1. - 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.

2. - 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

4. - 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.

5. - 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).

6. - 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 20 th century. - During the Great Depression, roughly 25% of Americans were unemployed

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. Sharecropper – a farm tenant who pays rent to the land owner with a portion of the crop he (the sharecropper) raises; During the 1930’s, though sharecroppers were not slaves, they often worked for little more than food, clothing, and a meager dwelling.