Sharecropping In Roll Of Thunder, Hear My Cry

On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation to free the slaves, but even so, white people showed their power over the black people through sharecropping, which, in its own way, was another form of slavery. In the book Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred D. Taylor, a nine-year-old black girl named Cassie Logan started to learn about the racial segregation during the 1930's, in Mississippi, the former slave state. Unlike most of the black families who sharecropped, the Logans had their own plot of land. Cassie, her brother Stacey, and their parents struggled because of the white families. For the Logans, the fight against the white people was probably enough, but T.J., Stacey’s friend, built on top of their

Avery changed by only one event. T.J. was lazy and not motivated. When T.J. decided to cheat on his test he shows that he will do anything that will benefit him without doing much work (Taylor 67). T.J. being careless has lead him to make wrong decisions. Later, he failed on his final exams. As he grew so angry, he ran to the Wallace store and revealed that the Logans were the ones who started the boycott. Because of T.J., Mr. Granger came to school to examine her lesson of slavery and ended up telling Mr. Wellever, the principle, to fire her. Even though Mama was fired because of the boycott, they just lied that the school board fired her because she teached the reality of slavery, not the information that was in the textbook (157-159). When the Logan children found out about T.J., they end their friendship with him, so T.J. decided that he will befriend the Simms brothers, R.W. and Melvin, who happened to be white (164). When the Simms brothers hung out with T.J., everything seemed fine, but once T.J. was gone, they mocked at him. This showed the Simms brothers didn’t view T.J. as a real friend. One day, the three boys decided to steal the pearl-handled pistol. Before, when T.J. went to Strawberry with the Logans, he stated, "I'd sell my life for that gun" (92). Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened. While they stole the pistol, they were caught by Mr. Barnett, so they hit Mr. Barnett with their axe. After they escape, T.J. just wanted to leave while the Simms brothers wanted to finish the business. T.J. still refused, so the brothers beat him up severely. Eventually, T.J. was able to reach the Logan's house, so he asked Stacey for help to go with him to his house. Stacey thought about it and finally decided he would help (209-211). T.J. was found by a group of white people and was accused of killing Mr. Barnett and stealing the pistol while R.W. and Melvin were left alone. The difference between