Text Book Reviews

Reading In the Content Areas LIterature 1

Reading In The Content Areas: Literature 1
“Roll Of Thunder Hear My Cry” written by Mildred D. Taylor
This story, set in Mississippi in the 1930’s is about black people and some of the things they faced before equality became a reality.
Cassie is just a small child, but thanks to her Mother’s teachings she knows all about injustice toward the black man. One instance came about because of used books the white people didn’t use anymore. The County Superintendent of School delivered the books to the black students and they were really excited to get new books, but the books were not new at all. They were dirty and very used. So naturally some of the children were disappointed. And when one little boy opened his book and read the first page, he threw down the book and stomped it over and over. Seems the books were passed to white students in very good to poor conditions, but when they were really bad they were passed down to the blacks. Since the mother of Cassie and the little boy was a teacher and probably pretty smart also, she had been teaching her children that they were as good as anyone else, so it offended these children to receive dirty, used books, especially books with the word “nigra”in them. One thing that strikes home the acceptance of this attitude is the teacher giving the boy a spanking for being offended and refusing to accept the book, and later whipping Cassie also. The teacher thought they should be thankful for this gift, and told Cassie that they were indeed what the books had written in them, “nigras”. Refusing to accept inequality had been taught them by their mother, and Cassie knew it was alright to refuse injustice, even if it was in the form of address towards blacks. On a personal note, I enjoyed this story a lot, and I plan to go to the library and check it out so I can find out the whole story.
Submitted by Linda

posted by Rockcastle Group @ 3:13 PM