Let the Circle Be Unbroken
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| Let The Circle Be Unbroken | |
| Author | Mildred D. Taylor |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Jerry Pinkney |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Historical Fiction |
| Publisher | Dial Press (Now Penguin Group) |
| Publication date | 1981 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 394pp |
| ISBN | ISBN |
| Preceded by | Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry |
| Followed by | The Road To Memphis |
Let The Circle be Unbroken is the 1981 sequel to Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, written by Mildred D. Taylor. T.J.'s punishment is looming, Stacey runs away to find work, and the Logan children's cousin, Suzella Rankin, tries to pass herself off as a white person, but fails which leads to embarrassing consequences.
[edit] Plot Summary
The Logan family faces hard times, trying to rear their children the correct way. In the story, T.J. Avery, Stacey's friend, is accused of the murder of a white man, Jim Lee Barnett. Though he is innocent, he is tried by an all white jury and convicted. Stacey does everything in his power to try and to help his friend, though in the end T.J. Avery gets the death penalty.
Afterwards, David Logan (Papa) goes back to the railroad to work.
Meanwhile, a man tries to start a union to join blacks and whites together so the cotton would be sold for fair prices. The union does not succeed and the man who wanted to start it is beaten badly. Some people were told that they had to pull up the acres that had already been planted because they planted too much. The plantation owners lied and said the government ordered it, but it was the plantation owners who did it in order to get the money that was supposed to go to the sharecroppers. This hurt the Logan family badly, but there was nothing they, or anyone else, could do about it.
Also, during this time, Mama's cousin’s Bud's daughter Suzella, who has a black father and a white mother, is living with them. She makes a mistake and leads a white boy to believe that she is all white. This takes a great toll on Stacey and he believes that somehow he must take care of his family before they lose the land they own. He runs away to a cane field to earn money. As time goes by, with the help of Mr. Jamison, a white lawyer who is kind and fair to black people, Mama, Papa, and Caroline Logan (Big Ma) contact police stations in the next couple of towns. They address the letters in his name so that when the sheriffs receive the letters they will respond. Mr. Jamison says that if they see a black family name on the letters they probably will not respond. After roughly seven months of searching for Stacey, they find him in town a couple of hours away from home in a town called Shokesville (pronounced "Stokesvile"). When they enter the jail, the officer carries out a boy who is too tall (in Cassie's opinion) to be Stacey. When he enters into the lighted area, his family realizes it is him, and they tearfully hail him. Before they drive home, they stop by the house of a lady who took care of Stacey and Moe while they were in jail and thank her. They stay the night there and the next morning leave for home. The Logans hold a party to celebrate their loved one's return. Mildred Taylor expresses racism throughout this book and the previous book, Roll of Thunder, Here my Cry.
