked into my mind and an uncontrollable trembling racked my body. And it remained until the dawn, when I fell into a restless sleep.8

Cassie thinks that she is responsible for the night riders’ arrival, because she helped to upset the white students’ school bus. And for the next week, her mother notices that she is moping around the house, worried about something. Cassie’s wisdom deepens even further after her experiences in the town of Strawberry, where her grandmother, Big Ma, takes her for the first time. Mr. Barnett, a local grocer, ignores her in his store, overlooking her in favor of a white customer. Cassie insists that he has no right to do so. Mr. Barnett calls her a “little nigger,” and he eventually tells Stacey, “Then you get her out of here ... and make sure she don’t come back till yo’ mammy teach her what she is.”9 Outside the store, in her anger, Cassie bumps into Lillian Jean Simms, who insists that Cassie get down off of the sidewalk and walk in the ditch. When Cassie refuses, she is forced off of the sidewalk by Lillian Jean’s father. A crowd gathers, and Big Ma insists that Cassie apologize, out of

Narrative Technique fear for what might happen. Cassie then tells us that “no day in all my life had ever been as cruel as this one.”10 Afterward, she asks her mother, “But Mama, that Lillian Jean ain’t got the brains of a flea! How come I gotta go ’round calling her ‘Miz’ like she grown or something?” Mama’s voice grew hard. “Because that’s the way of things, Cassie.” “The way of what things?” I asked warily. “Baby, you had to grow up a little today. I wish ... well, no matter what I wish. It happened and you have to accept the fact that in the world outside this house, things are not always as we would have them to be.”11

Mama goes on to explain the history of slavery and racism in the South, and Cassie has this reaction: There was a sinking feeling in my stomach and I felt as if the world had turned itself upside down with me in it. Then I thought of Lillian Jean and a surging anger gurgled upward ...12

When Cassie tells her father about the events in Strawberry, he warns her: There’ll be a whole lot of things you ain’t gonna wanna do but you’ll have to do in this life just so you can survive. Now I don’t like the idea of what Charlie Simms did to you ... but I had to weigh the hurt of what happened to you to what could’ve happened if I went after him ... so I let it be. I don’t like letting it be, but I can live with that decision. But there are other things, Cassie, that if I’d let be, they’d eat away at me and destroy me in the end. And it’s the same with you, baby. There are things you can’t back down on,

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Reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry things you gotta take a stand on. But it’s up to you to decide what them things are. You have to demand respect in this world, ain’t nobody just gonna hand it to you.... ... I want you to think real hard on whether or not Lillian Jean’s worth taking a stand about, but keep in mind that Lillian Jean probably won’t be the last white person to treat you this way.... This here’s an important decision, Cassie, very important ... but I think you can handle it.13

Cassie eventually promises her father that no matter what she does, Charlie Simms won’t get involved in the matter. Cassie then makes a decision to take a stand. She decides to get revenge on Lillian Jean by pretending to become her friend. She learns about Lillian Jean’s boyfriends and private thoughts, then lures her into the woods and fights with her. Cassie pins Lillian Jean to the ground and makes her apologize for everything she has done. Finally, Cassie threatens to tell everyone about Lillian Jean’s secrets if she tells her father what happened. At this point in the story, we know that not only has Cassie become directly aware of racism, but also that she is able to fight back against it. Still, it isn’t until the very end of the book, when two events happen that help Cassie fully accept the injustice she has to live with. First, her father and Mr. Morrison

ON YOUR OWN ACTIVITY #4

The scenes in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry in which Cassie befriends Lillian Jean Simms and then fights her are important in defining Cassie’s character. Are these events believable? Why or why not? Do Cassie’s actions make you like her more or less? Why?

Narrative Technique are attacked on their trip to Vicksburg to buy supplies. When Papa returns home with a bullet wound and a broken leg, Cassie and the other children are afraid that he might die: All the questions had been answered, yet we feared, and we sat silently listening to the rain, soft now upon the roof, and watching the door behind which Papa lay, and wished for morning.14

Second, after T.J. is framed by the Simms family for murdering Mr. Barnett during the robbery of his store, Cassie and her brothers learn that T.J. will either end up on the chain gang or possibly on death row for a crime that he didn’t commit. Papa tells them the truth about this, but he says, “All I can say, Cassie girl ... is that it shouldn’t be.” When she is left alone to think about the fate of her friend, Cassie finally cries, realizing that: In the afternoon when I awakened, or tomorrow or the next day, the boys and I would still be free to run the red road, to wander through the old forest and sprawl lazily on the banks of the pond. Come October, we would trudge to school as always, barefooted and grumbling, fighting the dust and the mud and the Jefferson Davis school bus. But T.J. never would again.15

Although Cassie admits that she had “never liked T.J.,” she had thought that he would always be part of her life. Since we have become used to seeing the world from Cassie’s point of view in this novel, we feel what Cassie feels as the book ends—the loss of innocence and sadness for the injustice that has changed her forever. Taylor wants us to feel this, and her narrative technique of slowly changing Cassie’s perspective and reactions throughout the book

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Reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry has made it happen. We care about Cassie, because we share her point of view. This is part of what makes Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry such a powerful story.

3 Plot Summary

NOW THAT YOU UNDERSTAND a little bit about Cassie, the

narrator of the story, let’s dig deeper into what actually happens in the book. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is the story of Cassie’s family, the Logans, African-American farmers who own their own land. They live in rural Mississippi in the 1930s, during the Great Depression. When the story opens, the Logan children—Cassie, Stacey, Christopher-John, and Little Man—are on their way to school, walking on a dirt road. They have to walk to school each day because their school can’t afford a bus. Although their family

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Reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry does not have a lot of money, their mother, Mary, a schoolteacher, insists that they dress nicely for the first day of school. They attend a different school from the white students, and a bus from the white school often drives by them on the muddy roads, intentionally splashing them and forcing them into the ditch. The Logans have one white friend, a boy named Jeremy Simms, who likes them and keeps meeting with them, even though his family sometimes whips him for doing so. At school, they are given badly worn books to read, ones that have been handed down through many white students before being given to the black school. Their mother quietly pastes paper into the books over the long list of previous owners, much to the chagrin of another schoolteacher, who fears that trouble will result with the white school board if the books are altered. The Logan children’s father, David, is away working on the railroad to pay for the mortgage and taxes on the family’s land. This land is very important to the family, as it is unusual for an African-American family to own property. On the way to school, the Logan family’s friend T.J. Avery tells them about a rumor he heard that three members of the African-American Berry family were attacked and burned by some white men the night before. In Chapter 2, Papa (David) brings a man named Mr. L.T. Morrison to stay with the Logan family. He is a giant, and we learn that he got into trouble for fighting with some white men on the railroad. We also learn that the Berry family was attacked and badly burned—one died—by members of a white family who own a local store, the Wallaces. In Chapter 3, Cassie and her brothers dig a muddy ditch to trap the school bus that splashes them. They succeed in

Plot Summary stopping the bus and nobody is hurt, but the children are afraid that this incident has caused “night riders” to come by their house one evening, looking for revenge. The night riders pass by their house, but Mr. Morrison has been hiding with a shotgun in case of trouble. Cassie sees the night riders and is frightened. One week later, T.J. tells Cassie and her brothers that the night riders had not known about the bus at all, but instead had “tarred and feathered” a black man in their community because he had gotten into a dispute with Jim Lee Barnett, a white store owner in the nearby town of Strawberry. T.J., who is not well liked by the Logan children, cheats on a test at school and blames Stacey. Stacey has been forbidden to go to the Wallace family store, but he follows T.J. there to fight him. Mr. Morrison picks Stacey up, lectures him, and brings him home. Mr. Granger, the white landowner who lives next to the Logans, visits their house. He wants to buy their land from them, and this visit prompts Cassie’s grandmother, Big Ma, to tell Cassie the history of the Logan land. It had been purchased by Yankees (northerners) from the Granger family after the Civil War left the family in poverty. The land had then been parceled off, with some of it having been sold to Big Ma’s husband (Cassie’s grandfather), Paul Edward. Other parcels went to a friendly white man named Jamison, who eventually sold some of his land to the Logans and became a lawyer in Vicksburg. Cassie’s mother takes the children to visit the badly burned Mr. Berry and his wife. She also begins to get back at the Wallace family by organizing a boycott of their store, planning to buy supplies for the town from Vicksburg. Chapter 5 begins one week later. Big Ma takes the children with her to Strawberry, to a farmer’s market. Their

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Reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry wagon does not have a good location at the market—these go to white farmers—but they have loyal customers. T.J. persuades Cassie and Stacey to disobey Big Ma and venture on their own into Mr. Barnett’s store, where T.J. shows Cassie and Stacey a gun on display that he would like to own. They try to place Big Ma’s order at the store, but they are forced to wait while Mr. Barnett attends to his white customers. This outrages Cassie, and she yells at Mr. Barnett. He calls her a “nigger” and throws the children out. Outside, Cassie accidentally bumps into Lillian Jean Simms— their friend Jeremy’s older sister—who insults Cassie. Mr. Simms, her father, pushes Cassie off the sidewalk and into the street, and insists that Cassie apologize to Lillian Jean. Big Ma arrives just as a crowd begins to gather, and fearing for the family’s safety, forces Cassie to apologize. She does so reluctantly.

