Mississippi Bridge

Another short about the Logans, but in a radical departure from the other stories-to-date, not told from Cassie's point of view. This tale is told by Jeremy Simms, a somewhat puzzling white boy who repeatedly tries to be friends with the Logans, despite rebuffs from the Logans and punishment from his own family.

As elsewhere, Taylor shines here. Jeremy's voice is very much his own, from his dialect to the details of what he chooses to say and how he chooses to say it. When the Logans enter, we don't get the standard intro of each of the children, down to Little Man's fussy neatness -- Jeremy sees them wholly differently than Cassie does. Despite his strong feelings that the black folk in town are not lesser than the white folk, he has show more his lacunas. It never occurs to him to use honorifics for the adults -- I twitched when he called Big Ma by her given name -- and he blithely refers to himself and Jobias as being "friends".

Jeremy is also unable to perceive the institutionalization of the racism around him, or the collective guilt of those who participate in it. He condemns those who are explicitly cruel toward the black folk in town, but he gives a free pass to those who passively benefit: it's not their fault things are the way they are. However, Taylor's shorts can easily be read as allegories, and notice exactly who is shown to have died on that Big Bus o' Racism: the "innocents" that Jeremy was so quick to give a free pass to. Jeremy might be willing to give them a free pass, but Taylor isn't. show less

Taylor states she got the idea for this short story from a story her father told of an event from his own childhood. 1930s-segregated south at the Mississippi River. Casual small town racism as seen through the eyes of a 10 year old white boy--a child afraid of and bullied by his own father--Taylor tells the facts mostly, without editorializing. She does not say how the young black girl felt being told she could not try on a hat in the store or why the black townsfolk spoke easily to each other but clammed up when the little white boy started hanging around. She leaves it to us to decide what to think. A well written and powerful short story.

A short, but insightful read about old segregation practices in Mississippi. This tale of Josias and his family being kicked off the bus for a white family to ride because the bus was full shows that not all bad things that happen are worth fighting over. Josias wanted to argue, but was thrown off the bus which then crashed off the local bridge killing all those aboard. He then realized that his life was spared by not being on that bus. Josias saying, "Onliest thing I know is the good book, it say the Lord He work in mighty mysterious ways." We should all take a lesson to heart from this book in how we treat others.

A short story sold as a novel, this is a sad, moving tale of racism in the old South. Narrated by a young white boy who seems to be the lone non-racist white, he merely an observer, barely involved in the events of the story. Several black folks from town have come to catch a bus, but when the bus is full and there are still a few white people wanting to ride it, the driver kicks off all the black passengers. The bus, however, is not destined to arrive safely at its destination.
Part of the "Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry" series, the Logan family is in the story, but they are really secondary characters in this tale.

This book is about Jeremy Simms, a 10 year old boy, during the 1930's after the depression during the time of separation of the African Americans and the White Americans. Jeremy gets to see first hand the separation from the incident in the store with Rudine and Jonias and the incident on the bus were the African Americans were kicked off of the bus due to not enough seats on the bus for the white Americans.Jeremy just wanted to be friends with them and he tried to be friendly with the families. It had been raining and the Rosa Lee was up and raging with the Mississippi Bridge in horrible condition. The bus crosses over the bridge and crashes through a rail into the raging waters it is Jonias and Jeremy that see this happen. Jeremy goes show more to the store to get the older men to come help. Once Jeremy returns he notices that Jonias is coming out of the water carrying people to the banks of the river which the people are dead but Jonias and the Older white men come together in the end to try to save the people on the bus.

At first I was unsure on how I would like the book due to some of the terms used in the book which is definately for older readers but in the end I liked the fact that no matter your race, sex, religion, political standings that in a time where people need help they can put their differences aside and work together which I think should happen all the time.

Some extension ideas which were hard for me to come up with are having a discussion of events that went on during this time frame and then ask the students if there are any multicultural issues that they have had to deal with. show less

Another in the series of books Mildred Taylor has written about the Logan family, this time told from an outsider point of view--Jeremy Simms, who badly wants to be a friend to the Logan kids, but isn't quite accepted by them (and certainly the friendship isn't accepted by his family) because they're black and he's white. This is another short book (having recently read "The Friendship", "The Gold Cadillac", and "Song of the Trees", I'm really itching for a longer book from her!), and it's another snapshot of the brutal inequalities between black and white in the Depression-era South. A black man needs to go on a bus ride, since he's got a potential job lined up somewhere else, and he runs into trouble when some white men don't like the show more idea that a black man can get a job when they can't. But that's soon to be the least of anybody's worries. Both the snapshot and the resolution are told very well, and it's interesting hearing things through Jeremy's voice. show less

A historical fiction book relating to the 1930's Mississippi racial issues through the eyes of a 10-year-old boy. Jeremy Sims, the 10-year-old boys speaks in present tense through the story of what he sees while sitting on the front porch of the local store and bus stop. On a rainy day, Jeremy watches many black and white folks wait on the porch of the store for their bus to arrive. While they wait he witnesses the racist comments from the white men in the store which includes his own father. These comments eat away at Jeremy and causes him to question why they feel the way they do. Jeremy tries to make conversations with everyone that arrives on the porch. When the bus arrives, everyone pays and loads in, yet the bus is too full after show more a white family arrives late. With the bus being too full, the black folks are kicked off the bus. As the bus pulls off, Jeremy chases after it only to witness a horrid scene. What transpires next will show how no matter how awful one is treated, they still can come through and be the better person.
I enjoyed this quick to read book. The grammar gets a bit hard to read in places due to the "down south lingo", but otherwise the book was easy to read. It bothers me to see how through the eyes of a child all is not black and white, yet through the previous generation there is a very strong division of the colors. The innocence of a child speaks volumes in this book. Mildred Taylor wrote the Newberry winning "Roll of Thunder" which I plan on adding to my, "must read" book.
As a classroom extension, I feel the students can learn about racisim and just how strongly it affected people in the deep south in the 30's. I feel it would be a good idea to point out even though the majority felt blacks had their place, the 10-year-old boy felt differently and tried to let the blacks know that by striking up conversations with them. The students could use this book as a forum on how they perceive racism, and how they feel about it. show less