Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

1
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

• By Mildred D. Taylor

A Webquest by Jennifer Coombe, Mary Harrison,
Kate Lathrap, Mario Mattei, Lindsay Riggs, Sarah
Salon
2
Author Bio
"I do not know how old I was when the daydreams
became more than that, and I decided to write
them down, but by the time I entered high school,
I was confident that I would one day be a
writer. Mildred D. Taylor
Mildred Delois Taylor was born in Jackson,
Mississippi on September 13, 1943. Shortly after
her birth, her family moved to Toledo, Ohio
because of racial discrimination, where she lived
until she graduated from the University of
Toledo. She joined the Peace Corp and taught
English and history for two years in Africa.
After returning from Africa, she worked and
recruited for the Peace Corps. She got her
Master's Degree in journalism at the University
of Colorado, where she joined the Black Student
Alliance and helped to make a black studies
program. After graduating, she moved to Los
Angeles, where she worked during the day and
wrote at night. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
was the second book that was published by Mildred
D. Taylor and the first in the Logan family
series (Let the Circle Be Unbroken and The Land).
The stories of the Logan family are loosely based
on events in Mildred D. Taylors family history
though Mildred's family had moved to the North,
her father missed the South, and would take his
family back every so often. Roll of Thunder, Hear
My Cry won the Newbery Medal, Boston Globe-Horn
Book Award, and was a National Book Award
finalist. Mildred D. Taylor has published nine
books. She has won numerous awards, which
includes winning the Coretta Scott King Award
five times. She is currently writing the last
book in the Logan family series, titled Logan.
3
Book Summary
The Logans are a black family in Mississippi
during the Great Depression. The Logans own their
own land, which has been in the family for years,
but they are greatly in debt. In order to make
payments on their land, Papa goes away to work on
the railroad, leaving Mama and Big Ma to take
care of Stacey, Cassie, Christopher John, and
Little Man. The story begins with the four Logan
children heading off for their first day of
school where Mama teaches as well. The black
children must walk to school, and every morning
the white childrens bus deliberately tries to
run the black children off the road and get them
dirty. Little Man cant understand why the white
kids get a bus and they dont, and also because
he is very particular about keeping his clothes
clean. Little Man is disappointed to receive his
textbook for the year, which is terribly
tattered. He looks inside the book and sees the
reason the book is so beat up it has been used
by white students until the condition of the book
became almost unusable. Mama uses her own
teaching methods, which includes gluing paper
over the front page that lists previous owners in
Little Mans book and the books for her class.
Stacey, the oldest Logan boy, has a best
friend named T. J., who is a big-mouth and a
trouble-maker. Stacey and T.J. are both in Mamas
class. One day Stacey catches T.J. cheating on a
test and tries to stop him. T.J. manages to
frame Stacey for it and Mama whips him in front
of the class. After school T.J. runs to the
Wallace store and Stacey goes after him (and the
three younger Logans follow) even though the
Logans have been forbidden to go there because
the owners recently burned three black men,
killing one, and received no consequences for
their actions. Stacey and T.J. fight until Mr.
Morrison, Papas friend who is staying with the
Logans while Papa is gone, stops them and takes
the Logans home. When Mama finds out, she goes
around to several black sharecropping families
trying to prevent them from shopping at the
Wallace store. But they are forced to shop there
because they must buy on credit and Mr. Granger,
the man who owns all the farm land, will only
back their signatures if they shop at the Wallace
store (the only store in town). Mr. Jamison, a
white lawyer and friend of the family, agrees to
back peoples signatures if they shop in
Vicksburg. One day Stacey and Cassie get
to accompany Big Ma into Strawberry. While they
are there, Cassie is mortified at how she is
treated. First the store owner ignores them while
he helps all of his white customers. Then Lillian
Jean Simms bumps into her and Mr. Simms forces
Cassie to apologize and call her Miss Lillian
Jean. Cassie is angry and ashamed. They return
home to find Uncle Hammer and his big shiny
car. Papa returns home within a few days and they
have a wonderful Christmas together as a
family. Papa, Mr. Morrison, and Stacey make a
trip to Vicksburg to buy groceries and supplies
for several of their neighbors. On their way
home, they are attacked and Papas leg is
broken. Mr. Morrison fights off the white men,
and they return home in safety. Mama is
fired from her job on grounds that she has ruined
school property (the textbooks) and that she is
teaching material that is not in the curriculum
(slavery). The Logans find out that the person
who turned her in was T.J. Stacey will no longer
be friends with T.J. and T.J. starts hanging out
with two mean white boys, R.W. and Melvin
Simms. He turns into their gopher and becomes a
thief. One night, the Simms brothers take T.J.
with them to a store where they kill two white
people and frame T.J. for it. An angry mob drags
T.J. from his house and threatens to lynch
him. Papa and Mr. Morrison run to try to stop the
lynching. A storm is on its way, and there is
thunder and lightning. All of a sudden, the
Logans crop is on fire and headed toward Mr.
Grangers land. All of the men in the mob are
forced to fight the fire along with many black
neighbors. The lynching does not occur. Mr.
Jamison will ensure that T.J. will at least
receive a trial before he is sentenced. Cassie
eventually realizes that Papa started the fire in
order to save T.J. 
4
Links

