Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Author	Mildred D. Taylor
Cover artist	Jerry Pinkney
Language	English
Genre	Historical Fiction
Publisher	Dial Press (Now Penguin Group)
Publication date	1976
Publication place	USA
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	276pp
ISBN	ISBN 0-590-98207-9
Preceded by	Song of the Trees
Followed by	Let the Circle Be Unbroken

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (1976) is a drama novel by Mildred D. Taylor, following the life of an African-American family in 30's Mississippi, and how they cope with racism and oppression. In 1978 it was made into a TV movie starring Claudia McNeil as Big Ma, and Lark Ruffin as Cassie, and Morgan Freeman as Uncle Hammer.

Many of the events and themes are adult in nature, but the book is told in the first person narrative perspective of Cassie Logan, a fourth-grade girl.

The novel won the 1977 Newbery Medal and is considered to be among the greatest children's novels of all time ¹. Its sequel, Let the Circle Be Unbroken, was released in 1981.

Characters

Main Characters

Stacey Logan

Stacey Logan turns thirteen during the book. He takes life without complaint, using what good it gives him and never dwells out loud upon the bad. As the oldest sibling, he attempts to protect his family from harm and hatred. This gains him much respect from Cassie, Clayton Chester and Christopher-John. Although he usually handles getting into trouble with maturity, he does have a fiery temper. Stacey is much more pragmatic than his sister Cassie; at the start of the book, he has a much better understanding of the realities of segregation and prejudice.

Cassie Logan

Cassie is a beautiful and intelligent 9-year-old girl who doesn't understand the evil that exists in her town. She grows up during the course of the book. This young fourth grader is very smart, and is becoming way too mature for her age only because of the terrible events going on in her life and town. Cassie Logan is the narrator in the book. At the beginning of the novel she is unaware of the white-dominated streak in her area. Throughout the novel, she experiences racism and therefore begins to learn a lesson that her brother has already learned. She learns that she must control her anger at the white race in order to protect her family from being hurt by the white people in the community. She is clever and smart as she plans her revenge on white child Lillian Jean wisely. She is clearly a tomboy as she does not like girly clothes: "I hated the dress. And the shoes".

David "Papa" Logan

A tall, handsome, 42 year old man, David 'Papa' Logan is Big Ma's youngest son and is the brother of Uncle Hammer. He is ready to sacrifice himself as shown when he uses his shotgun to protect T.J. Avery. Later, he uses his ingenuity to stop the lynch mob and save T.J.'s life by distracting the mob. David works at a railroad in Louisiana so he can support his family.

Mary "Mama" Logan

A thirty-four year old woman from the Delta, Mary 'Mama' Logan went to high school and was sent to the Crandon Teacher School by her tenant-farmer father. Her father died during her final year in teacher school, and she married David when she was nineteen; She has taught at the Great Faith school for fourteen years; during the course of the novel, she is unjustly fired. She has four children.

Secondary Characters

Clayton Chester "Little Man" Logan

Clayton Chester Logan, nicknamed "Little Man", age six, is a smart boy, who has a habit of keeping belongings tidy and clean. He thinks of himself as more grown up.

Caroline "Big Ma" Logan

Caroline "Big Ma" Logan, Papa's and Uncle Hammer's mother, is a woman in her sixties. She holds the deed to the Logan land, which was bought by her late husband, Paul Edward. She married him when she was eighteen, and together they raised their six children, only two of whom are alive in this novel, Hammer and David. Big Ma is the voice of history in the book and tells stories about the past to Cassie. Her love of the land leads her to sign it over to her two sons to protect it from Harlan Granger. She has medical knowledge and is often called upon to tend those injured by any violence, including the Berrys, who were burned by the Wallaces. She is very religious and is a source of comfort to Cassie.

Christopher-John Logan

Christopher-John is a short, stout boy who is the quietest Logan sibling. He avoids fights and arguments, because of his calming nature. He is friends with Claude Avery, T.J Avery's younger brother. He doesn't like getting involved.

The Simms Family

Jeremy Simms

Jeremy is a young, 12 year old white boy, whose family is racist. Jeremy doesn't share his family's cruelty, and wishes to be friends with Stacey and the other Logan children; for this, he is ridiculed by his white peers and frequently beaten by his father.

