Let the Circle Be Unbroken

I liked this book written by Mildred D. Taylor. Life in the South during the 1940s was turbulent and frightening for black landowners like the Logans. For young Cassie it was a time of growth, discovery and some very hard lessons about what it meant to be black in Mississippi. Her friend T.J. goes on trial for a murder he did not commit, confronting an all-white justice system. And a greedy white landowner tries to gain control of the Logan’s farm. But with strength and perseverance, Cassie and the rest of her family survive even the deepest prejudice.

The book is sad and touches on a serious topic, but it is well done. This is the sequel to Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. The book shows how poverty is a hard enough struggle without the extra burdens of racism and socialism. While the poor laborers were struggling to make ends meet the federal government under the New Deal, decided to restrict their crops and raise their taxes. White landowners were able to use a loophole to take some of the money the government intended to give to black farmers. The author was born in 1943 in Jackson, Mississippi.