Ballad Of Birmingham Research Paper

In the midst of completing the book, I read an article on BBC News entailing details of new statistics stating that black men are three times as likely to have been subjected to unfair brutality and murder than Caucasians. This in particularly is appalling given that only 14% of the US population consist of African-American males. An example of this discrimination is highlighted by the controversy surrounding the raising of the Confederate flag in several southern states.

In 'Ballad of Birmingham,' Dudley Randall illustrates a conflict between a child who wishes to march for civil rights and a mother who wishes only to protect her child. Much of this poem is read as dialogue between a mother and a child, a style which gives it an intimate tone and provides insight to the feelings of the characters. Throughout the poem the child is eager to go into Birmingham and march for freedom with the people there. The mother, on the other hand, is very adamant that the child should not go because it is dangerous. It is obvious that the child is concerned about the events surrounding the march and wants to be part of the movement. The child expresses these feelings in a way

In the two texts, “The Watsons Go To Birmingham,” by Christopher Curtis and “16th Street Baptist Church Bombing,” by Jessica McBirney, separate central ideas are presented, yet they both revolve around the same historical event. In the text, “The Watsons Go To Birmingham,” the central idea mainly focuses on a boy named Kenny who hears a loud noise while sitting in the backyard, and discovers it was an explosion where his little sister, Joetta, was at church. He thought she had died but found out that Joey was still alive after he got home. In the text, “16th Street Baptist Church Bombing,” the central idea demonstrates how the event happened and the effects on the community, families, and even the civil rights movement and that people could learn how bad racism was. Both texts center around the same event but present to us separate central ideas. How this is done and developed throughout the texts will be shown later on in the essay.

Tariq Ali once said, “It was civil disobedience that won them their civil rights.” In Melba Pattillo Beals’ narrative, “ Warriors Don’t Cry,” Melba defies all odds just by integrating to the all white Central High School in Little Rock. Through her novel, Melba is able to reminisce on the difficulties and struggles and the justice and inequality that occurs throughout Central High using figurative language. Though the author’s use of metaphors, similes and situational irony, the reader is able to pick up on Melba’s determination and obstacles she had to face in order to conquer and overcome integrating into Central High School.

Additionally, Birmingham and other southern urban areas had been the scenes of bombings coordinated at African Americans and social equality nonconformists. “One of the tragedies of the struggle against racism is that up to now there has been no national organization which could speak to the growing militancy of young black people in the urban ghetto (Carmichael).” One of the tragedies of the battle against bigotry is that up to now there has been no national association which could address the developing militancy of youthful dark individuals in the urban ghetto. This shows how even today things have curved in a good way because of leaders who stood ground and believed that this was not the right way.

Within the first few minutes, the film summarized the church bombing that killed four innocent young girls and explained how it affected the Civil Rights Movement all through a historic song. The first scene of the movie, each victim’s family described their daughters’ childhood and how segregation affect their family. One interesting fact was the father of Denise McClair, one of victims, actually went to school in Tuskegee. The second victim, Carole Roberston, was confused why whites and blacks could not share the same water fountain, restaurant and bathroom. She did

As a young boy, Robert was faced by terrible oppression of all sorts. The white community utilized terror as a means to subdue the African American families of the time. "Racism held sway over the land. Like a plague destroyed the hopes, and beliefs of the black community." (Finn, 211)

In 1963 a bomb went of in a church in Birmingham that killed 4 little girls. And a poem called ‘Ballad of Birmingham’ (written in 1969), and states some things that happened that day. In stanza 5 the author writes “She has combed and brushed her night-dark hair. And bathered rose petal sweet, And drawn white gloves an her small brown hands, and white shoes on her feet. This discribes on of the young black

Have you faced racial persecution due to the color of your skin? The time was 1900’s and this was the nightmare that Ida B. Wells-Barnett wrote of in Mob Rule in New Orleans. This is the true account of Robert Charles as he fights for his life to escape the hands of a lynching mob. This impassion story collaborates with the witness of this terrifying event that Wells describes. Wells uses her literary skills to shed light on racial discrimination, media bias, and her personal crusade for justice to portray this heart wrenching reality of the violent lynching during the 19th century.

But, mom, I wasn’t planning on going alone, I have a bunch of people to go with me. We really want to march the streets, to help in making our country free. No, baby, I am not going to let you go, because I am scared that guns will be fired. But I will let you go to the church to sing in the children’s choir instead. The child has combed and brushed her black hair, and bathed until she was clean enough to smell like a rose. She put white gloves on her little brown skinned hands, and bright white shoes on her feet. The mother was happy to know that her child was going to such a sacred place like a church. But that was the last smile her face would ever see.

     The Ballad of Birmingham resembles a traditional ballad in that it tells a story in a song-like manner. The didactic tone seeks to teach us something; in this case it’s the theme of needless destruction. There are many devices the author uses to create such a tone and to tell such a story.

Dudley Randall’s “Ballad of Birmingham” is a look into the effects of racism on a personal level. The poem is set in Alabama during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. The tone of the title alludes to the city of Birmingham as a whole. The poem gives the reader, instead, a personal look into a tragic incident in the lives of a mother and her daughter. The denotation of the poem seems to simply tell of the sadness of a mother losing her child. The poem’s theme is one of guilt, irony, and the grief of losing a child. The mother feels responsible for the death of her child. The dramatic irony of the mother’s view of church as being a “safe haven” for her child is presented to the reader through the mother’s insistence that the young girl

and is sending her child to her doom. Once her daughter has left, she smiles, but it is the last smile to come upon her face. The gives the reader a sense that the young girl dressed all in white, is about to come to her demise. Because if the young girl was going to a safe place, this would not be the last time that her mother smiled.

When thinking about a church, one would think it is a safe sacred place. In 1963, there was a bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama. A mother of a little girl who lost her daughter too soon is the speaker of this poem. She didn’t want her

In both the short story “That Evening Sun” by William Faulkner and the poem “Poem about My Rights” by June Jordan, racism against blacks is criticized through bringing its evils to the surface by these literary works. Despite using different literary mediums to convey their messages, both works reveal to their respective audiences that racism against blacks leads to feelings of inferiority and helplessness in blacks, a collective fear of the wrath of the white man in blacks, and an indifference in the general white population towards the fears of blacks.