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1976 novel by Mildred D. Taylor From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is a 1977 Newbery Medal[1][2] awarded novel by Mildred D. Taylor. It is a part of her Logan family series, a sequel to her 1975 novella Song of the Trees.
First edition | |
| Author | Mildred D. Taylor |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Jerry Pinkney |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Historical fiction |
| Publisher | Dial Press |
Publication date | 1976 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 288 |
| ISBN | 0-590-98207-9 |
| Preceded by | Song of the Trees |
| Followed by | Let the Circle Be Unbroken |
The novel is the first book in the Logan family saga, which includes four sequels (Let the Circle Be Unbroken (1981), The Road to Memphis (1992), The Gold Cadillac (1987), and All the Days Past, All the Days to Come (2020)) and three prequels (The Land (2001), The Well: David's Story (1995), and Song of the Trees (1975)) as well as two novellas (Mississippi Bridge (1990) and The Friendship (1987)). In the book, Taylor explores the struggles of African Americans in 1930s Mississippi through the perspective of nine-year-old Cassie Logan. The novel contains several themes, including Jim Crow segregation, Black landownership, sharecropping, the Great Depression, and lynching.
In 1933, nine-year-old Cassie Logan lives in rural Mississippi with her three brothers, Stacey (twelve years old), Christopher-John (seven years old), and Little Man (six years old). Unlike most black families during this time, the Logan family owns the land on which they reside. It originally belonged to a white plantation owner, Harlan Granger, who sold it to cover his taxes during Reconstruction.
Rather than a single, overarching storyline, the bulk of the novel consists of several intertwining plots, each involving one or more members of the Logan family and illustrating various aspects of black/white interactions during the nadir of American race relations. Several episodes feature black characters being humiliated by powerful white citizens and being forced to weigh the potential cost of standing up for themselves.
At school, Cassie and Little Man notice that the books they use were originally distributed to the white children, and given to the black students once they wore out.
Cassie's father, David Logan, visits the family from his job on the railroad during the holidays.
After Cassie is humiliated by Lillian Jean Simms, a white girl, she pretends to forgive Lillian Jean and becomes friends with her long enough to learn sensitive information about the Simms family. Cassie assaults Lillian Jean and forces her to apologize for all the humiliation she inflicted on her, then threatens to reveal all of Lillian Jean's secrets if she tells anyone what happened.
When Cassie's mother, a school teacher, catches Stacy's friend T.J. cheating in class, T.J. gets her fired from her job, with the help of the Wallace family.
Cassie's mother organizes a boycott of the Wallaces' store because they are the cause of most of the trouble between the blacks and the whites, as well as possibly being members of the Ku Klux Klan. Later, David and his hired hand Mr. Morrison are attacked on the road, with David being shot, but survives. Mr. Morrison brutally trashes the attackers, who turn out to be the Wallaces. As a result, the white community forces the bank to call the Logans' mortgage. David’s brother Hammer sells his car to pay it off and avoid losing the family land.
T.J. ends his friendship with Stacey and befriends Lillian Jean’s two older brothers, R.W. and Melvin Simms. The Simms boys convince T.J. to help them burgle a store. In the process, Jim Lee Barnett, the store owner, is killed by the Simms boys, who set T.J. up to take the blame.
The book ends with T.J. about to be lynched for the death of Barnett, when the cotton fields catch fire. The community bands together to stop the fire from spreading. Cassie realizes that her father set the fire to save T.J. Stacey asks what T.J.'s fate will be. David tells the children T.J. will likely be convicted of Barnett's murder and may be executed. Cassie, overwhelmed by the news, silently goes to bed. Although Cassie never liked T.J., she cries for him and the land.
At the time of the book's publication, Kirkus Reviews wrote, "Taylor trusts to her material and doesn't try to inflate Cassie's role in these events, and though the strong, clear-headed Logan family is no doubt an idealization, their characters are drawn with quiet affection and their actions tempered with a keen sense of human fallibility."[3] In a retrospective essay about the Newbery Medal-winning books from 1976 to 1985, literary critic Zena Sutherland wrote of Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, "There is no doubt that this book remains today as effective dramatically and as important sociologically as it was when it appeared... This is not an unflawed book, but it is a memorable one."[4]
In 2014, writing in The New York Times, novelist Ayana Mathis named Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry as the most terrifying book she had ever read. Mathis wrote of reading the book at the age of nine: "I not only learned what it meant to live a perilous life, surrounded by open hostility, but I also made the grim discovery that such circumstances even existed."[5]
In addition to a Newbery Medal, the novel was a National Book Award finalist and Coretta Scott King Award honoree.[6]
In 2020, the Burbank Unified School District banned the book from the curriculum due to complaints from four parents, who allege the material in the book could lead to potential harm to the district's African-American students.[7][8][9] However, scholar Hyun-Joo Yoo argues that Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry can have a more positive impact: Taylor purposefully writes from the perspective of African American protagonists who are strong-willed and effect change.[10] Taylor's positive depictions in Roll of Thunder counter the long history of racist and negative stereotypes about African Americans.[11] Brooks also argues that Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry presents a minority perspective and challenges white-dominated narratives. [12]
In 1978, the novel was adapted into a television film directed by Jack Smight and starring Claudia McNeil as Big Ma, Janet MacLachlan as Mama and Morgan Freeman as Uncle Hammer. The original 1978 version of this film ran for almost four hours and was shown over two nights in July 1978. The original version resembled the book much more than the current one does, as it includes several scenes from the book that are not shown in the current version, such as the Logan children's first day of school, their plan to sabotage the school bus, and Mama getting fired because of Mr. Granger.[13]
After the first version was shown, the movie was heavily edited down to shorten its length. All material from Part 1 was removed, except for certain scenes that were abruptly added into Part 2. Small portions of some of the scenes from Part 1, i.e., Little Man throwing a book on the ground, Mama putting paper over the inside cover of a worn-out textbook, the kids digging a trap for the bus to get stuck in, Mr. Morrison introducing himself, appear in a pre-title sequence, not unlike the kind of introduction for part 2 of a two-part TV episode. The final scene in Part 1 is kept, for it has much to do with the events of Part 2.[14]
The film won modest praise, including two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Best Cinematography and Best Sound Editing.[15] The biggest difference between the film and the novel is that in the movie, Lillian Jean, Jeremy, R.W., and Melvin are Kaleb Wallace's children, while in the book, they are the children of Charlie Simms, a character who does not exist in the movie.[16]
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