ON YOUR OWN ACTIVITY #5

The story of Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is told in chronological order, which means that the story starts with the earliest events (the children walking to school, the school bus) and moves straight through time to the last event that occurs (the fire in the cotton crop). It is also possible to tell a story through flashbacks, or through the memories of a character who is looking back at the past after an important event occurs. Imagine if Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry had started with the lynch mob and the fire in the cotton crop, and then had “flashed back” to the beginning. Would it be more effective? Less effective? Why? In what other order or sequence could the events in this story have been told?

Plot Summary Next, Cassie’s Uncle Hammer arrives from Chicago. He is driving a new Packard automobile, which closely resembles the one that Mr. Granger owns. He reacts strongly to what happened to Cassie, but Papa talks him out of seeking revenge, citing the family’s safety. Uncle Hammer gives Stacey a new coat as an early Christmas gift, and the Logans go to church in Uncle Hammer’s fancy car. On the way home from church, they speed across a bridge in front of the Wallace family, who mistakenly thinks they are the Grangers. When Stacey reveals that he has given his new coat to T.J., who smooth-talked him out of it, Uncle Hammer teaches Stacey a lesson about this but does not insist that he try to get the coat back. Soon, it’s Christmas, and the Logans celebrate Christmas Eve with a feast. After dinner, Papa and Uncle Hammer tell stories about escapades from their past. Mr. Morrison explains about how his parents had been killed by racist “night riders,” possibly white Confederate soldiers. Early the next morning, Cassie hears her parents, grandmother, and Uncle Hammer discussing their land, and the possibility that they might have to use it to get credit in Vicksburg for the poor black families whom they are trying to convince to shop there. They would risk losing the land if they did so. But worries are set aside for a Christmas gift exchange, and Uncle Hammer has brought precious books for the children. Later, the family celebrates with another feast, to which the Avery family is invited. Jeremy Simms stops by with a gift that he has made for Stacey, a homemade wooden flute. Stacey accepts it awkwardly, given the tension that recently occurred between Cassie and Lillian Jean Simms. After Jeremy leaves, Papa warns Stacey that their friendship could lead to trouble for the family. Stacey stashes the flute away in a box.

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Reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry On the day after Christmas, Mr. Jamison, the white lawyer from Vicksburg, arrives to help the Logans transfer ownership of their land from Big Ma to Papa and Uncle Hammer. While he is there, he offers to provide financial backing for the credit that the black families need to shop in Vicksburg. He also warns the Logans about the consequences of this: Harlan Granger owns the land that the Wallace’s store is on and gets money from it, so he will certainly not like the boycott and will try to make trouble. A few days later, Papa, Uncle Hammer, and Mr. Morrison make the first shopping trip to Vicksburg, bringing back a wagon load of store-bought supplies for the African-American families in the area. Harlan Granger soon visits them and threatens to charge more rent (a higher percentage of the crop price) to the black families who sharecrop on his land. He also threatens to make the bank “call in the mortgage” on some of the Logan family’s land. This means that they would have to pay for it immediately, without a loan. As Chapter 8 begins, Cassie starts to pretend to be friends with Lillian Jean Simms. Her brothers can’t understand why she’s doing this, and her Papa warns her not to get Mr. Simms involved in the situation. Eventually, Lillian Jean starts to trust Cassie with secrets about her crushes and friends. Shortly thereafter, Cassie lures Lillian Jean into the woods, shoves her to the ground, and pins her, forcing Lillian Jean to apologize for her racist attitude and for her family. Cassie blackmails Lillian Jean into silence about the incident, threatening to tell everyone in the school about Lillian Jean’s secret crushes. T.J. Avery is caught cheating on an exam by Mrs. Logan. He is upset, and runs to the Wallace’s store. Soon, members of the local school board, including Kaleb Wallace and Harlan Granger, come to the classroom and fire her. At

Plot Summary first, Cassie thinks that this has to do with the altered schoolbooks, but soon the children learn that T.J. has told the schoolboard (including the Wallaces) about the Logans’ plan to help people shop in Vicksburg. The children distance themselves from T.J., who has started to hang around with R.W. and Melvin Simms, Jeremy Simms’s white older brothers. At the beginning of Chapter 9, it is early springtime, and the African-American school is about to end so the children can help with the crop growing season. Jeremy Simms tells the Logan children that his brothers are just pretending to be T.J.’s friends and that they really don’t like him. Around this time, Mr. Jamison visits the Logans and warns them that the Wallaces are planning to stop them from shopping in Vicksburg. Shortly after school lets out, the Logans are planning another buying trip to Vicksburg. Before they go, however, their friends Mr. Avery and Mr. Lanier stop by to tell the Logans that they have to drop out of the buying program, because they’ve been threatened by the Wallaces, who own the land on which they work. Despite this, Mr. Morrison, Papa, and Stacey make a trip to Vicksburg. When they eventually return, late on a stormy night, Papa has suffered a broken leg and a slight gunshot wound. Stacey tells the family that their wagon had been sabotaged while they were in Vicksburg, and that the wheels had fallen off on the way home. When they had stopped to fix the wagon, they had been attacked by some men who had followed them in a truck. One of the men shot at Papa, and the shot had spooked their horse, making the wagon roll backwards over Papa’s leg. The men had come after the Logans, but Mr. Morrison fought them off. While Papa is recovering, he is unable to go to work on the

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Reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry railroad because of his injury. Money is tight for the Logan family, as Mama no longer has an income from teaching school. The family plans to sell farm animals to raise their mortgage money for the summer. Mama explains to Cassie why the family cannot report the attack to the authorities. Soon, Mr. Morrison and the children make a trip to a neighboring farm to loan the family a piece of equipment. On the way home, their wagon is blocked by a truck, and they are threatened by Kaleb Wallace, the driver. Mr. Morrison physically picks up his truck and moves it out of their way. In August, Mr. Morrison goes to Strawberry to make a mortgage payment and discovers that the bank has “called up the note,” forcing them to pay off their mortgage loan in full or lose their land. Later that month, the Logans go to a church revival meeting. While they are there, Uncle Hammer arrives from the north. He has sold his car to help them pay off their mortgage. T.J. Avery arrives at the revival, dressed in fancy clothes and bragging about his friendship with R.W. and Melvin Simms. They have been stealing from people and are heading for Strawberry that evening.

ON YOUR OWN ACTIVITY #6

The story focuses on the events in one year in the life of the Logan family, starting with the first day of school in the fall and ending the following August. But the book also gives information about certain events that happened before that year, as well as some predictions about what will happen after that year. List some of the events that you know have taken place before and that might take place after the actual events in the book.