Lillian Jean Simms

Lillian Jean, unlike her brother Jeremy, is very racist and antagonizes Cassie.Lillian Jean tells Cassie to go in the road, but Cassie dosen't, so Mr.Simms shoves Cassie in the road and forces her to say she's sorry to"Mizz Lillian Jean". Cassie gets revenge on her by pretending to be her friend and letting Lillian tell all her secrets. Cassie then secretly fights her, and blackmails her with the secrets so she never tells.

Melvin & R.W. Simms

The two responsible for the death of Mr. Jim Lee Barnett. They were also pretending to be T.J.'s friend. After killing Jim Lee Barnett, they thrashed T.J. around.

Mr. Charlie Simms

The head of the Simms household.

Others

Mr. Morrison

Mr. L.T. Morrison is a large, muscular, and tall man whom Papa Logan brings home from the railroad after he had a fight with a white man and got fired. His own family was brutally murdered by a lynch mob during Reconstruction, and he considers the Logan Family like family to him. His involvements with Mr. Granger and the Wallaces cause friction, and place Morrison in danger. Despite the danger, he remains with the Logan family as a protector, and comes to view them as family. He is described as being a large tree. He also killed one of the Wallace brothers.

Harlan Granger

Harlan Granger is the wealthiest landowner in the county, and the owner of the land surrounding the Logan farm. Originally, the Logans' land was part of the Granger plantation; Harlan Granger wants ownership of it n. His attempts to take the land from the Logans are a major plot element in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.

Mr. Barnett

Owner of a store (the Mercantile) in Strawberry. Trys to protect T.J and forgives him because he knows R.W did it. He dies at 4:00 after he was hit in the head by an ax by R.W.

Mr. Grimes

The bus driver for the Jefferson Davis School (the bus only transports white children). He is constantly tormenting the Logan children by forcing them off the road or splashing them as he drives by.

Wade Jamison

The non-racist white lawyer that comes to TJ's rescue, saving him from being hung. He also helps the Logan's in the legal transferring of the land from Big Ma. To Uncle Hammer and David Logan.

Hammer Logan

He is the Logan children's Uncle. He has a bad temper. He sells his Silver Packard, (like the one Mr. Granger owns) to make the mortgage payment of the Logan land.

Plot

The book begins with Cassie and her brothers, Stacey, Christopher-John, and Little Man (Clayton Chester) walking to school. Cassie talks about the land on which the Logan family lives. It once belonged to Harlan Granger, but he sold a thousand acres (4 km²) of it to cover his taxes during Reconstruction. Their grandfather bought two hundred acres (0.8 km²) of it in 1887, then another two hundred acres (0.8 km²) in 1918.

After several minutes of walking, T.J. Avery and his brother, Claude, join them. The Avery family sharecrops on the Granger Plantation. Later on, the white children's sleek school bus drives by. Everyone gets out of its way in time except Little Man, whose clothes becomes coated with red dust kicked up by the bus intentionally.

Jeremy Simms arrives. Jeremy is a white boy with an older sister, Lillian Jean, two older brothers, R.W. and Melvin, and two or three younger siblings. Jeremy, Lillian Jean and all the other white children go to the fancy white Jefferson Davis School, while the black children go to the rundown Great Faith Elementary and Secondary School for blacks. However, Jeremy is different from his other siblings. While his siblings are cruel, Jeremy rejects the racism and prejudice towards blacks which permeate the society of Depression-era Mississippi.

Once the Logan children are at school, Cassie, Little Man and Christopher-John go to Miss Crocker's class and Stacey and T.J. go to Mrs. Logan's class. Cassie and Little man are later both whipped for refusing to take their textbooks, worn-out castoffs from the neighboring white school due to the offensive word, nigra, printed inside. Their teacher, goes to see their mother who calmly tapes the chart containing the word and does so with all of them. She then hands them back to a dumbstruck Miss Crocker. On Saturday, their father, David Logan, comes home from his railroad job in Louisiana and brings with him Mr. L.T. Morrison to assist in planting, farming, protection and whatnot. He leaves the next day after church to catch a train.

The next week, it rains constantly. After Cassie, Little Man, Christopher-John, and Stacey are splashed with mud by the school bus once again, they seek revenge. So, the children dig a ditch in the road during lunch, which the school bus crashes into after school. During the night, "night men" - similar to the Ku Klux Klan - come to the Logan family's home, but apparently was the wrong home and left. The next day, the Logans learn that they tarred and feathered Mr. Sam Tatum, a black man.

