Roll Of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Mildred D. Taylor
Summary of the book
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is a novel that tells the challenges that African- Americans faced in the early 1900's. Cassie Logan lives with her brothers on a farm in Mississippi. There are many problems that include racism in Mississippi and get worse every day. Cassie's dad had to work far away so they could have money to support themselves. Cassie's mom and dad try to make a boycott but this make people angry and they fire Cassie's mom. They all try to ignore the racism but is very difficult. One night as Cassie's dad and Mr.Morrison coming back from town her dad gets shot by the people who got mad that he tried to do a boycott.Now that he is shot he can't work and many men are glad but they won't give up. T.J. robs a store with his two friends and the town only accuses him. They don't believe that two Caucasian boys helped T.J., they thought it was to other African- American boys that helped him. Cassie's dad sets fire to the land to try to distract everyone because their land could also burn. The next day T.J. goes to jail and no one knows if he will live or not. If he is guilty then he could be hung.
Conflict
Many Caucasian men don't like African- Americans to ruin their lives so they do anything to stop them which includes killing them. Also since Cassie's dad has started a boycott the try to do anything to stop him. At many points in the book her dad almost dies and at the very end they're deciding to hang T.J. for something he didn't do. They only accuse him because he is African- American and they can't bring themselves to believe that their own sons did it.
Setting
This book takes place in Mississippi in the month of October and back then, school was just starting. It's very dusty so you could get very dirty just by walking to and form school. Also in school the Logan children have to walk miles to get to their school, and they get new textbooks but all of them are the ones the Caucasian kids didn't want anymore because it was the most ugliest and oldest textbooks. The land is another setting because that is where Cassie begins to realize why the land is so important to her father and her family. Her family has owned it for fifty years, and it keeps them from being poor.
Characters
- Cassie: A young African- American girl who believes in justice and kindness but she doesn't understand the cruelty of the racism around her.
- T.J.: Stacey's best friend T.J. and everyone thinks is rude. He's always cheating on tests or lying, and loves to brag and never obeys his parents.
- The Wallaces': A rude and racist family that does not like the idea of having no slaves and will do anything for African- Americans to be hung.
- Stacey: The oldest brother of Cassie and he is the responsible one.
- Little Man: The youngest child in his family. He is neat, organized, and clean.
- Christopher: The middle child and he does not like going along with the rest and is very scared of consequences although they may be little or big.
Quotes
"Friends gotta trust each other, Stacey, 'cause ain't nothin' like a true friend."
- This is an important quote of the book because back then you couldn't really trust anyone because many people could trick you just for money or just to get you back.
- This too, is also important because if they would have given up then all the land their ancestors fought hard to get would be lost.
- This quote is important because you can't just give in especially in difficult times like the Logan family.
Cassie's Friend
This is Cassie's group of friends which include her brothers. This picture shows some of the main characters.
School house
This picture relates to my book because although African- Americans were free they were still discriminated and children attended different schools according to their race.
Workers
There was many work to be done in the fields so they all had to help with the cotton. They would still attend school but had to hurry back to help