• Mildred D. Taylor
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mildred_D._Taylor
• http//www.ncteamericancollection.org/litmap/taylo
  r_mildred_ms.htm
• http//www.olemiss.edu/mwp/dir/taylor_mildred/
• Teaching Resources for Mildred D. Taylor
• http//www.indiana.edu/reading/ieo/bibs/taylor.ht
  ml
• http//falcon.jmu.edu/ramseyil/taylor.htm
• The Freedom Writers Foundation
  http//www.freedomwritersfoundation.org/site/c.kqI
  XL2PFJtH/b.2259975/k.BF19/Home.htm
• Internet Hunt on Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
  http//homepage.mac.com/cohora/ext/roll.html
• Mildred D. Taylors Books
• Song of the Trees http//en.wikipedia.org/w/index
  .php?titleSong_of_the_Trees
• Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry http//en.wikipedia.
  org/wiki/Roll_of_Thunder2C_Hear_My_Cry
• Let the Circle Be Unbroken http//en.wikipedia.or
  g/wiki/Let_the_Circle_Be_Unbroken
• The Gold Cadillac http//en.wikipedia.org/w/index
  .php?titleThe_Gold_Cadillac
• The Friendship http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_F
  riendship
• Mississippi Bridge http//en.wikipedia.org/w/inde
  x.php?titleMississippi_Bridge
• The Road to Memphis http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
  The_Road_to_Memphis
• The Well http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Well
• The Land http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Land_2
  8Mildred_D._Taylor29

5
Quiz

1. Is the Civil Rights Movement still active today?
   Is racism still an issue that kids and teens have
   to face every day? Use research from current news
   to support your argument.
2. Pick a scene from the book and rewrite it from a
   different characters perspective. For example,
   write the fire scene from Papas or Staceys
   perspective. How does this change the story? What
   details are added to or taken away from the story
   from a different perspective?
3. T. J. starts to hang around with R. W. and Melvin
   Simms. He does many things to betray his
   community. Write an essay defending T. J.s
   decision to be friends with R. W. and Melvin.
   Why would he do such a thing?
4. Cassie cant understand why some people dont
   like her just because she is black. On page 95,
   Mama tries to explain why white people feel
   justified in being racist. Imagine that you are a
   black parent. How would you explain racism to
   your child?
5. The Logans owned the land they lived on and
   farmed. This ownership gave them a sense of pride
   and independence. The land is symbolic of their
   familys strength. Does your family have a symbol
   or representation of its history or special
   legacy? How does it give you a sense of pride?
6. How did the Great Depression affect the Logan
   Family? Explain why the Great Depression was
   harder on African Americans during that time.
7. What are some things that African Americans used
   to provide temporary relief during their
   hardships at the time of the Great Depression?
   Research and write about one thing that African
   Americans used to bring hope and happiness, such
   as music. How did these things bring people
   together as a community?

6
Rubric

• Ideas (up to 4 points) 
• clearly stated main idea that makes sense (what
  is proved?)
• details that prove the main idea (two quotations)
  
• sub-points stand out (Internet links used)
• no sidetracking (stick to the point)
• Organization (up to 2.5 points)
• an attention grabbing opening,
• a sequence that's easy to follow
• developed paragraphs
• transition words (because, on the other hand,
  furthermore, in fact, and, but, not only-but
  also)
• a conclusion that doesn't leave unanswered
  question
• Voice (up to 0.5 points)
• appropriate to topic, purpose and audience
• writer is committed to topic (sounds like he/she
  cares about it)
• writer attempts to connect to audience (as
  appropriate)
• writer reveals the person behind the words (as
  appropriate)
• Word Choice (up to 0.5 points)
• words evoke strong images (appeal to senses)
• precise, accurate vocabulary