The next day at school, T.J. shows Stacey a copy of cheat notes for an exam in Mrs. Logan's class. During the test, he gives them to Stacey when he sees their teacher coming. She finds the notes, accuses Stacey of cheating on the test, and whips him. After school, T.J. runs to the Wallace Store which the Logans had forbidden the Logan children from visiting. However, Stacey seeks vengeance and follows T.J. while the others follow him. Mr. Morrison finds them fighting and physically separates them. He is angry because the Wallaces, particularly racist whites enjoyed the fight because it was between two blacks. He reminds them they are not supposed to be there for any reason but instead of telling their mother and Mr. Morrison leaves Stacey to decide whether or not to do so himself.

Stacey tells her, but they don't get whipped immediately. Instead, Mrs. Logan takes them to visit the Berrys. Mr. Berry is severely burned and gruesomely disfigured; Mama explains that the Wallaces were responsible for the burning. The next day, Mrs. Logan recruits people to boycott the Wallace Store because they are the cause of most of the trouble between the blacks and the whites, and are alleged members of the "night men".

On the second Saturday of December, Big Ma, Cassie's grandmother, takes Stacey, Cassie, and T.J. to Strawberry, a nearby town, and sells her goods at the market there. After lunch, they visit the office of Mr. Jamison, who is the their white lawyer who sold them the 200 acres (0.8 km²) of Harlan Granger's land in 1887. He is also one of the few white men in the town who treats black people with kindness and fairness and serves them indiscriminately. Only Big Ma, however, goes inside his office. Meanwhile, T.J. takes Cassie and Stacey to the Barnett Mercantile to purchase some items his family needs. While in the store, T.J. admires a pearl-handled revolver on display, and says he would "sell his life to own that gun"--a critical piece of foreshadowing.

Mr. Barnett begins to serve T.J. at the mercantile store, but a white adult customer comes in and Mr. Barnett interrupts his business with T.J. to serve her instead. Then as to attend to T.J. again, a young white girl comes in and Mr. Barnett again stops serving T.J. to serve her. Cassie politely reminds Mr. Barnett that they have been waiting patiently for about an hour. He responds by telling her harshly to continue waiting. Cassie gets angry and begins yelling at Mr. Barnett. Stacey tells her to be quiet before she starts a squabble, but, nonetheless, Mr. Barnett kicks them out of the store.

After leaving Barnett Mercantile, Cassie accidentally bumps into Lillian Jean Simms on the sidewalk. Lillian Jean orders her to apologize, then to get down on the road. Cassie tries to run, but is pushed onto the road by Mr. Charlie Simms, Lillian Jean's father, who proceeds to order her to apologize to Lillian Jean again, calling her "Miz" before she can leave with Big Ma.

When they get back home, they find that their Uncle Hammer Logan from Chicago, Illinois, is visiting them, in a shiny silver Packard that looks much like Mr. Granger's. Cassie tells him what has happened to her that day and Hammer speeds away with Mr. Morrison, ready to take revenge. She is worried that Uncle Hammer will get hanged but the subsequently finds Hammer still alive and well. Before heading to church, Hammer gives Stacey an early Christmas present, a new wool coat for the winter season. But when they arrive by car, T.J. teases him and tricks him into giving him the coat.

Papa comes home just in time for Christmas, and is staying home until spring. On Christmas night, Jeremy comes over to the Logans' and gives them some nuts for the whole family and a hand-made flute for Stacey. Papa warns Stacey to be careful about being friends with Jeremy, saying that eventually he will change, because the Simms are racist, and Jeremy might very well start to be prejudiced against blacks. The next day, Papa calls the children into the barn and whips them for visiting the Wallace Store previously.

Time passes and Papa starts to lead the boycott against the store. Mr. Jamison visits and Big Ma signs papers giving the land to Papa and Hammer. He also warns them to be careful, though, as they could lose their land if they continue their boycott. Mr. Granger comes over, and asks for the land again, but Papa refuses. Hammer then returns to Chicago and Papa continues to lead the boycott.