Plot Summary Late on that same hot, threatening August night, Cassie is in bed, but she hears a sound outside—it is T.J., who is injured. He explains that he broke into Mr. Barnett’s store in Strawberry with the Simms brothers. The brothers badly beat up the store owners and T.J., who ran from them. The Logan children take T.J. to his home. As the children are about to leave the Avery house, the “night riders,” including R.W. and Melvin Simms and the Wallaces, arrive there. The Logan children hide in the woods and watch as the Simms and Wallaces loudly blame T.J. for attacking the Barnetts. They drag the Avery family out of their house and assault them, and they threaten to hang T.J. Soon, the sheriff and Mr. Jamison arrive and futilely try to stop the lynching. Mr. Granger, who lives nearby, refuses to help. Stacey sends Cassie home to get their father and Mr. Morrison. After Cassie tells her parents what is happening, Papa and Mr. Morrison head to the scene. Soon, Mama and the children smell smoke, and they realize that their cotton is on fire. Mama and Big Ma head out to help fight the blaze. In the hours before dawn, Jeremy Simms arrives at the Logans to tell the children that everyone in town has been fighting the fire, which they think was started by lightning. Rain begins and helps to put out the fire. In the morning, Cassie goes to look at the destruction. Black and white families are working side by side, exhausted, to put out the remaining small fires. T.J. has avoided a lynching, but he has been arrested and taken into Strawberry by the sheriff and Mr. Jamison. Stacey tells Cassie that Mr. Jamison had tried to block the lynch mob with his car and had succeeded in stalling them until everyone noticed the fire and went to fight it. Later that day, Mr. Jamison arrives to tell the Logan

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Reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry family that Jim Lee Barnett died from the attack in the store. Mr. Jamison is going to take the Avery family into town to see T.J., who will recover from his injuries but who has now been framed for murder. Papa wants to go with him, but Mr. Jamison advises him to stay home, to “avoid suspicion” about the fire. Cassie realizes that her father started the fire on his own land to divert the lynch mob. Finally, the children learn that T.J. may end up working on a chain gang or possibly on death row and that no one will be able to do anything about it. At the end of the book, Cassie cries for the injustice, and for their burned land.

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Reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry villains, deeply troubled racist people, thieves, and even murderers. We know some of these characters very well: Taylor gives us a lot of information about Cassie and her brothers, their family, and their family’s history, for instance. For others, like R.W. and Melvin Simms, we have only brief glimpses of and can only guess at why they are the way they are. More interestingly, Taylor allows certain characters to change and grow throughout the book. We’ve already looked closely at the self-confident, intelligent Cassie, and how she develops a sadness and wisdom throughout the book, as she, her family, and her friends are affected by racism and discrimination. In this chapter, we’ll take a closer look at some of the other important characters and notice how they change. Here’s a list of the characters in the book, with short descriptions of who they are and what they do in the story: THE LOGAN FAMILY (MAIN CHARACTERS, AFRICAN-AMERICAN FARMERS WHO OWN LAND) Cassie Logan: 9 years old, the narrator Stacey Logan: Cassie’s older brother

ON YOUR OWN ACTIVITY #7

Mildred Taylor provides a lot of detail about certain main characters, but also creates believable minor characters as well, such as Little Man, who is always very neat. Which character in the book do you most identify with? Why?

Characters and Characterization Christopher-John Logan: Cassie’s younger brother Little Man (Clayton Chester Logan): Cassie’s youngest brother, 6 years old David Logan (Papa): Cassie’s father, who works on the railroad Mary Logan (Mama): Cassie’s mother, a schoolteacher Uncle Hammer: Papa’s brother, who lives in Chicago Caroline Logan (Big Ma): Cassie’s 60-year-old grandmother Mr. L.T. Morrison: a giant man whom Papa brings to live with the Logans, although he is not a blood relative of theirs THE AVERYS (AFRICAN-AMERICAN FARMERS WHO SHARECROP ON HARLAN GRANGER’S LAND) T.J. Avery: Stacey’s 13-year-old friend Claude Avery: T.J.’s younger brother Mr. and Mrs. Avery: T.J. and Claude’s father and mother THE SIMMS (WHITE NEIGHBORS OF THE LOGANS) Jeremy Simms: 11 years old, he tries to befriend the Logans Lillian Jean Simms: Jeremy’s older sister R.W. and Melvin Simms: Jeremy’s older brothers Charlie Simms: father of the Simms children THE WALLACES (WHITE OWNERS OF A GENERAL STORE) Kaleb: store owner Thurston and Dewberry: Kaleb’s sons

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Reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry THE BERRYS (AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN FAMILY) Samuel Berry: a sharecropper badly burned by the Wallace family John Henry Berry: Samuel’s nephew, burned to death by the Wallaces Beacon Berry: Samuel’s nephew, also badly burned by the Wallaces OTHER CHARACTERS Mr. Jamison: a white lawyer who lives in Vicksburg; his family sold land to the Logans Harlan Granger: a plantation owner whose family used to own the Logans’ land and who would like to have it back Jim Lee Barnett: the mercantile store owner in Strawberry Mrs. Barnett: Jim Lee’s wife Miss Daisy Crocker: a fellow schoolteacher with Mary Logan Silas Lanier: a sharecropper on Harlan Granger’s land MAMA (MARY LOGAN) Cassie’s mother, Mary, is a schoolteacher and she is a very good one. She is aware of the racism that surrounds her, and she repeatedly acts to give her family and other members of the African-American community a sense of pride and identity. For example, early in the book, the poor, African-American school where she teaches receives a stack of worn, soiled books. A page at the front of each book shows that white students used the books until they became so dilapidated that they were sent to the “nigra” students. Her students are upset at this, but Mary quietly pastes paper over those pages to help the students’ selfesteem. Mary is warned by another teacher that the school board might be upset at this, but she takes the risk.

Characters and Characterization She takes an even bigger risk later in the story when the white school board members come into her classroom to observe her teaching. This exchange provides one of the plainest explanations of the racial conflict in the community, and although Mary loses her job because of it, it gives us a clear picture of her bravery and integrity: Mama was in the middle of history, and I knew that was bad. I could tell Stacey knew it too; he sat tense near the back of the room, his lips very tight, his eyes on the men. But Mama did not flinch; she always started her history class the first thing in the morning when the students were most alert, and I knew that the hour was not yet up. To make matters worse, her lesson for the day was slavery. She spoke on the cruelty of it; of the rich economic cycle it generated as slaves produced the raw products for the factories of the North and Europe; how the country profited and grew from the free labor of a people still not free. Before she had finished, Mr. Granger picked up a student’s book, flipped it open to the pasted-over front cover, and pursed his lips. “Thought these books belonged to the county,” he said, interrupting her. Mama glanced over at him, but did not reply. Mr. Granger turned the pages, stopped, and read something. “I don’t see all them things you’re teaching in here.” “That’s because they’re not in there,” Mama said. “Well, if it ain’t in here, then you got no right teaching it. This book’s approved by the Board of Education and you’re expected to teach what’s in it.” “I can’t do that.” “And why not?” Mama, her back straight and her eyes fixed on the men, answered, “Because all that’s in that book isn’t true.”16

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Reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Mama also demonstrates her courage after visiting the badly burned Samuel Berry. She works to mobilize the African-American community to boycott the Wallace family’s store. We see that she is respected in the community and loved by her family. She also tries to explain difficult situations to her children and develop self-esteem in them. One example of this occurs soon after Cassie faces discrimination from Lillian Jean Simms and her father in Strawberry. Mama explains the history of slavery to Cassie and why it has made white people lack respect for African Americans. She ends by telling Cassie, “Baby, we have no choice of what color we’re born or who our parents are or whether we’re rich or poor. What we do have is some choice over what we make of our lives once we’re here.... And I pray to God you’ll make the best of yours.”17 PAPA (DAVID LOGAN) David Logan (Papa) is hardworking and very protective of his family and their land. One of the earliest things we learn about him is that he has to leave the family for part of every year to work on the railroad. This provides enough money to pay the taxes and the mortgage on the family land. When he learns that the Berry family has been burned, Papa brings Mr. Morrison home to stay with his family when he can’t be there. This demonstrates both his wisdom and his desire to protect his family. He also clearly tells his children to stay away from the Wallace’s store, and when he learns that they have disobeyed them, he punishes them so they know that he is serious. This shows that he wants to protect his children from danger and that he cares deeply about them. David is cautious about his family’s relationships with

