The Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, written by Mildred D. Taylor, is a fictional story about racism during the Great Depression in the deep south. The book tells the story of courage, strength, and determination shown by one family to overcome poverty while enduring racial discrimination during the Depression. It was important for the family to own farm land that would be inherited by the next generation. Some black families who owned land, or were working to own their land, were injured or killed by powerful white families. The main family in this story was treated unfairly by those who did not want them to succeed. However, giving up was not an option. The story took place during the Great Depression in rural Mississippi in the early 1930s about 40 miles from Vicksburg. The main family in the story lived on 400 acres of farm land. They made a living growing crops to support their family and pay for the land. The land was surrounded by a fence, a pond, and was off a curvy, red, dirt road. The children regularly walked the dirt road to and from school and church. The …show more content…
Stacey’s friend, a black boy named TJ, often played with the family, and became friends with two white men who were only using him for their benefit. Two other characters were Mr. Wallace, who ran the local store where many farmers shopped, and Harlan Granger, who was head of the board of the bank that owned most of the farm land. Mr. Wallace and Mr. Granger were white men of influence who treated blacks inferior, and did not want them to have any power. The Logan family was poor, and faced hard times trying to survive in the deep south during the Great Depression. The Logans owned half of their land, which was 200 acres. They worked hard to pay off their debt to the bank that had threatened for years to take the land