The Land

Written by award-winning African American author Mildred D. Taylor, The Land (2001) is a prequel to Taylor’s Newbery Award-winning book, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, and is the fifth book in her Logan Family Saga. The Land, a coming-of-age novel, tells the story of Paul-Edward Logan, the son of a white plantation owner and a half African American, half Native American former slave as he struggles to find his identity and earn the land of his dreams in the years following the U.S. Civil War.

In “A Note to the Reader,” Taylor writes, “All of my books are based on stories told by my family, and on the history of the United States.” The Land includes episodes from her great-grandfather’s life. Taylor also refuses to “whitewash history” in the book, standing behind her use of the painful language that was spoken during the historical time period. Taylor declares, “The language was painful, and life was painful for many African Americans.” In The Land, Taylor addresses issues of racism, injustice, and oppression, all of which affect Paul in his journey to manhood.

Paul narrates his own story, starting at the age of nine. His father, Edward, is a former slave owner, and his mother, Deborah, a former slave who stays with Edward because she loves him. Paul and his older sister, Cassie, are both multi-racial, while Paul’s three half-brothers, Hammond, George, and Robert are white. Robert is nearly the same age as Paul, and the two have a close relationship. Edward acknowledges and trusts Paul, raising him and Cassie openly alongside his white sons on his property in Georgia.



Paul’s lighter skin makes him the target of beatings and taunts from black children and causes him to be discriminated against by white people when they learn he is part black. Paul is mercilessly bullied by a black boy, Mitchell Thomas, the son of one of Edward’s workers. Edward tells Paul to stop letting himself be abused and “use what you strongest at, boy! You use your head.” Resenting Paul’s advantaged life, Mitchell calls Paul a “white nigger.” Paul offers a trade: he will teach Mitchell how to read and write if Mitchell teaches him how to fight and defend himself. Mitchell and Paul become firm friends.

Paul starts to notice that he and Cassie are treated differently than his half-brothers. Edward sends Paul to Macon to apprentice with a furniture-maker and sends Robert to a school in Savannah and they begin to grow apart. When Robert and some of his white friends, the Waverly brothers, injure a horse, Paul fights them. Edward whips Paul in front of Robert and the Waverlys for defying and striking white men. Cassie tells Paul it is time for him to learn that the world is hard.

Disobeying his father’s order, Paul rides a white man’s horse in a race. Paul wins the race, but the man, Ray Sutcliffe, refuses to pay him. Mitchell punches Sutcliffe and seizes the money for Paul. Tired of following Edward’s rules, and fearful of his anger, Paul and Mitchell run away. Now fourteen, Paul plans to pursue his dream of owning a piece of farmland that is just as good as his daddy’s.



Mitchell and Paul work a variety of jobs, from training horses to laboring in lumber camps. They end up in Mississippi and decide to go their separate ways. Paul finds the farmland of his dreams, saying, “For the first time since I’d left my daddy’s land, my heart soared, higher than any mountain I’d ever imagined, up to God’s own perfect clouds, and I felt a peace come over me.” Paul determines to own that land, which is currently the property of J.T. Hollenbeck. Paul works at a general store in Vicksburg, building furniture for the shopkeeper and saving his money. There he meets Caroline, a hardworking young black woman whom he fancies. Paul learns that Caroline is engaged to Mitchell, who is working at a lumber camp nearby.

Paul makes a bargain with Filmore Granger, a racist white landowner, that if he clears the trees from 40 acres of land in two years, Granger will give him the property. Paul knows that he can use that acreage to help purchase the land he truly wants. Mitchell works with Paul for a share of the land. Mitchell marries Caroline and she becomes pregnant.

The land Paul desires comes up for sale, but no bank will give Paul a loan because he is black. Paul cuts a deal with Hollenbeck to purchase 200 acres and make a down payment and a monthly payment. Paul and Mitchell continue to clear the 40 acres. One day when Mitchell is working, Digger Wallace, a drunk with a grudge against Mitchell, shoots him. Mitchell is crushed by the tree he is felling. Paul finds Mitchell and hears his friend’s dying request that Paul marry Caroline and take care of the unborn baby.



Paul and Caroline work hard to make the land payments. Just as Paul is about to finish the 40 acres, Granger reneges on his promise, telling Paul to get off the land unless he wants to sharecrop. As a black man, Paul has no legal recourse against Granger. Paul knows he will have to foreclose on the Hollenbeck property. Robert, however, arrives with letters and money from Cassie. Paul buys the Hollenbeck land. He and Caroline reveal their love for each other and get married. Paul returns to Georgia to visit Edward and his family. Edward dies the day after Paul arrives. Paul relates that he loved his family growing up, but now he is rich with “something of his own.” He is blessed to have his own family and land.

The Land won the 2002 Coretta Scott King Award and the 2002 Scott O’Dell Award. In 2003, Taylor was the first winner of the NSK Neustadt Prize for Children’s Literature, an international literary award for an author’s entire body of work.