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Page Twelve
N/Warren Town and County News
Thursday, April 24, 2014
6th and Grade Middle School Essays
During February, some 6th and 7th grade classes at
Norwalk Middle School read Roll of Thunder Hear My
Cry by Mildred Taylor. Students learned about rebuild-
ing the United States following the Reconstruction Era.
Specificall they learned about life e South during
the 1930's. They read and discussed primary documents
on topics such as the Jim Crow Laws, segregation, share-
cropping, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Civil War
and the court case of Plessy" vs Ferguson. After com-
pleting the novel and articles, students wrote an essay
in which they analyzed and compared the intent and
the reality of the time period as well as how Mildred
Taylor depicted this within her novel. The following
essays are a few from Stephanie Brown's English class-
room.
• Lily Quade
• Abbie Davitt
• Joslyn Sperry
History Vs. Reality
By Lily Quade
What stopped slavery? What horrible things did
white people do to black citizens? Wliat was the Recon-
struction Era? Whites treated black people very poorly
during the Reconstruction Era. This essay will portray
the intention of the Reconstruction Era, what the reality
was, and how well Mildred Taylor depicted what it was
like in that time period. The Reconstruction Era was a
time period after slavery ended and segregation started.
White citizens still didn't treat black populations fairly
and were separated.
The original purpose of Reconstruction and the
Emancipation Proclamation was to be separated, but
equal; and to abolish slavery. The Emancipation Procla-
mation was signed by Abraham Lincoln. He believed
that black people should be freed, and not held in sla-
very. The proclamation stated that, 'SM1 persons held as
slaves are, and henceforward shall be free" (Lincoln,
1863/pl). This demonstrates that Lincoln wanted all
slaves to be free and equal to whites. People created Jim
Crow laws that were meant to be separate, but equal.
Things like water fountains, public transportation, pub-
lic buildings, restaurants, and schools were separated.
The goal was that black and white people would be sepa-
rated, but equal. This meant that they would be sepa-
rated, or parted away from each other, but the quality
of their services would be equal. Amendments were
made to support black people. There was a 13th and
14th amendment made. The 13th amendment was made
to free former slaves and abolish slavery. The 14th was
made to enforce the law, separate, but equal. It banned
the action of not enforcing new, unfair laws upon the
black populations. "It was intended to enforce the ab-
solute equality of the two races before the law, but it
was intended to abolish distinctions based upon color,
or to enforce social equality, or a commingling of the
two races upon terms unsatisfactory to either" (Plessy
Vs. Ferguson,1896). This supports that the equality of
blacks and whites came before the law. The intention of
the Emancipation Proclamation and Reconstruction was
to abolish slavery, making the law; separated, but equal.
• The historical intention of the Reconstruction Era was
not the reality. The law, separate but equal was not ful-
tilled. The Jim Crow laws were not equal, because the
black's services were bad quality compared to the white's
services. The white's water fountains, public transpor-
tation, restaurants, public buildings, and schools were
all better than the black's. This didn't fulfill the inten-
tion because the intention was that the two races would
be equal, and they were not. In the court case Plessy Vs.
Ferguson, Plessy was black, and he didn't have fair odds.
He lost when Ferguson, the judge, didn't go with the
13th and 14th amendments, Plessy filed for a retrial be-
cause Ferguson didn't do it correctl but he lost it be-
cause the odds weren't in his favor. Ferguson had gone
against the amendments, but Plessy lost because the
court was" against him. In reality, the 13th and 14th
amendments weren't fulfilled. They were killed, tor-
tured, and they were hated by whites. "Jim Crow laws
were designed to separate blacks and whites- separate
schools, public buildings, public transportation, restau-
rants, even water fountains" (Crow, 1896, pl). This sup-
ports that white people resented black citizens, and the
saying separated but equal wasn't completed. The ser-
vices that the blacks received wasn't equal to the white
population that received them as well. The Emancipa-
tion Proclamation wasr't fulfilled because Abraham Lin-
coln didn't put all of the states in the US on the list.
Some states had slavery, and very high segregation.
