1930's Mississippi was a harsh place for black people.

1930’s Mississippi was a harsh place for black people. Slavery had finished but white people still treated black people like slaves. Mildred Taylor wrote of how she learnt to grow and understand more about injustice. Cassie, the main character tells us what it was like to be living at that time in America. In this essay I will discuss about what injustices I feel most strongly about in roll of thunder & why I feel this way.

In the first chapter, the Logan kids are walking to school, after a long break. Little Man walks slower than the other Logan children – he is worried about getting his best clothes dirty. Stacey, who is the eldest of the four, is upset because he has to be taught by his mother this year. We are soon introduced to a young boy called T.J. Avery. We learn very quickly about T.J.s desire to be the focus of attention. T.J. informs the Logan children of an incident where a family were torched because the white men felt that they had done something wrong. The incident has become known as the Berry’s Burning. T.J. Tries to hold the moment for as long as possible by telling the children that,

“Maybe I ought not tell ya. It might hurt y’all’s little ears.”

None of the children, except Stacey really like T.J. And when he deliberately withholds information from them they get angry. When T.J. eventually tells the children what has happened the kids are shocked to be informed that:

“Some white men took a match to ‘em.”

This is the first incident of injustice we see in the book. The Berry’s burning is a particular shock to the Logan boys and Cassie because they have been sheltered from the injustices that have fallen before and they aren’t informed of the Berrys burning by there parents but T.J. tells them. I believe the berry burning is the biggest form of injustice in the book. The Berry’s were burned because of some white men who were drunk said to each other “that the nigger Sallie Ann was flirtin with her”. Henrietta Toggins who was kin to the berry’s heard this and told John Berry to get out of there as soon as they got the gas. The white men caught up after John had taken Henrietta home. When John noticed that he had to stop so he stopped at his uncles. The white men dragged them both out and set them and the boys on fire. Soon after Henrietta told the sheriff about the incident but got ignored just because she was black. Later in the book Mrs Silas Lanier told us “John Henry died last night”. This shows the awful things that could happen to the black people in the community.

The next injustice falls soon after the reader is told about the Berrys burning. When the children get further up the road the bus from Jefferson Davis county Grammar school deliberately speeds up when the driver sees the Logan children, who are accompanied by T.J. Because it’s frightening for the children the bus is described as:

“A huge yellow Dragon.”

Little man fails to jump onto the bank in time and gets covered in the hot red dust that lies on the road. Little man is very upset about his clean clothes getting dirty – but ...

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“A huge yellow Dragon.”

Little man fails to jump onto the bank in time and gets covered in the hot red dust that lies on the road. Little man is very upset about his clean clothes getting dirty – but what he really can’t understand is why the Jefferson Davis school have two buses and Great Faith, where the Logan children attend school, has none. This is prime example of injustice, not only that the bus of the white school deliberately attempts to frighten the black children, but also that the black student’s school hasn’t got the same supplies as the white students. Great Faith’s facilities come from the local black church. Jefferson Davis School receives money from the council and they have huge fields and their classrooms are luxurious long white paved buildings. Great Faith’s classrooms are “weather-beaten wooden houses” which two classes share at the same time. I believe this is very prejudice because not only are the black people have to walk to school but they must share classrooms. Also they do not have any funds from the council I believe this is very unfair and racial.

The next incident involves the children’s first day back, and Little Mans first day at school. The children’s teacher is very excited that all of the children will have their own books this year. Little Man is extremely upset with the poor quality of the book that he has received. Little Man, not aware that all of the books were in the same pathetic condition as the one he has been awarded, asks for a new one. Little Man is told off by his teacher, when he realises that all the books are the same he accepts it and sits down. When Little Man opens his book he is appalled to find that there is a sticker in the front page of his book saying:

Date of Issuance condition Race of Student

September 1922 New White

“ 1923 Excellent “

“ 1924 “ “

“ 1925 Very good “

“ 1926 good “

“ 1927 “ “

“ 1928 Average “

“ 1929 “ “

“ 1930 “ “

“ 1931 Poor “

“ 1932 “ “

“ 1933 VERY POOR nigra

Little Man is upset about this. With his hopes of a great school time disappearing rapidly, he throws his book onto the floor and stamps on it furiously. Ms. Crocker, the teacher, is so amazed by Little Man’s behaviour that she takes him to the front of the class to whip him. Cassie tries to stand up for Little Man by showing Ms. Crocker the page that offended Little Man so much, but Ms. Crocker just ignores Cassie. When Cassie says that she doesn’t want her book either. Ms. Crocker whips both her and Little Man. The injustice in this incident evolves around the book that was given to the white students until it wasn’t good enough for them any more, so the books were given to the black school.

Another example of injustice is when the education board sacks Mama. They accuse her of teaching the wrong syllabus as she wished to deliver a curriculum suitable for black people.

In Strawberry we see some horrible incidents of prejudice. The blacks get the worst spot for selling their goods when the whites get the best spot. In Strawberry Cassie went to the Barnett store and Mr Barnett was being very unjust to Cassie because she was next in line and he let a white child come in front of her. After leaving the store Cassie tries to stand up for herself when Lillian Jean knocks her down. At that moment Cassie is too young to understand the way things were.

In Roll Of Thunder, Hear My Cry there is a situations where Stacey has had enough of the white bus splashing them with mud and making them jump off the road. Stacey takes revenge by digging a ditch in the road. “The bus rattled up the road”, “We could hear the students squealing with delight”. The bus got stuck in the road and so the white children had to walk home. Stacey was angry with them even with he didn’t know them so he took revenge so, for one day they would feel how all the blacks feel all their lives. The Logan children were very happy but later on they become really worried and scared.

The main reason they were scared was because of the night men. The night men are a group of whites who attack blacks. The reason why the children were scared is because they think that the night men are after them because of the bus incident. The night men affected Cassie the most. In the book Mr Avery comes in and says, “I lay paralysed with fear”. She saw the headlight of a car come and stop and go. This fear, which Cassie had, didn’t go away. We know this because later in the book Mama and Big Ma notice that Cassie isn’t acting like herself and that she is staying at home more. A group of white men had this affect on the children not just Cassie. This shows that the whites felt protected at night but the blacks couldn’t be because at any time the night men could come. Not only did the night men scare Cassie they also burned the Berry’s.

In Chapter Nine Papa tells mama “I think I’ll take Stacey with me”. Papa is referring to Vicksburg. This is the place were Papa got his leg shot. From Stacey in Chapter Nine we learn that the wheels came off and that Mr Morrison and Papa thought that someone had been messing with them. Stacey explains to the children that he saw two boys near the wagon and also that papa got shot in the leg while putting the first one on. He describes how Mr Morrison picked one man up and flung him to the ground.

This shows how that even when they tried to help the community the whites might be ready to stop them.

Being shot is nothing compared to what TJ went through in the last chapter. TJ nearly died because the Simms brothers told everybody that TJ was part of the attack on the Barnett’s and that they saw him run off. When some whites heard about this they went to TJ’s house and dragged him out and kicked him. In the book it says that TJ, “let out a cry of pain”. Stacey sees what is happening and runs to Papa for help. Papa burns a quarter or the cotton in his effort to save TJ. This makes the people forget about TJ and help with the fire. The end of the book was very sad but hopeful atmosphere as Cassie thinks about everything that has happened and learns to accept the way her community is treated.

At that time, the life of black people was extremely hard. They constantly had to watch their back. Now in the year 2003 the blacks and whites are equal but still now there is still racist people who cause hurt because they don’t like the colour of a person’s skin.

By Shayaz