Your
Task Learn about the Scottsboro
Boys by exploring the links on this page. Then
choose a character from Roll of Thunder, Hear My
Cry. You will pretend you ARE that person to write
a letter in that character’s voice (as if they
were writing). Your task is to write a letter to the
editor in the form of a persuasive essay to convince
readers of the newspaper that your character's point
of view about the case of the Scottsboro Boys is valid.
Letter
Template This is a Microsoft Word template
you can use. Just replace the text (which will help
you write a persuasive essay) with your own writing.
Why do people write letters to the editor of a newspaper?
Newspapers were a very important public
forum for news and ideas in the 1930s. Remember there
was no television and no Internet!
People write letters to the editor
to express their opinion about a current issue that
they feel strongly about.
It is a way of sharing your opinion
with many people and trying to convince people to
feel the same way you do.
The
Scottsboro Boys An example of "southern justice"
in the 1930's. This was a real case that took place
at approximately the same time as the events in Roll
of Thunder, Hear My Cry. How the boys are treated
may remind you of how the character T.J. Avery
was treated.
Famous
American Trials: The Scottsboro Boys No crime in American history--let
alone a crime that never occurred--produced as many
trials, convictions, reversals, and retrials as this
one did.
Mary
McLeod Bethune Like the character Mary Logan,
Mary McLeod Bethune was a teacher in the south. During
the time of Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mary
McLeod Bethune worked tirelessly to influence President
Franklin D. Roosevelt on civil rights issues. Read her
speech, "What Does American Democracy Mean to Me"
and listen online, too!
Ossian
Sweet In 1925, a black doctor named Ossian
Sweet purchased a house in an all-white neighborhood
in Detroit, which is where the character Uncle
Hammer lived. Ossian Sweet's story will help
you understand what life was like for black people in
the north.
Remembering
Jim Crow Jim Crow is the name given to laws
enacted by the southern states to prevent black Americans
from achieving equality. One of the Jim Crow laws stated
that black and white children must be educated separately.
This site has many photos plus interviews you can listen
to. Examples
of Jim Crow Laws.
Your
Task