There were groups of people called the nightriders that
killed and tortured black people. They would attack a
family if people in the town complained that the family
was doing something bad. Some of the things that the
night riders did to blacks were called lynchings. That
was when they burned, hung, or killed black families
for no apparent reason. The black people feared the
nightriders highly, and theyspread lots of fear among
them. It wasn't fair how the black people got money
and land. Landowners hired black families to sharecrop
by planting and harvesting cotton for them. The fami-
lies were forced to repay the landowner a certain amount
of the cotton that they harvestecL They had to pay for
most of the suppliers, and the landowners almost al-
ways kept the black families in debt. This wasn't fair
because the families barely survived with the house that
they had, and the minimal food that they got. Black
people weren't treated fairly at all during the Recon-
struction Era.
Mildred D. Taylor depicted a very accurate portrayal
of the time period. She included the nightriders, lynch-
ings, sharecroppers, segregation, and unfair judgrhenf
of the black population. Mildred Taylor explained what
it was like for a black person in that time period very
thoroughly. When the white bus splashed the children
with mud, she described how they felt very accurately.
She showed that back then, most white people hated
black citizens, and treated them very harshly. A quote
from the book to support this is "Little Man, chest deep
in water, scooped up a handful of and in an uncontrol-
lable rage scrambled up to the road and ran after the
retreating bus'(Taylor, p 48). Mildred included share-
cropping when the L0gans do the boycott on the Wallace
Store. When Mr. Avery and Mr. Lanier said that they
couldn't do the boycott anymore, they explained that
Mr. Granger raised the percentage of their pay in cotton
to 60 percent instead of 50. "Mr. Granger making it hard
on us, David. Said we gonna have to give him sixty per-
cent of the cotton, "stead of fifty.., now that the cotton's
planted and it's too late to plant more... Don't suppose
thought that it makes much difference" (Taylor, p 203).
This shows that times weren't fair for the black citizens
in the Reconstruction Era because if they were share-
croppers, they weren't treated fairly. Mildred Taylor
explains that the night riders were a big fear of the black
population back then by showing Cassie's fear when
they come to her house at night, A line from the book to
show Cassie's fear is, "Once inside the house, I leaned
against the latch while waves of sick terror swept over
me" ( Taylor, 68). In the book, Mildred Taylor describes
lynchings very well. She describes them as burnings,
hangings, and torture that the white people enforced
on the black population. She says that they were feared
very highly throughout the black population. Mildred
D. Taylor depicted what it was like during the Recon-
struction Era very well in her book.
"Not only were blacks barred from 'white only'
places, black people were expected to defer to white citi-
zens regardless of any differences in education or fi-
nancial status" (Secondary Solutions, 12). Black citizens
were treated very crudely by whites during the Recon-
struction Era. The Reconstruction Era was the time pe-
riod that white people were racist, but it was better than
the time period of slavery and the 1860s. People hurt,
killed, and tortured blacks; it was a bad time for the US.
The Reconstruction Era was a hard time for black people,
and it hurt many of them.
Reconstruction Era- History vs. Reality
By Abbie Davitt
The Reconstruction Era was supposed to be a time
when slaves would be accepted as equal, but in reality,
it was a time of destruction and misery. The slaves were
supposed to be "equal" were actually hurt, tricked and
treated badly. The Emancipation Proclamation was writ-
ten during the Civil War. This was about the time the
Reconstruction Era began. Abraham Lincoln, the author,
hoped that once the war was over, everyone would be
treated equally, but that's not what happened. In the
following essay, you will read about the intended his-
tory, the reality of history, and the accurate portrayal
that Mildred D. Taylor demonstrates in her novel (Roll
o/Thunder Hear My Cry).
The purpose of the Emancipation Proclamation was
to end slavery in the Confederacy. "And by virtue of the
power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do o.rder and
declare that all persons held as slaves within said des-
ignated states, and parts of states, are, henceforward
shall be free..." (Lincoln, 1). Those were the words that
Abraham Lincoln wrote declaring that all blacks in the
Union free. He hoped that the. document would inspire
blacks. he Emancipation Proclamation was made dur-
ing the Civil War and changed the goal of the war. Sla-
very was abolished during the war, but only for some
states. If the state wasn't in the Uniorl, the slaves weren't
free.., yet. Therefore, the Emancipation Proclamation
• didn't completely end slavery. It only ended it partially.
