Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry/Song of the Trees- Introduction Notes
Background information:
Author: Mildred Taylor
Genre: Historical Fiction
Setting: 1933 Mississippi (During segregation/Great depression) In October (we know this because the kids are starting school)
Perspective is 1st person- Narrated by Cassie Logan
White school-Jefferson Davis
Black school- Great Faith
Dialect- a distinct regional form or type of speech
Key Terms/ Ideas:
-Segregation-separation of races, education, transportation, society (1897-1954)
-Great Depression- 1929-1942 (stock market crash)
-Equality- rights to opportunity
-Civil Rights-Rights that apply to everyones pursuit of happiness
-Sharecropping-is a system of agriculture in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on the land.
-Emancipation-Slavery ends in 1863
-1863 13th amendment ends slavery
-1868 14th amendment granted citizenship
-Plethy vs. Fergison -starts segregation took place in MA 1897
-Brown VS. Board of Education Topeka , Kansas (ended segregation) 1954
-Civil War - Country was divided into North and South (2 Presidents- Lincoln for the North and Jefferson Davis for the South)
Characters:
Logan Family-
Cassie Logan the nine-year-old narrator
Stacey Logan Cassie’s twelve-year-old brother
Christopher-John Cassie’s seven-year-old brother
Little Man (Clayton Chester) Cassie’s six-year-old brother
Papa (David Logan) Cassie’s father
Mama (Mary Logan) Cassie’s mother
Uncle Hammer Papa’s brother
Big Ma (Caroline Logan) Cassie’s sixty-year-old grandmother
Paul Edward Big Ma's husband and Davis's father
Mitchel David's (dead) brother
Mr. Morrison the tall, big man who lives with the Logans; not a relative
The Averys (African-American sharecroppers)
T.J. Stacey’s thirteen-year-old friend
Claude T.J.’s younger brother
Mr. Avery T.J. and Claude’s father
Mrs. Avery T.J. and Claude’s mother
The Simmses (white neighbors)
Jeremy Simms an eleven-year-old white boy
Lillian Jean Jeremy’s twelve-year-old sister
Melvin Jeremy’s older brother
R.W. Jeremy’s older brother
Charlie Simms the children’s father
The Wallaces (white general-store owners)
Kaleb Brothers
Dewberry Brothers
Thurston Brothers
Other Characters
John Henry & Beacon Berry sharecropping brothers burned by white men (John Henry later dies)
Samuel Berry Uncle of John Henry and Beacon Berry
Mr. Jamison a lawyer (White)
Harlan Granger a plantation owner
Daisy Crocker Cassie's Teacher
Miss Davis Little Man's teacher
Hank Sheriff (white)
Jim-Lee Barnett Store owners in Strawberry (white)
Wellever Principal of Great Faith
Ted Grimes Jefferson Davis school bus drive
Little Willie Wiggins (black) told Stacey that TJ got Mama fired.