Characters and Characterization white families, and he advises his children to act in a way that he thinks will protect the family in the long term. As a result, he cautions Cassie not to let her temper get the better of her with Lillian Jean, so that her father will not get involved. He also warns Stacey not to become too close to Jeremy Simms, despite the fact that Jeremy has just brought Stacey a homemade present. As the story continues, David’s courage and determination to “do the right thing” in difficult circumstances increase. He risks his own life by shopping for the community in Vicksburg, even though he gets attacked and injured by the Wallaces for doing so. Finally, at the end of the book, he heads out into the night to try to stop the whites from lynching T.J. Although a lesser man might have used his shotgun (which he takes with him) to “get back” at the Wallaces, instead David tries a risky diversionary tactic— he sets fire to his own field to distract the angry mob. This works, and it shows David’s resourcefulness and willingness to sacrifice even his most valued possession—his land—for the safety of the community. UNCLE HAMMER (PAPA’S BROTHER) Uncle Hammer provides an interesting contrast to Mama and Papa Logan. He has a sharp temper and refuses to accept southern racism. In fact, he left the South to live in Chicago to take advantage of increased opportunities for African Americans in the North and has become reasonably wealthy. He is able to buy a nice car there, he dresses well, and he buys books and other gifts for the Logan children. He comes to visit the Logans and spend the Christmas season with them every year. One of the first incidents he learns about when he arrives is the treatment that Cassie received at the hands of Jim Lee Barnett and Charlie

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Reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Simms in Strawberry. His reaction shows his temper very clearly: His dark eyes narrowed to thin, angry slits. He said: “He knocked you off the sidewalk, Cassie? A grown man knocked you off the sidewalk?” ... Uncle Hammer released me and sat very still. No one said a word. Then he stood slowly, his eyes icing into that cold distant way they could, and he started toward the door.... Big Ma jumped up from her chair, knocking it over in her haste, and dashed after him. She grabbed his arm. “Let it be, son!” she cried. “That child ain’t hurt!” “Not hurt! You look into her eyes and tell me she ain’t hurt!” ... Mama’s eyes darted to the shotgun over the bed, and she edged between it and Uncle Hammer. Uncle Hammer was watching her and he said quietly, “Don’t worry. I ain’t gotta use David’s gun.... I got my own.”18

But Uncle Hammer has more character than mere anger. In fact, although he dashes off into the night to try to get revenge on Charlie Simms, Mr. Morrison talks him out of acting rashly, and they return home the next morning.

ON YOUR OWN ACTIVITY #8

Mildred Taylor based some of her other books around characters in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. For instance, The Well is about David Logan and Uncle Hammer’s past. Which character in the book would you most like to read more about? Whose story do you think would be interesting to follow further, after the events in Roll of Thunder have ended?

Characters and Characterization In addition to giving Stacey a new coat, Uncle Hammer teaches him a lesson about self-respect, when Stacey loses the coat to T.J. Uncle Hammer also sells his car to help the Logans pay off the mortgage on their land, demonstrating that although he enjoys being financially independent, he does not value status symbols over the fate of the family. STACEY LOGAN Stacey Logan has an interesting role in the story, in that his growth as a person has many similarities to Cassie’s growth. He is only a bit older than Cassie, and although Stacey seems wiser at the beginning of the story than she does, he makes mistakes and learns from them throughout the book. Stacey acts as the leader of the Logan children when they are together, and they look up to him. He advises them on how to avoid getting splashed by the white children’s school bus, and he leads a daring plot to dig a trench in the muddy road and stop the bus. Stacey has a unique friendship with T.J. Avery that teaches him many lessons. T.J. is unreliable and self-centered from the start, but Stacey usually refuses to go along with T.J.’s deviousness. For example, Stacey repeatedly refuses to help T.J. cheat on tests, and only after Stacey is unfairly blamed for one cheating incident does he “drop to T.J.’s level,” follow him to the Wallace store, and fight with him. Stacey even lets T.J. have his new coat, which he later admits was a mistake, but he learns his lesson about this. Soon, the Logan children learn that T.J. has gotten mama fired, by telling the Wallaces about her plan to boycott their store. Stacey is angry and confronts T.J. about this, but instead of beating him up he decides to simply shun him, or

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Reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry ignore him. “What he got coming to him is worse than a beating,” Stacey says. Stacey’s reactions to two incidents late in the book show that he is both responsible and caring. First, when Papa is injured by the wagon, Stacey blames himself for not being able to hold the horse. We know that he is not to blame—a gunshot spooked the horse—but Stacey feels responsible anyway. And when T.J. Avery arrives at the Logan’s house late one August night, injured and in trouble, Stacey decides to help him, even after T.J. confesses to having broken into the Barnett Mercantile store with the Simms brothers. This demonstrates that Stacey has compassion for his old friend, and a maturity that allows him to rise above the fights that they have recently had. T.J. AVERY Although not a member of the Logan family, T.J. Avery is one of the more interesting characters in the book. The first time we meet him, he joins the Logans on their walk to school. We learn that he had failed Mama’s class the year before, and he immediately suggests that Stacey might be able to get answers to tests from his mother. When Stacey hears this, he “thrusts T.J.’s arm from his shoulders.” In addition to being a cheat, T.J. also seeks attention for himself by spreading gossip and promising to tell stories, such as information about the Berrys’ burning. According to Cassie, he has a “usual sickening way of nursing a tidbit of information to death.” Finally, he blames others for his own mistakes. When he gets in trouble with his mother for going to the Wallace’s store, he blames his younger brother, Claude, who lets him get away with it out of fear. T.J.’s weaknesses continue throughout the story. He is eventually caught cheating on a test, and we also learn that

Characters and Characterization he wants to own a gun, believing that it would make him powerful. His desire to be liked leads him to befriend the racist Simms brothers, R.W. and Melvin, and soon he loses his friendship with the Logan family. The Simms play on his weaknesses to get him to help with their crimes. Soon, T.J. is dressing up in fancy (and possibly stolen) clothes, and he is led to rob the Barnett Mercantile store by the Simms brothers, who play on his desire to own the handgun displayed there. Finally, T.J. is totally betrayed by his new “friends,” when they blame him for the attack on Jim Lee Barnett and come after him in the night to lynch him. T.J. seems to have no conscience from the start, but his misdemeanors go from minor offenses like cheating and hanging out at the Wallace store to eventual theft and possible assault. He is used by the white racists, who see that he is weak and can be manipulated, and he ultimately “takes the fall” and becomes the victim of their racism. He causes his family to be attacked, narrowly avoids a lynching, and will end up either on a chain gang or possibly executed for the murder of Jim Lee Barnett, to which he was only an accomplice. JEREMY SIMMS Although only a minor character in the book, Jeremy Simms is important in that he is a member of a white, mostly racist family, who takes a stand and befriends the Logans. Although Stacey is warned not to get too involved with him, Jeremy sneaks away from his family at Christmas to bring Stacey a handmade flute as a gift. Throughout the book, he remains a constant source of information for the Logan children about what’s happening in the community, and he risks ridicule from the other children and even

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Reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry whippings (“wide red welts on his arms”) to remain friends with them. MR. MORRISON Mr. L.T. Morrison, a giant of a man, physically protects the Logans from harm several times. We learn that he had lost his parents in a racially motivated attack when he was still an infant and that he likes the company of the Logan family. Among his heroic acts are defending the Logan house at night with a shotgun in hand, rescuing Stacey from the fight at the Wallace store, moving Kaleb Wallace’s pickup truck out of the way with his bare hands, and defending Papa when they are attacked by the Wallaces on the way home from Vicksburg. MR. JAMISON One other minor character who deserves special mention is Mr. Jamison, the white lawyer from Vicksburg. He is from a southern family that used to own some of the Granger land, which they sold to the Logans, and he acts as a defender and supporter of the African-American community in several ways. First, he helps the Logans with the paperwork for transferring their land from Big Ma to David and Uncle Hammer, in order to avoid having it taken away by a legality. He also offers to provide financial credit (to “sign for”) the African-American families who want to shop in Vicksburg. He warns Papa about the consequences of this action, explaining some of the legal risks involved. Finally, he physically tries to stop the lynching of T.J. at the end of the book, blocking the Simms vehicle with his car to keep them from taking T.J. away.

