Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor takes place in 1933 Mississippi, during the era of Jim Crow laws and segregation. The novel explores the racism faced by African Americans at that time through the experiences of the Logan family. Though the Supreme Court outlawed segregation in 1954 and Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, prejudice continued. Mildred Taylor drew on her own experiences witnessing racism in the South as well as her father's stories of living under Jim Crow laws to write this novel and shed light on the struggles of that era.

1. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor Background and History

4. Negro going in colored entrance of movie house on Saturday afternoon, Belzoni, Mississippi Delta, Mississippi (Library of Congress) http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/3549667550/

8. Little Rock Nine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmmT_jdB4iw http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjwnavigator/3323250737/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/38952296@N00/1432714363/

14. Mildred Taylor http://www.flickr.com/photos/38936595@N06/3578011323/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/35791454@N03/3313081994/