Let the Circle Be Unbroken

infobox Book |
name = Let The Circle Be Unbroken
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Let The Circle Be Unbroken
author = Mildred D. Taylor
illustrator =
cover_artist = Jerry Pinkney
country = USA
language = English
series =
genre = Historical Fiction
publisher = Dial Press (Now Penguin Group)
release_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 approaching, 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.

Plot Summary

The Logan family goes through hard times, trying to rear their children the correct way. In the story, T.J. Avery, Stacey's friend, is accused of murdering a white man, Jim Lee Barnett. Although 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, although 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.

Also, during this time, Mama's nephew'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 and his best friend Moe 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. Stacy and Moe had been wrongfully accused of stealing which put them in jail. During that time Stacy and Moe became really sick. While Stacy was at the cane field a poll rolled over his foot and broke it. 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 thanked her. They stay the night there and the next morning left for home. The Logans held a party to celebrate their loved one's return. Mildred Taylor expresses racism throughout this book and the previous book, Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry and the sequel, The Road To Memphis.

Character Summary

From Let The Circle Be Unbroken by Mildred D.Taylor