The Logan Family Saga: Judging the Accuracy of Historical Fiction Authenticity
Topic:Sharecropping Decision:
This is very historically accurate to sharecropping during the Great Depression. Sharecroppers during this time period were stuck in a cycle of debt similar to Mr. Turner's experiences in the book. By the time sharecroppers had shared their crops and paid their debts, they rarely had any money left. A sharecropper frequently became tied to a single plantation, having no choice but the work until his debts were paid. It is clear that in this piece of evidence, Mr. Turner has a large debt to Mr. Montier and little money left, and he can't afford and provide basic needs for his family.
Evidence:
In Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, I believe that Mildred Taylor does an excellent job at portraying the sharecropping aspects of the book. In the book Mr. Turner, a sharecropper, says, "I got no cash money. Mr. Montier signs for me up at that Wallace store so's I can get my tools, my mule, my seed, my fertilizer, my food, and what few clothes I needs to keep my children from runnin' plumb naked." Mr. Turner exemplifies the poverty of the sharecroppers. Because he's so poor, he has to have his credit at the Wallace store backed by Mr. Montier to buy the things he needs to run his farm and keep his family going.
Citation:
"Sharecropping." Fact Monster. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
Topic: Jim Crow Laws Decision:
These are both accurate descriptions of what would have really happened in early 1900s regarding Jim Crow Laws. In Mississippi Bridge, the grandma was forced of the bus because a few white costumers showed up at the last second. In the 1930s, this would have been commonplace for black travelers. Over all of her books, Mildred Taylor is accurate with the depiction of Jim Crow Laws
Evidence:
In Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mildred Taylor correctly portrays Jim Crow Laws in the south. When Cassie, Big Ma, T.J. and Stacey go to Strawberry to sell their goods, Big Ma goes to the far stalls in the market. This would have been true in real life, black farmers or merchants would have been forced to go to the back to make room for the whites. Another correct depiction of Jim Crow Laws in ROT was the separation of the blacks and whites in schools. The white school was much nicer and had busses for students. The black kid's school was run down and very small, they had the used books and desks from the white kid schools.
Citation:
C. V. Woodward, The Strange Career of Jim Crow (1966); L. F. Litwack, How Free Is Free? The Long Death of Jim Crow (2009).
Topic: Great Depression Decision:
In Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry, Mildred D. Taylor accurately portrays the Great Depression. The ways in which it is portrayed include setting the novel in the correct time period and having the depression effect people in the same ways as it did in real life.
Evidence:
There are several things that show the novel is historically accurate when it comes to portraying the Great Depression. One way is that the book accurately portrays the time period that the Great Depression took place in. In the book, Cassie states that the story takes place in 1933, in the middle of the depression. This shows that the novel did, for sure, take place in the Great Depression. The other part of portraying the Great Depression accurately is keeping true to how the depression effected people. The book does this well. For example, poorer families, like the sharecroppers, don't have much money and so must buy things from stores on credit, but then they can't pay back the money they owe. Also, when the Logans bought the second 200 acres of their land, they took out a loan and so have to pay mortgage. Because of the depression, the value of money is much less and people buy less things. This means that they must sell their cotton for low prices so it will actually sell, and then that low amount of money is worth even less. Then they have trouble paying taxes and mortgage. When a mortgages and taxes can't be paid, properties are foreclosed and items repossessed. The Logans face this issue, but manage to overcome it. Many people during the Great Depression faced this problem but couldn't overcome it. This is why the book accurately depicts the Great Depression.
Citation:
"Great Depression." Fact Monster. Pearson Education, Publishing as Fact Monster, Jan. 2015. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
"The Great Depression." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2015. Web. 26 Mar. 2015.
Topic: Plessy VS Ferguson & Separate but Equal Decision:
Mildred D. Taylor accurately depicts the Separate but Equal issue that sprung forward from the Plessy vs Ferguson case. The issue was that separate facilities for different races were allowed if they were equal. This lead to many separate facilities claiming equality although white facilities were always better.