The newly freed citizens hoped to be truly free and in
control of their own lives. They hoped to have their own
land and be treated fair. But that didn't happen. The
original purpose behind freeing slaves wasn't to have
everyone equal, but so the slaves from the Confederacy
would join the North and help with the war. Abraham
Lincoln hoped to inspire free slaves to join the Union
army and help the North Win the Civil War
(ourdocuments.gov, 1). The North wanted to with the
war very badly and slaves could help them. The slaves
could only fight in the army if they were free, so the
North freed the slaves.
The reality of the Reconstruction Era was much dif-
ferent than the intended purpose. People may have been
free, but they were still treated badly. Whites still wanted
slavery, so they developed sharecropping; which was
the closest thing to slavery in their time. In sharecrop-
ping, blacks would work on a white man's land in ex-
change for a place to live, supplies needed, and food.
Sharecroppers would have to produce a certain amount
of crops and then pay back the money for supplies and
food. The landowners might even own a store that re-
quired the sharecroppers help. Most of the time, blacks
never got out of their contract and the next generation
of their family would have to work off the debt. They
also were given unfair amounts to meet and were treated
very badly. "All ditches turn rows bridges, fences, etc.
on said land shall be kept in proper condition by said
Dawson, or at his expense" (a sharecropper contract,
1). This shows you some of the unfair things in con-
tracts. People often killed Or hurt blacks for the simplest
reasons. The Reconstruction Era was supposed to make
everyone be treated fairly, but in reality, blacks were still
treated badly.
Mildred D. Taylor did do a great job at showing an
accurate portrayal of the time period after the Recon-
s-truction Era. In Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, a black
man "flirted" with a white woman. Guess what the
white men did? They burned him. The white men that
did these things were called night riders. The night rid-
ers almost never got in trouble because they were white
and were hurting black. She gave examples of the "sepa-
rate but equal" laws and really gave you an idea of what
went on during this time period. One example she gave
is how the black students get 10 year old, dirty text-
books, while the white students got the new ones. The
Logan kids couldn't understand wly this happened.
Little man was• so upset that he threw the book on the
ground and wouldn't pick it up (Taylor, 15). This should
give you a visual on how worn the books were. The black
students, like the white kids, got textbooks, but they
weren't equal in quality. This was an example of the sepa-
rate but equal laws. Mildred D. Taylor also included a
scene where the Logan's friend T.J. was falsely accused
of murder and was hurt by the night riders. Even though
he didn't do it, because he was black, he got punished.
"All I can say Cassie girl, is that it shouldn't be" (Taylor,
173). Everyone knew things weren't fair, but because he
was black and the criminals were white, he was pun-
ished instead of them. Mildred D. Taylor does a great
job giving us an accurate idea of the Reconstruction Era
through all of the situations in her book.
The Reconstruction Era was supposed to be a time
where everyone would be looked at as equal, but in-
stead it was a time of destruction and misery. The black
slaves that were freed were far from free. Instead of treat-
ing them fair, the white people hurt, killed, tricked, and
treated the freed slaves very badly. The essay you just
read should've explained to you the intended history,
the reali of it all, and the portrayal that Mildred D.
Taylor demonstrated in her book Roll Of Thunder Hear
My Cry. Abraham Lincoln intended for the Emancipa-
tion Proclamation to make everyone equal and be treated
equally. But as you know, the reality is always different
than the intended purpose.
1930's History
By Joslyn Sperry
People were killed for skin color, harshly punished
for nothing at all. Do you remember these times? About
80 years ago, the streets were dangerous, like walking
through rattlesnakes always ready to strike. Usually, you
couldn't live as an African American withoutgoing into
debt by devious sharecropping owners tricking you into
contracts that you couldn't read or even sign. You would
have to draw an X if you couldn't write. The Emancipa-
tion Proclamation only prevented slavery and the Jim
Crow Laws only made it worse. Roll of Thunder Hear my
Cry, a very accurate book in the time period, portrays
the very meaning of fear ,and lose everything; land,
rights, and even friends on their dangerous path as Af-
rican Americans.
The Emancipation Proclamation was meant to bring
peace and equality to African Americans. Unfortunately,
Concluded p. 13
• -i r