5 The Function of Setting

NOW LET’S CONSIDER how the story’s setting affects what

happens. The setting is the time period and the location in which the story takes place. We already know a few things about the setting: the story takes place in rural Mississippi in 1933–1934, the early years of the Great Depression. But there are several more specific ways that Mildred Taylor defines the story’s setting to make her tale come alive. TIME PERIOD One way we can tell that the country is in the midst of the Great

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Reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Depression is that the characters in the book are poor. In the very first scene, the Logan children are walking to school on a dusty road, and Cassie tells us that they often “wear threadbare clothing washed to dishwater color.” Their school is “a dismal end to an hour’s journey ... [c]onsisting of four weather-beaten wooden houses on stilts of brick ...”19 Only certain individuals own cars—Packards and pickup trucks are mentioned in the book—and the Logans travel by horse and buggy. These details let us know that we are in a rural setting and that times are tough. Remember also that the 1930s was a time of deep racial division in the South. Since the end of the Civil War, attempts by northerners to create social equality for African Americans had largely failed. Despite national laws outlawing discrimination, southern whites had created state laws that took away equal rights for African Americans, including the right to vote. These laws were called “Jim Crow Laws,” and they made white and black people go to separate schools, travel in separate train cars, attend separate theaters, drink from separate water fountains, and even

ON YOUR OWN ACTIVITY #9

The story takes place in rural Mississippi, outside of Vicksburg, which is “an overnight drive” away by horse and carriage. You can locate Vicksburg on any map of Mississippi, along the Mississippi River on the western edge of the state. Using the information in the novel and in Chapter 5 of this book, draw a map of the area in which the story takes place. Include Vicksburg, Strawberry, the Granger Land, the Logan Land, the two schools, etc.

The Function of Setting be buried in separate graveyards. This inequality continued into the 1950s and 1960s, when the Civil Rights Movement once again called national attention to the problem and segregation was banned. LAND AND LANDSCAPE The Mississippi land is very important to this story. In fact, a lot of what happens occurs because the Logans own land, which makes their southern white neighbors angry. Early in the book, Cassie remembers her father telling her, “Look out there, Cassie girl. All that belongs to you. You ain’t never had to live on nobody’s place but your own and long as I live and the family survives, you’ll never have to. That’s important.”20 Also, the fact that the characters “live off the land” as farmers dictates many of the basic patterns of life in the story. For instance, because the African-American children work in the fields during the growing season, their schools let out earlier in the spring than the white schools do. The families often travel to towns to sell farm goods and buy supplies. Mildred Taylor sometimes uses sensory details—sights, sounds, feelings, smells—to describe the landscape in rural Mississippi. For example, Cassie says at one point that in the spring, she is “... eager to be in the fields again, to feel the furrowed rows of damp, soft earth beneath my feet; eager to walk barefooted through the cool forest, hug the trees, and sit under their protective shadow.”21 There also are unpleasant aspects to the Mississippi countryside: “At the end of October the rain had come, falling heavily upon the six-inch layer of dust which had had its own way for more than two months.” The dust becomes “a fine red clay that oozed between our toes and

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Reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry slopped against our ankles as we marched miserably to and from school.”22 (Note that this rain becomes important to the story, since it softens the earth, allowing the children to dig a trench to stop the school bus.) DIALECT Another way that Taylor makes the setting of the book seem realistic is to have her characters speak with a southern dialect. Dialect is the way people speak in a certain area or region of the country. They sometimes pronounce or spell words differently. For example, in the first scene, Little Man tells Cassie, “Y’all go ahead and get dirty if y’all wanna.” The word y’all is an abbreviation of “you all,” which is a southern expression for “you.” The characters also use the word ain’t for “is not.” Another colorful expression that the children use is the phrase wear you out, which means “hit you” or “yell at you”—as in “Your mama’s gonna wear you out if she finds out about your cheating.” SPECIFIC PLACES In addition to the general location of the story in Mississippi, Taylor creates specific locations around where the

ON YOUR OWN ACTIVITY #10

Consider how the story would have been different if it had taken place in a different state. Would this have been possible? Based on your knowledge of history, which states could the story have happened in? Why? If the story had taken place in a different state, how might it have changed, in terms of the events that happen throughout the year?

The Function of Setting Logans live, to make their world seem real. She often lets us imagine the specific details of these locations, although some are described in detail. For instance, when Mr. Morrison first arrives at the Logan’s, he notices the long sloping lawn, the porch, and the wood walls and furniture in their living room. As we have already noted, in the first scene, the children are walking along a dusty country road on their way to school. We learn that the Berry family, who were burned by the Wallaces, live “way over on the other side of Smellings Creek.” We also first hear about the Wallace’s store from T.J. Soon, the children walk by a crossroads, where a road leads to the Jefferson Davis County School, the school for the white children. This school, quite different from their own school, is described as: ... a long white wooden building looming in the distance. Behind the building was a wide sports field around which were scattered rows of tiered gray-looking benches. In front of it were two yellow buses, our own tormentor and one that brought students from the other direction.... In the very center of the expansive front lawn, waving red, white, and blue with the emblem of the Confederacy emblazoned in its upper lefthand corner, was the Mississippi flag. Directly below it was the American flag.23

When the children arrive at their own school, the Great Faith Elementary and Secondary School, we learn that it is also the location of the church to which they belong. Other important locations where events in the book take place include the Logans’ farmhouse and barn, the Wallace Store, the farmer’s market and Barnett Mercantile in Strawberry, and the Avery residence.

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6 Understanding Themes and Symbols

SO FAR, WE’VE TALKED about all of the facts that make up the

book—the narrator, the plot or events, the characters, and the setting—but what about the ideas behind the story? In addition to being entertained, we usually want to learn something when we read. What makes this story interesting and worth reading? The main ideas of a story, or the important points that the author stresses throughout, are called the book’s themes. We also know that in stories, just as in real life, certain objects can hold deeper meanings beyond what they actually are. For example, a flag usually represents something else—a

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Understanding Themes and Symbols country, for instance, or patriotic feelings for that country. Items in a story that have characteristics which make us think of something else, an idea or a concept, are called symbols. THEMES One of the most important themes of Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is the importance of land and land ownership. Owning their own land enables the Logan family to be financially independent, since they don’t have to use income from their crops to pay to rent land. As a result, they are able to keep more of their own money. The family takes precautions and repeatedly sacrifices so they won’t lose their land. Big Ma transfers the ownership of the land to her sons when she gets older. Papa goes away to work on the railroad to make money for their mortgage and taxes, and they plan to sell farm animals after Mama loses her job. Uncle Hammer sells his car to help them pay off their mortgage. Unlike Harlan Granger, who sees his land as a way to make money and to control people, the Logans see land as a way to keep their family together. This brings up a second crucial theme: the importance of family and community. The Logans constantly look out for each other, and they work to help the African-American community as well. Mama organizes a boycott of the Wallace store after the Berry family is attacked. Papa sets his cotton fields on fire in order to save T.J. Avery, which demonstrates that people and community are more important than land in the Logan family’s value system. Another important theme is self-respect and respect for others. Papa and Mama teach their children to have selfrespect and dignity, even when they are the victims of

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Reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry racism. After Cassie is forced to apologize to Lillian Jean Simms in Strawberry, she receives this advice from her mother: ... White is something just like black is something. Everybody born on this earth is something and nobody, no matter what color, is better than anybody else.... [W]e have no choice of what color we’re born or who our parents are or whether we’re rich or poor. What we do have is some choice over what we make of our lives once we’re here. And I pray to God you’ll make the best of yours.24

Her father, recognizing her anger and desire to get revenge on Lillian Jean, tells her this: There are things you can’t back down on, things you gotta take a stand on. But it’s up to you to decide what them things are. You have to demand respect in this world, ain’t nobody just gonna hand it to you.25

Cassie does take revenge, although she does it in a way that she hopes will teach Lillian Jean a lesson and make her respect Cassie more.

ON YOUR OWN ACTIVITY #11

Consider the three themes of the book that are mentioned here—the importance of land, the importance of family and community, and self-respect and respect for others. How do these themes relate to your own life and experiences? Which of them are important in your community and school? Give an example of how they are important.