Evidence:
An example of separate but "equal" facilities in the novel is the two schools. The white school had new resources like textbooks and other things like school buses and nice facilities. The black school on the other hand had no school buses, small, poor facilities, and trashed resources recycled from the white school. For example, the textbooks in the black school were all very beaten up and dirty. The chart in the front showing the conditions of the book, when they were issued, and the race of the student to which they were issues shows that the white students used the books for over a decade, then when the books were first considered very poor, they were given to black students. They were supposed to be equal but were not. This is how the novel accurately depicted the separate but equal issue.
Citation:
"Plessy V. Ferguson (1896)." PBS. PBS, 2002. Web. 26 Mar. 2015.
Topic: Ku Klux Klan Decision:
The Ku-Klux-Klan, as represented as the nightriders by Mildred Taylor, is accurately represented in ROT. They do horrible things in the book, such as burn the Barries alive, and get no legal resistance doing so. This is very accurate, because in real life the Klan would do completely horrific things such as lynching and burning to blacks. Evidence:
In Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry the general ideas of the racial conflict with the Ku-Klux-Klan are extraordinarily accurate for the time period. In the book the ku klux klan is represented by the Wallaces, and a few other men and young men. The Klan, in the book, burns Mr Barry and his two nephews alive killing one of the nephews and very badly burning Mr. Berry and the other nephew. They do it with the excuse that a white woman had claimed that one of the nephews had flirted with her. This is accurate for many reasons. Firstly, it is accurate for the klan to be in Mississippi, because the clan had followers in every southern state and many northern states. It is also accurate because of the fact that they took the smallest reason ever to do something(a false accusation), and acted on it by murdering a person.This is exactly how the clan acted, especially in the deep south.
Authenticity
Topic: SharecroppingDecision:
This is very historically accurate to sharecropping during the Great Depression. Sharecroppers during this time period were stuck in a cycle of debt similar to Mr. Turner's experiences in the book. By the time sharecroppers had shared their crops and paid their debts, they rarely had any money left. A sharecropper frequently became tied to a single plantation, having no choice but the work until his debts were paid. It is clear that in this piece of evidence, Mr. Turner has a large debt to Mr. Montier and little money left, and he can't afford and provide basic needs for his family.
Evidence:
In Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, I believe that Mildred Taylor does an excellent job at portraying the sharecropping aspects of the book. In the book Mr. Turner, a sharecropper, says, "I got no cash money. Mr. Montier signs for me up at that Wallace store so's I can get my tools, my mule, my seed, my fertilizer, my food, and what few clothes I needs to keep my children from runnin' plumb naked." Mr. Turner exemplifies the poverty of the sharecroppers. Because he's so poor, he has to have his credit at the Wallace store backed by Mr. Montier to buy the things he needs to run his farm and keep his family going.
Citation:
Topic: Jim Crow Laws
Decision:
These are both accurate descriptions of what would have really happened in early 1900s regarding Jim Crow Laws. In Mississippi Bridge, the grandma was forced of the bus because a few white costumers showed up at the last second. In the 1930s, this would have been commonplace for black travelers. Over all of her books, Mildred Taylor is accurate with the depiction of Jim Crow Laws
Evidence:
In Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mildred Taylor correctly portrays Jim Crow Laws in the south. When Cassie, Big Ma, T.J. and Stacey go to Strawberry to sell their goods, Big Ma goes to the far stalls in the market. This would have been true in real life, black farmers or merchants would have been forced to go to the back to make room for the whites. Another correct depiction of Jim Crow Laws in ROT was the separation of the blacks and whites in schools. The white school was much nicer and had busses for students. The black kid's school was run down and very small, they had the used books and desks from the white kid schools.
Citation:
Topic: Great Depression
Decision:
In Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry, Mildred D. Taylor accurately portrays the Great Depression. The ways in which it is portrayed include setting the novel in the correct time period and having the depression effect people in the same ways as it did in real life.
