Research Article: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

by Mildred Taylor

Mildred Taylor was born in Mississippi but moved to Ohio with her parents (Wilbert Lee and Deletha M. Taylor) and sister at the age of three weeks. There, she became enthralled by her father's detailed stories of his life in Mississippi and of both the hardships and the good times he had as a boy and an adult. Drawing on these stories to develop the fictional Logan family, she wrote Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. Her second novel about them, the story portrays what daily life was like for a strong black family during the Depression in the Deep South.

Events in History at the Time the Novel Takes Place

The Great Depression. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry takes place during the most significant economic depression in United States history. The Great Depression began with the stock market crash of October 29, 1929, in which millions of Americans lost their life savings. At the time, the federal government...
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