Understanding Themes and Symbols SYMBOLS Flags are one of the most common symbols in our lives, and they are also used as symbols in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. The Jefferson Davis County School (the school for white students) displays these flags: ... In the very center of the expansive front lawn, waving red, white, and blue with the emblem of the Confederacy emblazoned in its upper left-hand corner, was the Mississippi flag. Directly below it was the American flag.26

Taylor calls these flags “transposed,” which means that their order is reversed—the American flag should be above the Mississippi flag. The Mississippi flag has the symbol of the Confederacy on it, representing the South during the Civil War. To many, this symbol represents racism and hatred of African Americans. The fact that the state flag is on top of the American flag symbolizes that the white county school is a racist school. Taylor uses other symbols throughout the book. When the Logans have something important to discuss, they sometimes walk to the pond on their property. Near the pond is a stand of trees that had been partially cut down by a man named John Anderson. Anderson had offered to buy the trees and threatened the Logans when they refused. Papa Logan refers to these trees when he warns Cassie about the situation with Lillian Jean Simms—he can forgive John Anderson, but he won’t forget the incident. Although the trees are actually damaged, they are also a symbol of the hurt and damage that racism causes to the Logan family and other African Americans. The trees stand on the Logan land, which is their most valuable possession and the thing that they identify most with. They are permanently damaged, and they are a constant

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Reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry reminder of racial trouble, but they also gradually heal and regrow. In another part of the book, Papa Logan uses trees as a symbol in a different way. After Mr. Avery and Mr. Lanier pull out of the Vicksburg buying cooperative plan, Cassie asks her father, “We giving up too?” Papa says: You see that fig tree over yonder, Cassie? Them other trees all around ... that oak and walnut, they’re a lot bigger and they take up more room and give so much shade they almost overshadow that little ole fig. But that fig tree’s got roots that run deep, and it belongs in that yard as much as that oak and walnut. It keeps on blooming, bearing good fruit year after year, knowing all the time it’ll never get as big as them other trees. Just keeps on growing and doing what it gotta do. It don’t give up. It give up, it’ll die. There’s a lesson to be learned from that little tree, Cassie girl, ’cause we’re like it. We keep doing what we gotta, and we don’t give up. We can’t.27

Several symbols are associated with the character of Jeremy Simms. Jeremy is a member of a white family and yet he insists on trying to be friends with the Logans, even when they resist his efforts. Jeremy himself can be seen as

ON YOUR OWN ACTIVITY #12

The actual city of Vicksburg, Mississippi was taken by the North during the Civil War on July 4, 1863, after a long siege. (The Northerners surrounded the city and held the people captive until they were forced to surrender.) For years after the surrender, the city did not celebrate Independence Day on July 4. Why do you think the residents of Vicksburg made this symbolic gesture?

Understanding Themes and Symbols a symbol of white idealism about race relations—many white people think that racism no longer exists and that the races should just “get along.” Some of the items that Jeremy uses and things that he does indicate that Taylor sees him as a dreamer. In one conversation near the end of the story, he says to Stacey, “I think when I grow up I’m gonna build me a house in some trees and jus’ live there all the time.” This shows his idealism and desire to escape reality. He also gives Stacey a gift of a wooden flute, which symbolizes their friendship. Other symbols include the gun that T.J. Avery wants from the Barnett Mercantile store, which could symbolize his desire for power or for respect. T.J. himself can be thought of as a symbol of the desire that African Americans sometimes have to fit in with white culture. The used schoolbooks in Chapter 1 symbolize racial inequality and its everyday consequences. And the “night riders” represent the dangers that African Americans face as well as their fears. Finally, the Packard that Uncle Hammer owns is certainly a status symbol, a sign of his success in the North, as is his fancy clothing. One final event in the book also has symbolic meaning— when Papa burns his cotton field to save T.J. This is somewhat like the damaged trees on the property, although it is more serious, because Papa’s burned cotton represents direct damage to his livelihood and income. The act symbolizes the Logan family’s willingness to sacrifice itself for the other members of the African-American community and use what it has to help them. In this sense, the family members are certainly heroes.

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7 Afterword: Expectations and Controversies

WE’VE LOOKED AT SOME of the main themes of Roll of Thun-

der, Hear My Cry, but you should also consider what you learned from it in addition to what other people have said about it. After you’ve finished reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, consider how well the book lived up to your expectations. Did you enjoy it? Did you expect it to end the way it did? Why or why not? Did anything in the story surprise you or offend you? Do you think that the book accomplished what Mildred Taylor intended it to? These are all post-reading questions that you

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Afterword: Expectations and Controversies should ask yourself to summarize and make sense of your reading experience. THE BOOK’S TITLE We now know that the book’s title comes from a song lyric that appears at the beginning of Chapter 11, just before T.J. arrives at the Logans in big trouble. The lyrics are: Roll of thunder hear my cry Over the water bye and bye Ole man comin’ down the line Whip in hand to beat me down But I ain’t gonna let him Turn me ’round

This song is an example of a spiritual, a type of religious song first sung by African Americans in the South to “raise their spirits” during hard times. Notice that the lines talk about staying strong in the face of a cruelty—this spiritual is about slavery. Why did Taylor choose the first line of this spiritual as the title of her book? Why did she include the full lyric in the text of the book where she did? We know that the book is about the Logan family staying strong in the face of racism. We also know that the events at the end of the story, where T.J. faces a lynch mob and is saved by Papa’s actions, are the darkest, scariest parts of the book, the point at which one of the main characters might be killed. This is probably the reason why Taylor included the lyric where she did. Also, notice that the phrase “Roll of thunder hear my cry” in the spiritual is a plea for help, maybe to God or to the sky and the heavens. In the novel, a similar event occurs, when the Logan family’s cotton crop is burning and

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Reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry they need rain to help put out the fire. Jeremy Simms hears a clap of thunder and says, “One thing would sure help though is if that ole rain would only come on down.”28 Soon it does start to rain, which will help save some of the crop. EXPECTATIONS Speaking of the ending of the book, were you surprised at what happened to T.J.? Did the ending make sense, given everything that had happened in the story to that point? Or did it seem unexpected? Maybe you noticed things in the book that made you expect trouble. If you did, that’s because Taylor uses foreshadowing throughout the book. Foreshadowing refers to events that give you clues about what’s going to happen later. For example, T.J. is always cheating on tests early in the book, and he admires a handgun that is for sale in the Barnett Mercantile store. This combination of his unethical behavior and his desire for a gun should make you expect trouble later on. Taylor wants you to think about what could happen if T.J. were to get the gun. And soon enough, we find out that a lot of trouble happens. Another example of foreshadowing concerns the “night riders.” We mentioned that the night riders can be thought of as symbols, but they also fill us with the expectation of trouble. We first hear about the night riders in Chapter 3, when Joe Avery comes to the Logans’ house to warn them. “It’s ... it’s them again. They’s ridin’ t’night,” he says. Soon, Cassie hears and sees cars pull into the Logans’ driveway, then leave. On Christmas Eve, Mr. Morrison also tells a story about the “night men” who came and killed his parents. These stories and events foreshadow what will happen later in the

Afterword: Expectations and Controversies book, when the night riders come for T.J. and his family. Because Taylor mentions them early in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, we have a sense of expectancy or anticipation—maybe even fear—about what is to come. Another type of expectation we might have concerns the events that are not included in the story. The biggest question is “What will happen to T.J.?” Notice that the author leaves this issue unresolved at the end of the story. Papa guesses that T.J. will be put on a chain gang or, worse, possibly executed. What do you think will happen? (If you’re curious to know what Taylor thought, you might want to read her book Let the Circle Be Unbroken, which continues the story of the Logan family.) MILDRED TAYLOR AND THE BOOK We should also ask ourselves if the book accomplished what Taylor hoped it would accomplish. In the Author’s Note at the beginning of the book, we learned that Taylor had been strongly influenced by her father’s stories when she was growing up. Did you notice any places in the book where stories or storytelling play an important role? Early in the book, Cassie’s grandmother takes her out to

ON YOUR OWN ACTIVITY #13

When the story ends, we don’t know what will happen to T.J. Avery, who has been taken away by the sheriff. Papa Logan thinks that he will either be placed on a chain gang, or possibly executed. What do you think will happen to him? Write a paragraph about what you think—or possibly, write a play or story of the courtroom trial that T.J. might face.