Evidence:
There are several things that show the novel is historically accurate when it comes to portraying the Great Depression. One way is that the book accurately portrays the time period that the Great Depression took place in. In the book, Cassie states that the story takes place in 1933, in the middle of the depression. This shows that the novel did, for sure, take place in the Great Depression. The other part of portraying the Great Depression accurately is keeping true to how the depression effected people. The book does this well. For example, poorer families, like the sharecroppers, don't have much money and so must buy things from stores on credit, but then they can't pay back the money they owe. Also, when the Logans bought the second 200 acres of their land, they took out a loan and so have to pay mortgage. Because of the depression, the value of money is much less and people buy less things. This means that they must sell their cotton for low prices so it will actually sell, and then that low amount of money is worth even less. Then they have trouble paying taxes and mortgage. When a mortgages and taxes can't be paid, properties are foreclosed and items repossessed. The Logans face this issue, but manage to overcome it. Many people during the Great Depression faced this problem but couldn't overcome it. This is why the book accurately depicts the Great Depression.
Citation:
Topic: Plessy VS Ferguson & Separate but Equal
Decision:
Mildred D. Taylor accurately depicts the Separate but Equal issue that sprung forward from the Plessy vs Ferguson case. The issue was that separate facilities for different races were allowed if they were equal. This lead to many separate facilities claiming equality although white facilities were always better.
Evidence:
An example of separate but "equal" facilities in the novel is the two schools. The white school had new resources like textbooks and other things like school buses and nice facilities. The black school on the other hand had no school buses, small, poor facilities, and trashed resources recycled from the white school. For example, the textbooks in the black school were all very beaten up and dirty. The chart in the front showing the conditions of the book, when they were issued, and the race of the student to which they were issues shows that the white students used the books for over a decade, then when the books were first considered very poor, they were given to black students. They were supposed to be equal but were not. This is how the novel accurately depicted the separate but equal issue.
Citation:
Topic: Ku Klux Klan
Decision:
The Ku-Klux-Klan, as represented as the nightriders by Mildred Taylor, is accurately represented in ROT. They do horrible things in the book, such as burn the Barries alive, and get no legal resistance doing so. This is very accurate, because in real life the Klan would do completely horrific things such as lynching and burning to blacks.
Evidence:
In Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry the general ideas of the racial conflict with the Ku-Klux-Klan are extraordinarily accurate for the time period. In the book the ku klux klan is represented by the Wallaces, and a few other men and young men. The Klan, in the book, burns Mr Barry and his two nephews alive killing one of the nephews and very badly burning Mr. Berry and the other nephew. They do it with the excuse that a white woman had claimed that one of the nephews had flirted with her. This is accurate for many reasons. Firstly, it is accurate for the klan to be in Mississippi, because the clan had followers in every southern state and many northern states. It is also accurate because of the fact that they took the smallest reason ever to do something(a false accusation), and acted on it by murdering a person.This is exactly how the clan acted, especially in the deep south.
Citation:
"Internet Resources for Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry ORM." //Internet Resources for Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry ORM//. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2015. <http://www.bcps.org/offices/lis/models/rollofthunder/internet.html>.
"Jim Crow Stories." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2015. <http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_kkk.html>.
Topic: Lynching
Decision:
Lynching is a topic vaguely discussed in ROT. I is what the nightriders want to TJ and Papa as theirway of killing them for unjust reasons, like being falsely accused of murder, or owning land. This is accurate because in this time period blacks could have been hanged simply for having a better job than a white. Also, the lynching was mostly done by the kkk.
Evidence:
The slight theme of lynching in Roll of Thunder is also accurately described by Mildred Taylor. Hanging is described when the nightriders, or the KKK, want to kill someone. In the book they talk about how they want to hang Papa and Mr. Morrison. Also, the nightriders jump at the possible chance to hang TJ after he was just accused of stealing something, then they find what he stole and wanted to hang him immediately. This is historically accurate because people, especially the kkk, would jump at the chance to hang someone, even going as far as to deny a trial. Also about 3.5/5 hangings in the time period were killing blacks, and 1/4 were actually true crimes.
Citation:
"Internet Resources for Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry ORM." //Internet Resources for Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry ORM//. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2015. <http://www.bcps.org/offices/lis/models/rollofthunder/internet.html>.
"Lynching." Infoplease. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2015. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.infoplease.com%2Fencyclopedia%2Fsociety%2Flynching.html>.
Multimedia Presentation:
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