Cassie forces Lillian Jean to apologize for all the humiliation she inflicted on her, then threatens to reveal all of Lillian Jean's secrets if she tells anyone what happened. up to take the blame.Īfter Cassie is humiliated by Lillian Jean Simms, she pretends to forgive Lillian Jean and becomes friends with her long enough to learn sensitive information about the Simms family. Barnett is killed by the Simms boys, who set T.J. T.J ends his friendship with Stacey and befriends two brothers, R.W. sets Stacey up to be accused of cheating in school. Mama organizes a boycott of the Wallaces' store because they are the cause of most of the trouble between the blacks and the whites, as well as possibly being members of the Ku Klux Klan.

Several episodes feature black characters being humiliated by powerful white citizens and being forced to weigh the potential cost of standing up for themselves.Īt school, Cassie and Little Man notice that the books they use were originally distributed to the white children and given to the black students once they wear out.Ĭassie's father, David Logan, visits the family from his job on the railroad during the holidays. Rather than a single, overarching storyline, the bulk of the novel consists of several intertwining plots, each involving one or more members of the Logan family and illustrating various aspects of black/white interactions during the nadir of American race relations. It originally belonged to a white plantation owner, Harlan Granger, who sold it to cover his taxes during Reconstruction.

Unlike most black families in their area, the Logan family owns the land on which they reside. In 1933, nine-year-old Cassie Logan lives in rural Mississippi with her three brothers, Stacey (twelve years old), Christopher-John (seven years old), and Little Man (six years old). The novel contains several themes, including Jim Crow segregation, Black landownership, sharecropping, the Great Depression, and lynching. In the book, Taylor explores struggles of African Americans in 1930s Mississippi through the perspective of nine-year-old Cassie Logan. The novel is the first book in the Logan family saga, which includes four sequels ( Let the Circle Be Unbroken (1981), The Road to Memphis (1992), The Gold Cadillac (1987), and All the Days Past, All the Days to Come (2020)) and three prequels ( The Land (2001), The Well: David's Story (1995), and Song of the Trees (1975)) as well as two novellas ( Mississippi Bridge (1990) and The Friendship (1987)).

Part of her Logan family series, it is a sequel to her 1975 novella Song of the Trees. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is a 1977 novel by Mildred D.

Roll of thunder mildred taylor