Then Cassie makes peace with Lillian Jean and falsely becomes her friend and servant by carrying her books. As Lillian Jean begins to trust Cassie more, she tells her all her secrets which Cassie then uses to attack Lillian Jean. She cannot fight back due to fear of Cassie telling her secrets and Cassie makes her apologize for what happened back in Strawberry.

Later T.J. tells Mr. Wallace about Mrs. Logan and how she doesn't teach her class from the county-issued textbook because she believes it contains biased information, and even tells about the boycott. Mr. Granger, as a member of the school board then fires Mrs. Logan. Stacey blames T.J. for this, though he untruthfully denies it. After all of his friends shun him, he begins to associate with Melvin and R.W. Simms, brothers of the Logans' friend Jeremy though in no way alike.

School ends in March, and Papa, Mr. Morrison, and Stacey go up to Vicksburg again. On their way back, they are ambushed and brutally attacked by the Wallace brothers. Papa is shot in the head by a shotgun shell and the wagon they were riding in runs over his leg after he falls off it in shock. He survives the bullet though he bleeds very badly, and has a broken leg. Mr. Morrison takes him home after breaking an arm and then the backs of two of the Wallace brothers.

While delivering tools to some of their friends the next day, Mr. Wallace stops the Logans, but Mr. Morrison picks up the Wallaces' truck and moves it to the side of the road. While church goes on during the week, the nearby bank forecloses the mortgage on the last two hundred acres (0.8 km²) of the Logans' land, but Uncle Hammer gives them money to pay it by selling his expensive Packard. On the last day of the church revival celebration, T.J. goes with R.W. and Melvin to the nearby mercantile, which is closed when they arrive. He then sneaks in and opens the door to the stock cover where R.W. steals a pearl-handled pistol and gives it to T.J. Then, he and Melvin rob the store's cash box. The store owner (Mr. Barnett) finds them and one of them fights for the money. R.W. hits him with the flat end of an axe, causing him to sustain heavy injuries and the owner's wife is knocked unconscious after being slapped and being hit on her head. When T.J. realizes that R.W. and Melvin have no intention of telling the truth that they committed the violence, he attempts to flee but not before being beaten and threatened. T.J. manages to get home and goes to the Logans' and asks for the children's help first.

When T.J. gets home with the help of the children, the night men come over and drag his entire family out of their house. The Logans are able to hide in some nearby bushes, watching in horror. Mr. Jamison and the sheriff stop the night men, but Mr. Wallace threatens to take T.J. down to the Logans' and lynch him there, as Mr. Granger doesn't allow lynching on his land. Stacey tells his sister and brothers to go get Mr. Logan and Mr. Morrison to help them, which they do. Papa and Mr. Morrison grab their shotguns and start to rush off to stop the lynching, but Mrs. Logan stops them, and Papa says he has "an idea". After a while, a spark sets the Logans' cotton on fire, and after being put out by all the people of the county, even the night men, who then stop the lynching to keep the fire from heading toward the forest.

Later, Cassie and Stacey learn that it was Papa who burned the cotton to stop the lynching, and that they have lost a quarter of their cotton. Afterward, Mr. Jamison tells them to keep this quiet, and also tells them that T.J. is in jail, could go on the chain-gang, and he could die because of armed assault on a white man and robbery from Jim Lee Barnett. At the conclusion of the book, Cassie cries for the land and for T.J. Cassie Logan states: I had never liked T.J., but he had always been there, a part of me, a part of my life, just like the mud and the rain, and I had thought that he would always be. Yet the mud and the rain and the dust would all pass. I knew and understood that. What had happened to T.J. in the night I did not understand, but I knew that it would not pass. And I cried for those things which had happened in the night and would not pass. I cried for T.J. For T.J. and the land.

Major themes

Hope in the face of destruction

Many troublesome situations befall characters in the novel that it seems are impossible to overcome, and yet Taylor's characters always make it through. For example, when Uncle Hammer is forced to pay the bank, he sells his silver Packard, even though it was one of his cherished possessions. When Papa is faced with the impossible dilemma of attempting to stop a lynch mob from hanging T.J. without being killed himself, he finds a way to do so--by starting a fire, forcing the mob members to put aside their vendetta and fight the fire before it spreads.

Other Adaptions

In 1978, the book was adapted into a made-for-tv movie. It featured Morgan Freeman as Uncle Hammer, John Cullum as Mr. Jamison, and Claudia McNeil as Big Ma.

References

SLJ Article