Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry By: Mildred Taylor

This Newberry Medal book is an outstanding chapter book illustrating the Civil Rights Movement to upper elementary and junior high students.  I can recall reading this as a junior high student.  Unlike our history lessons explaining the Civil Rights Movement, this novel illustrated the emotions, environment, and other factors involved on the level of a junior high student.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Author: Mildred Taylor - Mildred Taylor's work was motivated by her experiences with segregation growing up in Jackson, Mississippi.  While attending University of Toledo, Mildred Taylor was often found writing.  After graduating from the University of Toledo, Mildred Taylor joined the Peace Corps stationed in Ethiopia.  She joined the Black Student Alliance during grad school and continued her work with the Civil Rights Movement.  Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry was Taylor's second book but first Newberry Award winner.  Mildred Taylor Biography

Genre: Fiction

Grade Level: 5 - 9

Theme/Skill: Civil Rights Movement and Racism

Brief Synopsis: Chapter one sets up the plot and setting for this novel.  The children are sent to school but refuse their textbooks.  Their old, worn out textbooks symbolize the great extent of prejudice African Americans faced that they won’t even give equal textbooks.  Their refusal causes their teacher to speak to their mother about how wrong her children were.  Also on their way to school that morning, a bus of white children drives by yelling racial remarks.  One brother relays the message that an African American man was burned to death the night before. 

Pre-Reading Activity: What was the civil rights movement?  How were things organized before this movement?  What was segregation?  As an introduction to the civil rights movement, begin with speaking about segregation trends.  As a class brainstorm different things that were separated between African Americans and Whites.  As you continue to read, introduce the historical topics pertaining to that chapter before reading the book’s chapter about it. 

Post-Reading Activity (After Chapter 1): Ask each student to summarize the chapter.  Students can then share their summaries with the class.  If questions arise as students share, make a separate list detailing those.  Begin a character map illustrating the individual characteristics of characters and relationships between characters.

Taylor, M. (1976) Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. Vail – Ballou Press Inc. Grades 5 – 9.