How Does Mildred Taylor Show Courage

During a time when people were discriminated by race, punished for their color, and condescended to because of their culture, innumerable African Americans were forced into tricky situations that required a large amount of courage to find themselves out of. Papa, a character in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred Taylor, showed courage that came out of him, because of the selfish acts that the “whites” did to him and his African American friends. In the novel, Papa showed the most courage out of any of the characters. For example, Papa showed a large amount of noble courage when he set his own cotton on fire, in order to save a boy that he did not even like named T.J. Avery. At this point, T.J. had just gotten caught for stealing a gun at the Barnett store, and was about to be hung as a consequence. When Papa had started the fire, he had found, “a way, as Mama had asked, to make Mr. Granger stop the hanging: He had started the fire.” (273) This was very courageous of Papa, because he and his family had worked hard on the cotton, which was their only income at this tough time. They were in abject desperation to stay, which made them ask other people for financial support. If the cotton were burned, the Logans would not have been able to stay on the land with enough money. This land was of …show more content…
Mr. Morrison had been the one to do the visiting of the bank lately, but when the bank proves that they are trying to kick the Logans off of their land, Papa is willing all the way to Strawberry to try with some negotiating. Mama was worried about him going on the road again, and said, “Don’t you understand that I don’t want you dead?” (232) Just recently, he had gone on the road to go shopping, when he was shot in the head. This would make him a victim to hate for the “whites”, because of his mini boycott of the Wallace store. He could easily end up dead, just as his wife was worried