Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Cassie Logan and her brothers Stacey, Christopher-John, and Little Man are growing up in Mississippi. The Logans are a strong family, working hard to make ends meet and pay for the land, which they're fortunate to own since most of their neighbors and friends are sharecroppers. This year will be a trying one for her as she deals with night riders and her father being gone to work on the railroad during the Depression.

I'm having a hard time summarizing this book because it's so much more than the plot. It's about a loving family, and a girl's growing up as she deals with racism and injustice. Cassie's a feisty heroine that you can't help but root for, and the other characters - her mother Mary, her grandmother Big Ma, her father, and show more more - are vividly portrayed. Though I was often upset by what happened, this is such a rich book that I didn't want it to end. The audio is masterfully read by Lynne Thigpen, and included comments by the author on the final CD that explain a little about the story's origins. show less

What a stunning, searing book. This is another classic I somehow missed while growing up, and I've been meaning to read since my daughter read it in 6th grade. Cassie Logan lives with her family on 400 acres of their own land in Depression-era Mississippi. Times are hard, and as Cassie's parents explain, this causes some folks to look to blame somebody. In this case, it is the black families of the community, including the Logans. The Logan children suffer injustices both small and large, but all demeaning, from outdated textbooks in deplorable condition to 'night men' who terrorize and sometimes kill black families in the night. Cassie's poor but secure world is shaken to its core as she matures and comes to understand "how things show more are," and how different rules apply depending on the color of your skin. A terribly important book for upper elementary grades. I listened to an absolutely stunning narration by the late American actress Lynne Thigpen that was every ounce a breathtaking performance.

Taylor, M. (2004). Roll of thunder, hear my cry. New York: Puffin Books. show less

I never read this book when I was growing up, even though I knew it was supposed to be “good.” Now, I liked it very much. I particularly like that it manages to be realistic about a hard time while still being age-appropriate. Cassie’s family are better off than their share-cropping neighbors, allowing a glimpse at the sharecropping life without fully immersing the reader in it. Women are particularly powerless, without the novel pointing out how that powerlessness against white men can become sexual. There’s no whitewashing. There are some very disturbing incidents—black men are set on fire, and another is tarred and feathered. But Cassie is not alone, and her family is strong and hopeful for the future.

I remember Mom reading this story aloud when I was a youngster. It was gripping, well-written, and made me aware of racism in a way I’d had little experience with before. Since becoming an adult, I’ve wanted to read it again—to see if my initial impressions of the book were accurate. And oh, they were!

This is a portrait of a loving family working together to bring justice and hope to their community, despite the injustice and fear surrounding them. As an adult, I picked up on things I doubt I would have noticed when I was younger—things like the cohesiveness of the family portrayed here (that’s often lacking in stories these days!), the way the parents loved their children and actively tried to protect them, their courage in show more the face of insurmountable odds, the way the night raiders’ deeds were described just enough that you knew that they were evil and a little of what they were capable of, but it wasn’t “in your face” or nearly as much on-page as it could have been…all things I greatly appreciated. These characters aren’t perfect—several times, different ones take matters into their own hands as they battle injustice. But overall, they were brave and loyal, and the family worked together to do what they could to bring justice and freedom to those around them.

I loved this book just as much as (or maybe even more than!) the first time I read it. It’s a stunning portrait of human nature, the battles many people have fought over the years, the resilience of the human spirit, and the hope that one day, wrongs will be righted and good will prevail. This is a landmark in American literature, and if you haven’t read it before, you ought to take the time to read it now. It’s a good book! show less

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor is one of those books I feel like I should have read years, maybe even decades ago, and not just because it's a young adult book. As I read the words I was transported into the lives of the Logan family. I cringed even as I cheered for Cassie to stand up for herself. My fear for her safety battling my need for her to conquer the injustice she faced. I saw in her an innocent child who couldn't and wouldn't understand why her life as a young black child had different rules than those for the young white children around her. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is a story about perseverance, persistence, and strength in the face of injustice, hardship, and deceit. Taylor creates a story that puts show more the reader in the midst of the Logan family's love for one another, for community, and for their land even as she forces the reader to feel the turmoil of unfairness, manipulation, and danger swirling around them for wanting to keep and farm their own land. While Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is written for young adults, it is an engaging glimpse into the history of racial relations in the United States south that will engage readers of any age. show less

The narrative is set in Mississippi in 1933 during the period of Jim Crow laws. Cassie Chester is an eleven year old girl who struggles to understand why people are cruel to one another and since in her neighbourhood as a black person, she and her family are targeted if they step out of line. White neighbours think nothing of beating or even killing an "uppity" black person.

While written for young people, Taylor did not shrink from telling what Jim Crow was like in the first 60 years of the 20th Century. As an example, early in the story, three male neighbours were set on fire because a white female had accused one of them of flirting with her.

Mildred Taylor's fiction novel "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry", the winner of the 1977 Newbery Medal, is a searing look at the racial hatred and prejudices that forever changes the life of its nine-year-old protagonist, Cassie Logan. Set in fictional Spokane County, Mississippi, during the Great Depression (more specifically, 1933-34), the novel explores the tensions, racial and economic, that loom over Cassie and her family like the clouds that bring the fall rains to Spokane County.

Cassie's family owns four hundred acres of prime farmland, and they have barely scraped by in the last few years to pay the property taxes and keep food on the table and clothes on their backs. Cassie's mother works as a teacher and her father goes south to show more Louisiana during the cotton-growing season to lay track and earn enough money to fill out the rest of what the family owes. Meanwhile, Cassie and her brothers Stacey, Christopher-John, and Little Man are slowly but surely becoming aware of the racial prejudices that black people face in the community, even becoming a target of that prejudice themselves. In just a year, the whole family's outlook on life is turned upside down by a series of events that shakes the whole community.

"Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry" is a great novel. Its narrator Cassie is sassy but vulnerable, and she tells her story with great courage and tenacity. She is a very memorable protagonist, and so young and full of fire that the reader grows to love her by the end of the book. The book examines a lot of racial issues that preceded the civil rights movement of the 1960s, and gives us an insight into why this was necessary--white people had all the power, and black people had no rights and no influence, no way to protect themselves legally. Taylor, through Cassie's eyes, is presenting this material from the side of the oppressed, and her account is maddening and heartbreaking at the same time. This book reminds of "To Kill a Mockingbird", honestly; the only difference in structure being that the race of the narrator is African-American rather than Caucasian. Both Cassie and Scout Finch in "To Kill a Mockingbird", during the course of their stories, recognize the injustice of racism for the first time in their short lives.

• Have the students divide into groups, and each one select a scene from the novel. Have the groups discuss their respective scenes’ importance to the story as a whole, and have each student turn in their own reflection on this assignment.
• Character analysis—Have these same groups pick a character from the novel and discuss them. What are their motivations? What are their goals? How do the particular characters’ actions drive the plot to its ultimate climax? Have each student turn in a reflection on the character.

To conclude, "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry" is at the same time a powerful coming-of-age story and a look at the racial tensions that precluded the civil rights movement. It is a great book, and an essential read (I think) for young people who don't understand the issue of racial prejudice and the role it played in launching a movement for equality. show less