Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor Background and History
Racism Racism is judging people based on the color of their skin. Racist people think people of their color are better than people of another color.
Jim Crow Laws This novel takes place in 1933. Back then, black and white people were segregated by the Jim Crow Laws. • These laws enforced segregation. Segregation kept black and white people apart. They could not go to the same schools, travel in the same train cars, used the same parks, cemeteries, and theaters. • Laws were meant to create “separate but equal” places for blacks and whites. It did not work out this way however. The places were “separate” but not “equal.”
Jim Crow Laws Designed to prevent black citizens from achieving equality.
A black man going in the Colored Entrance of movie house on Saturday afternoon, Belzoni, Mississippi Delta, Mississippi
Rosa Parks On December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks, age 42, refused to obey bus driver James Blake's order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger.
Schools ● Schools for black students got much less money than schools for white students. ● As a result, the schools for black students did not have enough textbooks, chalk, and other supplies. ● Many schools for black students did not have playing fields, school buses, or indoor bathrooms - but schools for white students often did.
Supreme Court ● In 1954, the Supreme Court got rid of the Jim Crow Laws. ● But, many people in the South were not willing to let black and white kids got to the same schools. ● In 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower had to send soldiers to Little Rock, Arkansas, to protect black students going to a white school
Little Rock Nine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmmT_jdB4iw
Civil Rights Act In 1964, the Supreme Court passed the Civil Rights Act. This act made it against the law to discriminate against people because of their color. When you discriminate against someone, you do not treat them fairly.
Civil Rights Movement ● During the period 1955–1968, acts of nonviolent protest and civil disobedience produced crisis situations between activists and government authorities. ● Federal, state, and local governments, businesses, and communities often had to respond immediately to crisis situations which highlighted the inequities faced by African Americans. ● Forms of protest and/or civil disobedience included boycotts such as the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–1956) in Alabama; "sit-ins" such as the influential Greensboro sit-in (1960) in North Carolina; marches, such as the Selma to Montgomery marches (1965) in Alabama; and a wide range of other nonviolent activities.
Civil Rights Movement Selma Voting Rights March One demonstration was attacked by both Dallas County Deputy Sheriffs and the Alabama State Police at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 7, 1965.
Voting Rights Act In 1965, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act. This law made it easier for black people to vote; however, prejudice did not fade away at once. People continued to prejudge others on the basis of their race.
About the Author Mildred D. Taylor went to school in Ohio where there were no Jim Crow Laws; therefore, people of different races could learn, work, play, and travel side by side. However, when Taylor was a child in the 1950s, she took many trips to visit relatives in Mississippi. On these trips, she saw discrimination.
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry In writing Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Taylor used her own experiences with racism in the South to show what life may have been like for African Americans in the 1930s. She also tied in the stories her father had told about family members living under the Jim Crow Laws during that time.
Mildred D. Taylor Taylor hoped that one day her novel “will be instrumental in teaching children of all colors the tremendous influence Cassie’s generation had in bringing about the Civil Rights Movement of the fifties and sixties.” She thanks her father for this help. She says, “Without his teachings, without his words, my words would not have been.”
More About ROTHMC Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is the second book in a five-part series about the Logan family. The book was published in 1976, and won the Newbery Medal in 1977. The novel is set in 1933 Mississippi – during the Great Depression.
SETTING: 1933 in Mississippi ● US undergoing the Great Depression ● Segregation of Whites and Minorities / Jim Crow Laws ● The South was still mainly rural ● Many black families were sharecroppers ● Racial prejudice and hatred [via “Night riders” and “KKK”]
About the Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression that began in 1930 and lasted until the late 1930’s or mid 1940’s (depending on where you lived); The Great Depression was the longest, most widespread, and deepest depression of the 20th century; During the Great Depression, roughly 25% of Americans were unemployed.
Sharecropping The sharecropper was a freed slave, poor black, or poor white who owned no land after the Civil War. Agreed to work a parcel of land owned by someone else, with the "rent" in the form of a share of the crop at harvest time. Owner provided the land, seed, and tools, and claimed perhaps half the crop. Often, the sharecropper ended up in constant debt, and in a situation not much better than slavery
Terms to be Familiar With…. Lynch Mob – a group of people who carry out their own justice (often murder) for an alleged crime by hanging, burning, or shooting the alleged transgressor in order to intimidate, control, or manipulate a population of people Nightmen – [the Night Riders] a group of men who travel through African-American neighborhoods at night in order to terrorize or injure African-American families. While there have been various groups of “nightmen” over the years, the most well-known group is the KKK. Boycott – an act of voluntary abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, business, or country as a form of protest.
ROTHMC: A “Coming of Age” Story These types of stories will focus on the ● growth of a protagonist from youth to adulthood Coming-of-age stories tend to emphasize dialogue or internal monologue over action, ● and are often set in the past.
Coming of Age stories will have a protagonist who is ● socially or psychologically maturing receiving an “education” but not just in a traditional school ● The character’s growth begins when he/she is faced with loss or discovery. For example, the character may lose innocence; ● ● character may struggle with knowledge that the adult world is complex; character may find the “absolutes” of childhood no longer exist (that ● there is not always a right or wrong answer).
The character’s growth is shown by ● clashes between what he/she wants and rules of society; ● the character trying to establish his/her own rules; ● the character trying to become an active participant in the world. Sometimes these stories will also contain ● a rite of passage...an event marking an important stage in someone’s life; ● an epiphany….a sudden realization of truth about him/herself or the world; seeing the world for what it really is or seeing people for who they really are ● a loss of innocence…an experience or period in a person’s life that leads to a greater awareness of evil, pain, and/or suffering in the world around them; ● A journey...whether it be a real or symbolic one.
In Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry look for the characters’ ● growth. ● clashes with society. ● a rite of passage. ● an epiphany. ● a symbolic journey.
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