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Reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry the pond on their land and tells her the history of how they got the land. Papa tells Cassie the story about the cutting of the trees on their land. Also, at Christmas, Papa, Uncle Hammer, and Mr. Morrison tell stories about their past. These stories may be similar to the ones Taylor heard about her family when she was growing up. Remember also that Taylor tried to include the “values and principles” of her childhood in the book, to show “a family united in love and self-respect, and parents, strong and sensitive, attempting to guide their children successfully, without harming their spirits, through the hazardous maze of living in a discriminatory society.” Do you think that Taylor achieved this in the story? Think about some of the examples in which the Logan children are guided by their parents. THE CHRISTIANITY CONTROVERSY Taylor has written about Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry over the years, particularly about the more controversial elements of the book. For instance, when Mama teaches Cassie about the history of slavery in Chapter 6, after the incident in Strawberry, she says: They [white slaveowners] also said that slavery was good for us because it taught us to be good Christians—like the white people. But they didn’t teach us Christianity to save our souls, but to teach us obedience. They were afraid of slave revolts and they wanted us to learn the Bible’s teachings about slaves being loyal to their masters.29

Mama is saying that during periods of slavery, white people tried to use Christianity to make African Americans obey them. Taylor has said that when she studied history in school,

Afterword: Expectations and Controversies her classes always made her embarrassed, because when they talked about slavery, they made African Americans look like they were willing to go along with it. Taylor felt that in her history classes slaves were often depicted as docile, childlike, and accepting of their fate, and that they were never shown as having heroic qualities. To Taylor, such a portrayal seemed like a condemnation of both her and her ancestors: I used to sit tensely waiting out those class hours trying to think of ways to repudiate [challenge] what the textbooks said, for I recognized that there was a terrible contradiction between what was in them and what I learned at home.30

So when Mama explains slavery to Cassie—and how people twisted and used Christianity to enforce it—she is expressing ideas that Taylor herself believed in and had learned when she was young. And Mama is setting an example for Cassie and for us, the readers, that African Americans didn’t always let themselves be pushed around. THE “N” WORD CONTROVERSY You may have noticed that some of the characters in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry—for example, Mr. Barnett in the mercantile scene—use the word nigger (also known as the “N” word) to insult Cassie and other African Americans in the book. This is a hard word to read, and it is very shocking because it is considered a great insult in our society, a racially charged word that is offensive to hear and to use. In 1997, Mildred Taylor was given the ALAN award for her writing by the National Council of Teachers of English. When she accepted the award, she talked about how she felt about her use of this word:

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Reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry In the writing of my books I have tried to present not only a history of my family, but the effects of racism, not only to the victims of racism but also to the racists themselves. I have recounted events that were painful to write and painful to be read, but I had hoped they brought more understanding. Now, however there are those who think that perhaps my recountings are too painful, and there are those who seek to remove books such as mine from school reading lists. There are some who say the books should be removed because the “N” word is used. There are some who say such events as described in my books and books by others did not happen. There are those who do not want to remember the past or who do not want their children to know the past and who would whitewash history, and these sentiments are not only from whites.... I am hurt that any child would ever be hurt by my words. As a parent I understand not wanting a child to hear painful words, but as a parent I do not understand not wanting a child to learn about a history that is part of America.... In the writing of my most recent work, titled The Land, I have found myself hesitating about using words that would have been spoken in the late 1800s.... But just as I have had to be honest with myself in the telling of all my stories, I realize I must be true to the feelings of the people about whom I write and true to the stories told. My stories might not be “politically correct,” so there will be those who will be offended, but as we all know, racism is offensive. It is not polite, and it is full of pain.31

Do you agree with Taylor that she should be “true to the stories told” and use the language that was used at the time, even if we find it shocking, offensive, and hurtful today? Or do you think that she should change her language? What

Afterword: Expectations and Controversies would you say to someone in your town who thinks that this book should not be read in your school? WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID Many people think that Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is a valuable book and that the Logan family members are important characters, because they are examples of a positive, strong African-American family facing difficult times. Here are some quotes from reviews of Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. Now that you have read the book, see if you agree or disagree with them. ... this [novel] grows with convincing detail of character and situation, punctuated by tension-building incidents.... Entirely through its own internal development, the novel shows the rich inner rewards of black pride, love, and independence. —Booklist The strong, clear-headed Logan family ... are drawn with quiet affection and their actions tempered with a keen sense of human fallibility. —Kirkus Reviews

ON YOUR OWN ACTIVITY #14

Read the reviews of the book above and on the next page. Write a review of Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, mentioning the things that you liked or thought were most important about it. In your review, you might want to talk about some of the elements of the novel that were mentioned in this book—narration, plot, characters, setting, themes, and symbols.

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Reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Twenty-five years after it was first published, this ... classic strikes as deep and powerful a note as ever. Taylor’s vivid portrayal of ugly racism and the poignancy of Cassie’s bewilderment and gradual toughening against social injustice and the men and women who perpetuate it, will remain with readers forever. —Amazon.com Editorial Review

WORKS BY MILDRED D.TAYLOR

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The Land, 2001. The Well: David’s Story, 1995. Mississippi Bridge, 1990. The Road to Memphis, 1990. The Friendship, 1987. The Gold Cadillac: A Fancy New Car and an Unforgettable Drive, 1987. Let the Circle Be Unbroken, 1981. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, 1976. Song of the Trees, 1975.

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NOTES Mildred D. Taylor—Author’s Biography. http://laffy.commontown.com/netshare/Badge14333/ doc/Write%20up.html.

19.

Ibid., p. 15.

20.

Ibid., p. 7.

21.

Ibid., p. 196.

Mildred Taylor—Penguin Group (USA) Authors. http://us.penquingroup.com/nf/ Author/AuthorPage/ 0,,1000031974,00.html.

22.

Ibid., p. 42.

23.

Ibid., p. 15.

24.

Ibid., pp. 127, 129.

25.

Ibid., p. 176.

3.

Ibid.

26.

Ibid., p. 15.

4.

Mildred D. Taylor. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. New York: Puffin Books, 1976, p. 3.

27.

Ibid., pp. 205–206.

28.

Ibid., p. 265.

29.

Ibid., p. 128.

30.

Mildred Taylor—Penguin Group (USA) Authors. http://us.penquingroup.com/nf/ Author/AuthorPage/ 0,,1000031974,00.html.

31.

James Blasingame and Lori A. Goodson, ed. The Alan Review. Vol. 25, No. 3 (Spring 1998), online edition, hosted by Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Digital Library and Archives. http://scholar.lib.vt. edu/ejournals/ALAN/spring98/ taylor.html.

1.

2.

5.

Ibid., p. 5.

6.

Ibid.

7.

Ibid., p. 7.

8.

Ibid., p. 68.

9.

Ibid., p. 112.

10.

Ibid., p. 116.

11.

Ibid., p. 126.

12.

Ibid., p. 129.

13.

Ibid., pp. 175–176.

14.

Ibid., p. 217.

15.

Ibid., p. 276.

16.

Ibid., pp. 183–184.

17.

Ibid., p. 129.

18.

Ibid., pp. 122–123.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Blasingame, James and Lori A. Goodson, ed. The Alan Review. Vol. 25, No. 3 (Spring 1998), online edition, hosted by Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Digital Library and Archives. http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/spring98/taylor.html. Taylor, Mildred D. Mildred D. Taylor—Author’s Biography. http://laffy.commontown.com/netshare/Badge 14333/doc/Write%20up.html. ———. Mildred Taylor—Penguin Group (USA) Authors. http://us.penguingroup.com/nf/Author/AuthorPage/ 0,,1000031974,00.html. ———. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. New York: Puffin Books, 1976.

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FURTHER READING

Crow, Chris. Presenting Mildred D. Taylor (United States Author series). Farmington Hills, MI: Twayne Publishers, 1999. Gale Group. Contemporary Authors. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale Publishers, 1998. Horngren, Charles T. America: Pathways to the Present. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2003. King, Casey, and Linda Barrett Osborne. Oh, Freedom: Kids Talk About the Civil Rights Movement with the People Who Made It Happen. New York, NY: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 1997. Levin, Michael H. A Guide for Using Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry in the Classroom. Westminster, CA: Teacher Created Materials, Inc., 1994. Levine, Ellen. Freedom’s Children: Young Civil Rights Activists Tell Their Own Stories. New York, NY: Putnam, 2000. Machoian, Jeanette. A Teaching Guide to Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Discovering Literature series). Birkenhead, UK: Garlic Press, 1999. Mengal, Melina. Mildred Taylor (Classic Storytellers series). Hockessin, DE: Mitchell Lane Publishers, 2004. Rozakis, Laurie. A Reading Guide to Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc., 2003. Turck, Mary. The Civil Rights Movement for Kids: A History With 21 Activities. Chicago, IL: Chicago Review Press, 2000.

