Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Known for her works exploring the struggle faced by African-American families in the Deep South, Mildred Taylor’s Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry was set in 1933 Mississippi at the height of the Depression. The award-winning children’s book is about a family’s struggle to maintain their integrity, pride, and independence in the face of racism and social injustice. The novel, that made the American Library Association most challenged book in 2002, went through a series of criticisms. In 1993, a Louisiana high school removed it from its reading list due to racial bias. Five years later, a middle school in California also raised issues with it due to the same reasons. Then in 2004, a Florida school district condemned it, saying that it was not appropriate for the age group that was reading it.
