Published in 1976, Mildred Taylor’s novel Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry won multiple awards, including the 1977 Newbery Medal. Set in Mississippi in 1933, the story is told from the perspective of Cassie Logan, a nine-year-old girl living with her family on their own land at a time when land ownership for Black Americans was the exception rather than the rule. This is the era of Black codes, Jim Crow laws, and explicitly legal segregation. Taylor weaves historical research throughout the story to paint a vivid picture of this fraught period of American history.

Sharecropping and Land Ownership

After the Civil War, Southern states were given an enormous amount of freedom to rebuild their governments, and it wasn’t long before Black codes appeared. Their purpose was to maintain White supremacy in the South and prevent former slaves from exercising their new freedoms. These codes made it difficult for Black people to make decent wages or go into business for themselves. Sharecropping became one way that White Southerners extracted cheap labor from former slaves. Families could live on part of the land owned by a wealthy White person, raise its crops, and give a percentage of the crop to the landowner at the conclusion of the harvest. Both White and Black farmers sharecropped in the years after the Civil War. But as time went on, sharecropping created a vicious cycle of poverty that primarily impacted Black families. Black farming families were dependent on stores operated by White landowners, who often padded sharecroppers’ store accounts with things they didn’t purchase. In some cases, landowners charged greater percentages of crops and greater interest rates in exchange for store credit. The system was set up to keep Black sharecroppers in constant debt and powerless to obtain financial independence.

In Roll of Thunder, Cassie’s parents orchestrate a boycott of the local store, which is owned by a murderous White family. Before long, the sharecroppers of the community are threatened by the White landowners, and are forced to drop out of the boycott:

“Mr. Granger making it hard on us, David. Said we gonna have to give him sixty percent of the cotton, ‘stead of fifty. . . . But—but that ain’t all Mr. Granger said. Said, too, we don’t give up this shoppin’ in Vicksburg, we can jus’ get off his land. Says he tired of us stirrin’ up trouble ‘gainst decent white folks.”

Because they are landowners, the Logans have an independence that sharecropping families—like their friend T. J.’s—do not.

Separate but Equal

The Supreme Court ruled in the 1896 court case Plessy v. Ferguson that segregation in the United States was legal as long as facilities were equally distributed and maintained. However, facilities were typically inequitable. Florida passed a law in 1885 that segregated its schools by race. Texas segregated its water fountains, restrooms, and waiting rooms. Other states passed similar laws. Seventeen Southern states banned Black people from enrolling in land-grant colleges. Schools for Black students received far less public funding than their White counterparts, and they often had to use outdated equipment and textbooks.

Early in the novel, Cassie describes the school the White students attend, with its expansive lawn, sports field, bleachers, and buses. She then describes the school the Black students attend—“a dismal end to an hour’s journey.” On the first day of school, Cassie’s teacher excitedly announces that they will have textbooks this year. The books, however, are the throwaways from the White school, complete with each student’s name and race recorded in the front.

Terrorism, Night Riders, and Lynchings

In the post-Civil War South, Black codes were laws enacted to maintain social control over the former slaves of the South. One way White people in the South maintained their supremacy extralegally was through terrorist activities, which went largely unpunished by the justice system. If a Black person was accused of virtually anything by a White person, the White person’s word was accepted as the truth. False or exaggerated charges were not unusual. A prevalent and malicious stereotype in the South portrayed Black men as dangerous to women. A Black man accused of so much as flirting with a White woman could have been captured by a vigilante mob and then possibly lynched, tarred and feathered, or even set afire. These public executions were often treated like spectacles by crowds of White onlookers and served to remind Black communities of their powerlessness.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry addresses these horrific activities from early in the story. The Logans’ gossipy friend T. J. tells them on the first day of school that “some white men took a match” to the Berry family, a Black gentleman and his nephew. The reason for the attack is not given until later; it turns out that someone accused one of the Berrys of making contact with a White woman. A few evenings later, Cassie and her brothers are doing homework when T. J.’s father comes by to announce that “They’s ridin’ tonight.” “They” are the mob of White men who roam the countryside, looking to punish Black people whom they believe have stepped out of their designated social roles in some way. Cassie doesn’t fully understand the implications due to her age, but she is aware that her mother, grandmother, and their houseguest, Mr. Morrison, stay up all night keeping watch.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry employs a simple and direct style. Taylor's careful use of symbolism adds depth to the story's main themes. For instance, the old oak tree on the edge of the Logan property symbolizes the family's strength and resilience. Regular references to slavery provide a historical backdrop for the Logans' struggles, offering enlightening and educational context. The character portrayals are mostly convincing and effective, though Cassie occasionally appears unusually insightful for her young age. Despite minimal physical descriptions, the interactions between characters reveal much about their personalities and motivations.

Taylor skillfully adjusts her diction, moving seamlessly between the casual language of the children and the more formal, impersonal tone of teachers addressing their students. The rhythmic dialect in the informal dialogues is well-suited for reading aloud. Although the narrative pace is somewhat slow, making the book less thrilling than many other young adult novels, the plot's progression is expertly managed and free of confusing subplots. The few flashbacks integrate smoothly into the scenes where they appear.

The story is told from the perspective of an eight- or nine-year-old girl, allowing for a naive viewpoint that highlights the irrationality of the social system. This perspective also offers a glimpse of reality from someone too young to be fully embittered by the injustices she faces. Cassie's curiosity compels the adults to confront the hypocrisy in accepted behaviors and value systems. An older narrator, more indoctrinated and constrained by the social climate, would not have been able to raise the same thought-provoking questions that underscore the flaws and inconsistencies of their immediate environment.

In this novel, oral history provides crucial insights into how past events impact the characters. Cassie's grandmother recounts past events so frequently that Cassie can almost recite the stories along with her. Similarly, Mr. Morrison's recounting of his parents' death when he was just six years old is likely etched into his memory the same way. Strong verbs infuse the book's descriptive passages with energy, helping readers visualize the scenes and characters. Taylor's language use and scene manipulation establish a generally non-confrontational tone. In many instances, adversaries do not face each other directly, resulting in many negative reactions being depicted indirectly. This narrative strategy reduces the emotional intensity and harshness that might have arisen from a different presentation.

Throughout the work, Taylor explores the dynamics of racial tension. While the portrayal of this sensitive issue is handled with care, some students might benefit from background information about the era in which the novel is set. The attitudes and tolerance of older Black characters toward social injustices could be challenging for some students to understand. They might struggle with accepting the older characters' belief that certain situations must simply be endured. It is important to thoroughly prepare students before discussing scenes that depict burnings or reference lynchings and hangings. Ultimately, the sense of community shown by both Black and White characters toward the end of the novel helps to counterbalance the acts of violence. The events in the novel do not need to be distorted or minimized, as most young readers are emotionally capable of grappling with the difficult issues presented.

Although violence is not a central theme of the work, the nature of the conflict sometimes requires solutions and strategies that contradict the values typically upheld by families like the Logans. Occasionally, characters in the novel include guns in their preparations for potential confrontations, but these conflicts are resolved without the use of firearms.

The racial conflict among the school children in the community is not particularly intense and often resembles the normal tension found among young people in any community. This aspect of the work should pose few, if any, problems.