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INDEX African Americans, 3–4 on education, 4 and poverty, 5 ALAN Award, 59 Amazon.com Editorial Review, 62 American farmers, 6 American North, 3 American South, 4 Back cover awards won, 5 and clues on what the book is about, 3 on reviews, 5 Beacon Berry, (character in Roll of Thunder), 34, 36 Book cover, 1 on what it tells about the story, 2–3 Booklist, (review), 61 Book title a song lyric, 55 Caroline Logan, (Big Ma), (character in Roll of Thunder), 16, 23, 24, 29, 33, 49, 50, 51 Cassie Logan, (character in Roll of Thunder), 3, 11, 24, 29, 32, 37–38, 44, 45 her character, 12–13, 32 and fighting against racism, 18 and how she changes, 16 on injustice, 19 as narrator, 12, 13 and pretending to be friends with Lillian Jean Simms, 26 her understanding of life, 14–15 Characters as believable, 31 growth of, 32 Charlie Simms, (character in Roll of Thunder), 33, 37–38 Christianity controversy and slavery, 58–59 Christopher-John, (character in Roll of Thunder), 12, 33 Civil Rights Movement, 3 Civil War, 3, 4, 7, 44, 51 Claude Avery, (character in Roll of Thunder), 33

David Logan, (Papa), (character in Roll of Thunder), 6, 11, 22, 27, 31, 32, 42, 49, 57 his courage, 37 a protective father, 36 Dewberry, (character in Roll of Thunder), 33 Emancipation Proclamation Act, (1863), 4 Expectations and accomplishing what the author wanted, 57 on ending of book, 56 and events not included in story, 57 and family values, 58 on T.J., 56, 57 Flashbacks, 24 Foreshadowing, 56 Great Depression, 5–6, 21, 43–44 History of the South and harassment of African Americans, 3–4 poverty in, 5 on slavery, 4 and taking away their rights, 4 Jeremy Simms, (character in Roll of Thunder), 22, 33, 52 and befriends the Logans, 41–42 Jim Crow Laws, 44–45 John Henry Berry, (character in Roll of Thunder), 34, 47 John Newbery Medal, 2–3 Kaleb, (character in Roll of Thunder), 33, 42 Kirkus Reviews, 61 Ku Klux Klan, 5 Let the Circle Be Unbroken, 57 Lillian Jean Simms, (character in Roll of Thunder), 16, 17, 24, 26, 33, 36, 50, 51

68 Lincoln, Abraham, 4 Little Man (Clayton Chester) Logan, (character in Roll of Thunder), 12, 21, 33 Mary Logan, (Mama), (character in Roll of Thunder), 21–22, 28, 29, 31, 33 her awareness of racism, 34–36 Melville Simms, (character in Roll of Thunder), 27, 28, 29, 32, 33 Miss Daisy Crocker, (character in Roll of Thunder), 34 Mississippi, 43, 44, 45 Mr. and Mrs. Avery, (characters in Roll of Thunder), 33, 47, 56 Mr. Barnett, (character in Roll of Thunder), 16, 23, 24, 34, 37–38 Mr. Granger, (character in Roll of Thunder), 23, 34, 49 Mr. Jamison, (character in Roll of Thunder), 34 and defender of the African-American community, 42 Mr. Morrison, (character in Roll of Thunder), 22, 23, 27–29, 33, 36, 47, 56 his heroic acts, 42 Narrator,13 and who the story is told by, 11–12 National Book Award, 5 National Council of Teachers of English, 59 New York Times Book Review, 5 New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year, 9 Night riders, 3, 53, 56 “N” word controversy, 59 Photographs, A–H Plot story of, 21–30 Post-reading, 54–55 Pre-reading, 1–2, 9–10 Racism, 3, 18, 37 Reconstruction Period, 4

INDEX Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry back cover of, 3, 5 book review quotes, 5–6 characters in, 8 the dedication, 6 front cover of, 2 and meanings from the title, 2 and setting, 3, 5–6 social situation in, 5 themes in, 3 and told in chronological order, 24 R.W. Simms, (character in Roll of Thunder), 33 Samuel Berry, (character in Roll of Thunder), 34, 36 Setting dialect in, 46 on landscape, 45–46 specific places in, 46–47 and time period, 43–44 Sharecroppers, 5 Silas Lanier, (character in Roll of Thunder), 34 Slavery, 4, 7 Song of the Trees, 9 Stacey Logan, (character in Roll of Thunder), 6, 11, 24, 32 as leader of his siblings, 39 a responsible person, 40 Stock Market crash, (1929), 6 Symbols, and flags, 51 the guns, 53 the night riders, 53 a Packard car, 53 papa’s burned cotton, 53 the trees, 51–52 and used schoolbooks, 53 Taylor, Mildred D., 2, 32, 58 her acceptance speech for ALAN award, 59–60 the book title, 55–56 her characters, 32 her life, 6, 7–8 her reason for writing Roll of Thunder, 7–8 and use of sensory details, 45

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INDEX Themes, 48 importance of family, 49–50 importance of land in, 49 and self-respect, 49–50 Thirteenth Amendment, 4 Thuston, (character in Roll of Thunder), 33 T.J. Avery, (character in Roll of Thunder), 22, 26 –27, 31–32, 33, 39, 42, 49, 55, 56, 57 and framed for murder, 19 his weaknesses, 40–41

Uncle Hammer, (character in Roll of Thunder), 33, 38–39 his refusal to accept racism, 37 United States Constitution, 4 Vicksburg, Mississippi, 18–19, 27, 44, 52 Well, The, 38 White Supremacists, 3–4 World War Two, 5–6

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PICTURE CREDITS page:

A:

Photo by Nancy N. Jacobs B: © Bettmann/CORBIS C-1: © Bettmann/CORBIS C-2: © Philip Gould/CORBIS D: © Joseph Sohm; ChromSohm Inc./ CORBIS Cover: © Jim Reed/CORBIS

E: F: G: H:

© Richard Cummins/CORBIS © CORBIS © Stephanie Maze/ CORBIS © CORBIS SYGMA

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR STACY TIBBETTS is an instructional materials designer at Penn State's World Campus, where he helps the faculty develop courses for online delivery. He earned a Master's degree in English from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he also taught writing for three years. A classical- and jazz-trained musician, Stacy recently composed the score and collaborated on the lyrics for Passaparola: The Gourmet Musical, a contemporary adaptation of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.

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Photo by Nancy Jacobs ■ Mildred

D. Taylor, the author of Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, was born in Jackson, Mississippi, and grew up in Toledo, Ohio. She acquired her love of storytelling from her father, whose real life experiences formed the basis for some of the events in this book.

A

■ Both

the Wallace store and The Barnett’s Mercantile function as important settings in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. Both stores can be seen as centers of racial prejudice while also symbolizing the economic disparities separating whites from blacks.

B

■ When

the story opens, the Logan children—Cassie and her two brothers—are walking to school along a dirt road. Their school can’t afford a bus, but the bus for the white school often drives by and intentionally splashes them with muddy water. In the book, they get their revenge. ■ Cassie’s

Uncle Hammer arrives from Chicago driving a new Packard. The car symbolizes the increased economic opportunities for blacks in the North.

C

■ The

Logan family shows great courage in standing up to the discrimination of Depression-era Mississippi, including the “night rider” gangs. Their actions give members of the African-American community a sense of pride and identity.

D

■ Roll

of Thunder, Hear My Cry takes place in 1933–1934 during the Great Depression. The Logan family lives off the land as farmers, although they are better off than many sharecroppers (pictured here) because they own their land.

E

■ At

the school for white students, “in the very center of the expansive front lawn, waving red, white, and blue with the emblem of the Confederacy emblazoned in its upper left-hand corner, was the Mississippi flag.” The fact that it hangs above the American flag symbolizes the school’s racism.

F

■ David

Logan burns his own fields to try to save T.J. Avery from a lynching. This shows his willingness to sacrifice for the AfricanAmerican community.

G

■ The

Logans and others in the African-American community must courageously face violence and racism in the form of lynch mobs. These “night riders” visit the Logan’s house and capture T.J. Avery at the end of the book.

H