Let The Circle Be Unbroken Essay

Let the Circle Be Unbroken, a novel by Mildred D. Taylor, portrays the inequality of colored people and the numerous issues they faced in the 1930s. Depending on where one was in the country affected how they were treated; African Americans in the south were often treated worse than those who resided in the north. Either way, they endured back-breaking work, lived through the Great Depression, and were the victims of racism. Although they were no longer slaves, and hadn’t been for several decades, many people refused to see colored people as equal. Mildred D. Taylor took these events into consideration when writing her novel, and in doing so, gave an accurate representation of how life was for colored people in the 1930s. Despite gaining their freedom, the vast majority of African Americans became farmers as they were well experienced in the trade. However, most of them had to become a sharecropper, or a farmer who works someone else’s land for a share of the profit. Buying land was even more of a challenge for colored people, as many whites refused to sell it to them. Being a sharecropper meant that not only did one have a job, but they were also provided with a place to live on their small share of land. Landlords believed that the colored families working on their land had to obey their wishes, or else they would be removed from the

In the novel, Cassie Logan, along with many of her neighbors caught the fever. Her illness lasted two weeks, and during that time frame, she was barely awake and was unaware of her surroundings. Since scarlet fever is contagious, Cassie had to be separated from her family while she was infected. The sickness began when she felt nauseous, weak, and hazy. Even after she felt better, Cassie spent a lot of time resting as her strength was not fully recovered. Although she was fortunate enough to survive, her neighborhood lost several people to this illness (Taylor,