Mildred Taylor was born in Jackson, Mississippi on September 13, 1943 About the author Mildred Taylor was born in Jackson, Mississippi on September 13, 1943 - Although Taylor was born in the South, she lived there only briefly before moving to Toledo, Ohio, where she spent most of her childhood Taylor is best known for her works exploring the struggle faced by African-American families in the Deep South.

Many of Taylor’s stories are based on stories about her family that she heard while growing up. - Taylor has written nine novels to date, and five of them are about the fictional Logan family – the family presented in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

About Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry 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 Mississippi U.S. 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 / “Nightriders” or “Ku Klux Klan”

The main character in the story is Cassie Logan, a 9-year-old African-American girl who is brave, has a fiery temper, and is very naïve about the facts of racism Several violent acts of racism occur or are mentioned in the novel, including “The Berry Burnings” in chapter one, and the tarring and feathering of Mr. Tatum in chapter 4 - These two events are examples of lynch mobs and nightmen (two terms that will be explained momentarily).

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 which nation you lived in). 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.

Jim Crow Laws Designed to prevent Black citizens from achieving equality. “It shall be unlawful for a negro and white person to play together or in company with each other in any game of cards or dice, dominoes or checkers.” —Birmingham, Alabama, 1930 “Marriages are void when one party is a white person and the other is possessed of one-eighth or more negro, Japanese, or Chinese blood.” —Nebraska, 1911 “Separate free schools shall be established for the education of children of African descent; and it shall be unlawful for any colored child to attend any white school, or any white child to attend a colored school.” —Missouri, 1929

A few 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 – 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.

A few terms to be familiar with (Cont’d) Boycott – an act of voluntary abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, business, or country as a form of protest. Racial Segregation – the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home.