When was roll of thunder set

Keep in mind that we're way before the Civil Rights movement, and still firmly in the era of open racism and segregation. A major problem is that sharecropping keeps the black characters down economically. These farmers had to pay rent for their land and also give up a percentage of the profits that they made on their crops. The system was rigged so that it was impossible for farmers like the Berrys and Turners to ever get ahead.

Most had really no hope of ever escaping this level of poverty. Remember: the Logans have it good by comparison. They at least own their own land and have some level of autonomy. But, because of their skin color, they're still at the mercy of unscrupulous people like Mr.

Granger, who has Mama fired and who constantly schemes to take the Logans' land away from them. Times are starting to change, though, in the s. Black people are more upwardly mobile think about Uncle Hammer and his good job in Chicago that allows him to afford a nice car , and educated Mama and her teacher training , especially in the North.

The situation is further worsened because of the severity of racism and segregation in the society. The Logans are one of the few families …show more content… The ways Uncle Hammer and Papa deal with situations are very different because of the amount of self-control that they have. Whenever a white person does something that degrades the black people , Uncle Hammer spontaneously seeks revenge without thinking about the consequences of his actions.

For example, when he hears that Cassie had been pushed into the road by Mr Simms while visiting Strawberry, he immediately reaches for his gun and heads for the door to the Simmses'. I ain't gonna use David's gun. I've got my own. Papa does not like Uncle Hammer's hot temper. He tells Cassie, "you got yourself a bad temper like your Uncle Hammer. That temper can get you into trouble.

If Mr. Morrison had not stopped him from going to the Simms', the end result probably would have been very severe. Papa takes a different approach. Get Access. Read More. Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry Words 6 Pages Segregation was a way of life for almost all southerners from the period between the end of Reconstruction to the passage of the Civil Rights Act Popular Essays. It is set in , in Mississippi--during the Great Depression, when many people were very poor.

Poverty is a fact of life for many of the book's charac ters. Although the Logans own their own land, many in the black community are sharecroppers. Sharecroppers are farmers who do not own the land they work. In exchange for the use of the land, the farmers must give a certain percentage of their harvest to the owner.